Will I love Word Monkey?

In his 2017 Book of Forgotten Authors, Christopher Fowler collected together capsule biographies of 99 overlooked and underrated writers, and included himself as number 100: “A typical example of the late 20th century mid-list author”. There was, however, nothing typical about Christopher Fowler.

Between 1984 and his death in 2023 at the age of 69, Fowler wrote some 45 novels, two graphic novels, three short story collections and three autobiographies: Paperboy, Film Freak and this funny, moving – and posthumously published – final volume. He also wrote, in his previous career as a film marketer, the tagline for a… show more.

Chris Fowler, the most original of all crime writers, sadly passed away in March 2023, just before his 70th birthday. He managed to cram at least three lifetimes into those years; this is the last in a triptych of memoirs that cover growing up in Post-war London and his career in the film business.

This book meditates on his life as an author as well as his last two years in COVID-stricken London and is as valuable a history of those strange days as it is a typically generous resource for writers.

Chris's brilliant Bryant & May series of novels… show more.