My latest guest in my guest blog series is none other than Steve Moore. Moore is a genuine Londoner and, well, a somewhat quirky individual – but I repeat myself. Like my previous guest, he is also a Denizen of the Steampunk Empire’s Scribblers Den and will be featured in our upcoming anthology (more on that later). He is also the author of Royal America and a member of Bellack Productions.
Steve was also kind enough to give Dead London a read, and promised to share his thoughts. I was eager to hear his opinions, because – in case the title wasn’t a dead giveaway – Dead London takes place in Steve’s hometown. And while I visited and researched London as much as I could afford to, that’s not the same as living there. I really needed to hear from a genuine Londoner, and I was lucky to have found a friend in Steve Moore, who also provided me with a list of sites to see in London.
Without further ado, I’ll step back and let Mr. Moore be your guide.
Living Dead London
Steve Moore
“Penny for your thoughts. Penny for your dreadful thoughts.” said Mr. Raffle raffishly, slowly sipping his green absinthe with a smile on his face.
He deserves to smile because as a Beta reader of Dead London, I can confirm and testify that this Book is a wonderful action packed read. It is not for the faint-hearted or squeamish and is truly brilliant. Bryce has a hit on his hands and the movie or TV series will be awesome (if a Brit uses this word it means something).
And so, as a Londoner I am thrilled that a lot of the locations Bryce has used, are so well known to me. I recently retired, but my first job in London was as a Solicitor’s Clerk delivering legal documents all over London and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the home of the legal profession was one of the places I started my working life 40 years ago. Later I worked in Soho Square and so another Dead London location is well known to me. In fact, in this post, I am going to do two things:
Promote Dead London
And
enjoy visiting the places the zombies – ahh, used the Zee word (Zed Word) – swarm. So dip in, as we now tour London and live the adventure. My Daughter Sian (pronounce Sharn) has helped me with photographs and together we set to:
Cover London in chalk
This idea came from our mutual friend and fellow Scribblers’ Den member, Kate Philbrick, better known to us as Mrs. Emeline Warren. The idea was to draw chalk body outlines, like in CSI Miami or CSI New York. What better way to generate curiosity and hits on the website! It is though the ideal way to promote Dead London and here’s a thing. What if we all do a body outline right now? And all include dead-london.net.
Could we share the news of Dead London all over the world and take social networking and book promotion to the next level?
Yes, that crazy Brit is at it again.
The other brilliant idea was my own and a logical extension of living DEAD LONDON and that is the:
DEAD LONDON pub crawl…
When Bryce started doing some research for Dead London, I volunteered some Victorian locations that Bryce might like.
Funny old thing was he thoroughly recce’d (time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted) the pubs on the list.
There are some amazing Victorian pubs preserved in London and one of them, The Cittie of York in High Holborn, reminds me that I should have met with Bryce when he visited on recce last year. Bryce’s visit coincided with my return home from a family vacation in the Wild West of Wales. I could have made the rendezvous if I did not have a tyre (tire) blowout on the M4 motorway and need assistance to change the spare wheel (Thank you, Kia – Not). I was hours adrift, stressed and too pooped to travel up into central London that night. A lost opportunity to meet a fellow Denizen of Scribblers’ Den that I regret to this day. That is why I owe Bryce big time and why Sian and myself did what follows in the big zombie footsteps of Dead London.
There are no rules on covering the streets in chalk as far as I can tell. We shall have to see what happens!
We started in Old Soho…
We started in Old Soho and Soho Square in particular. We then headed for the Princess Louise in Holborn and thence in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Thence to the Cittie of Yorke.
We then found our way to the Old Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street and finally over Blackfriar’s bridge via the Blackfriar’s Pub to the Southbank and Borough market.
We then jumped on a Southbound train for Crystal Palace which is where we live.
I do hope you have enjoyed this craziness.
God Save the Queen and Rule Britannia !
Steve Moore
Thoroughly enjoyed the Dead London tour! Huzzah!!