James Maxwell in the TV Times 9th September 1965 (p11) re. "Traitor at the Gate", an episode of Suspense Hour & 29th September 1966 (p17) re. his appearance in "Cream off the Top" an episode of Blackmail.
TVT 1965:
The conflict in Traitor at the Gate, Sunday's Suspense Hour, is like an iceberg—eight-ninths under the surface, and all the more treacherous because of it.
Author Jacques Gillies gives very little away, beyond rousing our curiosity—and suspicions—about the £25 in notes received in a registered letter from an advertising agency by Pinky Mills (Lana Morris). Has it any more significance than that?
Robert Mills (James Maxwell), Pinky's husband in a faltering marriage, is a scientist at the Ministry of Defence. Is he as out of his depth as the author would have us believe? And Colonel Allison (Clifford Evans) who sends Sergeant Drummond (Barry Warren) of Field Security to bring Mills to his office—is his interest in Mills really "just a routine matter"?
Whether or not Mills is as feckless as he seems to be, James Maxwell is familiar with the type—he has played a number of similar roles before.
"They're not much use at looking after themselves but mean well. The trouble is that in playing someone like Mills I grow more and more like the character—incompetent. I drop my glasses, forget what I'm saying, where I am, or should be, and at what time. It's very inconvenient," he said.
Which could be the understatement of the year!
As Pinky, Lana Morris is one of the neurotic, twitchy ladies she plays so well. Happily she has recovered from the blood poisoning that forced her to withdraw from a play recently.
Clifford Evans had to forego part of his holiday for his part in this play.
When he has any spare time he devotes it to a cause very near his heart - a fund for a National Theatre for Wales.
With a donation from another Welshman of the theatre, Richard Burton, the appeal is getting off to a healthy start. And it is not being officially launched until March 1, 1966, St. David's Day!
TVT 1966:
A change of casting, too, for James Maxwell, starring with June Thorburn and Michael Lees in the Blackmail play The Cream Off the Top.
"I've played so many absent-minded people who drop and lose things continually I get a bit like it myself," he told me. "It's nice to be so sharp and with-it in this play—it might even make me a better organiser."
The "sharp and with-it" Logan (James Maxwell) comes to his one-time boss Gerald Barker (Michael Lees), now director of a firm of house agents, for a job.
They have once been good friends - still have the makings of friendship. Why, then, is Barker so clearly put out by Logan's arrival? And why, when he does give Logan a job, is Barker put out by Logan visiting his home in his absence and meeting his wife, Ann Barker (June Thorburn)?
Non-magical AU where Regulus is put in therapy with a psychoanalyst
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Regulus sits in silence for the first five minutes of session before he heaves an enormous sigh and looks at the analyst. Dr. Robertson gives him a soft smile. Regulus rolls his eyes and looks away again. He sighs again and stares at the ceiling.
"Something on your mind, Regulus?" Dr. Robertson asks, his tone mild and curious.
"No!" Regulus shoots back, glaring at him.
"What nothing at all?"
Regulus sighs a third time. "Nothing that concerns you."
"This is a space for you to share whatever is on your mind. Anything and everything you are thinking is important here."
Regulus scoffs. "I bet you'd love to hear everything I'm thinking. Get in my head and mess about." He shakes his head. "A man has to keep some things private."
"Is that so?" Dr. Robertson asks. His tone is soft. Regulus glances over at him - his facial expression is soft too. Regulus' lip curls in disgust when he sees it.
"Yes. It is so."
"Who told you that?"
Regulus rolls his eyes and doesn't respond. They sit in silence for another few minutes.
"You really won't tell father the things I say in here? Unless I say so?" Regulus asks suddenly.
"I haven't so far. I don't plan to start."
Regulus frowns. "But you talk to father."
"Yes. I share your progress and ask about things at home and at school. I do not tell him the details of what we talk about. Is there something you're worried I will tell him?"
Regulus shrugs. "No."
He falls silent. Then he exhale sharply and says, "Yes."
Dr. Robertson looks at him expectantly.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you!" Regulus exclaims.
"Because you don't trust that I won't tell your father?"
Regulus nods.
"And you're afraid of your father's reaction?"
"I'm not afraid of - I just don't think he needs to know!" Regulus crosses his arms. "I don't think you need to know either."
"But you want to tell someone."
Regulus looks indignant. "No. I don't. It's nobodies business!"
"You were considering telling me though. That's why you asked whether or not I would tell your father what you shared."
"I...I was just asking a hypothetical question." He can feel his face heat up and he feels frustrated with himself and embarrassed by how visibly flustered he is.
"Something is on your mind that you don't want to tell me. But it seems to me that you do very much want to share it with someone. And I wonder what it would feel like for you to say it out loud."
"I wonder what it would feel like to - " Regulus starts, but he catches himself, shaking his head. He runs his hands over his face and then looks at the analyst. "Do you know, you make me very angry."
The analyst looks thoughtful. "Why do you think that is?"
"I don't know, perhaps you enjoy infuriating people."
Dr. Robertson's lips quirk slightly. "You think I am making you angry on purpose, for my own enjoyment?"
"Well, I don't know why else you would do it!"
"Make you angry on purpose?"
"Yes!"
"Would it surprise you to hear that I do not intend to make you angry?"
Regulus purses his lips and crosses his arms and says nothing.
"I think being back here is disorienting and certainly frustrating for you. It's a bit disorienting and frustrating for me, too, if I'm being honest. As I said last week, I feel as though I am starting all over again with you."
Dr. Robertson leans over and pulls a drawer on his desk open, pulling out a letter. "This was the last time I heard from you," he says. "When you wrote to me two years ago to tell me school was going well."
Regulus stares at him, his face a mix of shock and horror. "You kept that? Why?"
Dr. Robertson looks at the letter and then back at Regulus. "It meant something to me that you wrote it. I enjoyed reading it. So I kept it."
Regulus frowns, contemplating this new information. He isn't sure that he likes it. He isn't sure he hates it either. He isn't sure how he feels at all.
"I'm not the same person I was when I wrote that," he says finally.
"No, I don't suppose you would be."
"I was eleven. I was a child."
"You've grown quite a bit since then."
"I'm not a little boy anymore." He straightens up in his seat.
"I can see that," Dr. Robertson says. "And I would like to get to know the person you are now. If you'll let me."
Me again! Saw the Fandom OC ask game on your dash, so thought to ask about...
Which canon character respects your OC most? What gained that respect?
Who has brought your OC to tears before?
What is your OC’s ‘‘darkness moment’’ in the plot? ( no need to share if spoilers!)
Hon, the sound that came out of me when I saw this!! 😭😭 Thank you ever so much for the questions, I really needed (and appreciate) them!! 🫂🫂
A'ight, since a series wasn't specified, Imma go with my main Castlevania girl Elena since she's the most fleshed out of the shared fandoms. Wish I had the images for reference finished at this point but as usual I am hopeless...
Which canon character respects your OC most? What gained that respect?
S4!Horse. A carrot was involved. 🥕
Most? A predictable one I'm afraid: Alucard. Since around 80% of the story centres on these two alone in each others' company (and Horse, can't forget him😁🐴) , I reckon in the little moments of watching how she gradually picks herself up out of a funk in finding genuine elation and solace in the smallest of things is where it would start.
Comforting when your newly acquired castlemate won't touch your wine and would much rather hunt for oddly shaped stones or help fallen bird chicks back into their nest in lieu of learning the myriad arts of decapitation whilst you yourself are still fresh off your own trauma.
Where it would probably shine brightest is when she takes charge in certain instances. Times where she's pushed through her fears for a greater purpose, be it for his sake or another's.
(I love this question, it really made me think, and honestly there are scores of more specific reasons but ahhh they're a little spoilery 😭)
Who has brought your OC to tears before?
Aside from other minor OCs, another easy one: Alucard, again. For both good... and not so good reasons. 😅 There's an example below~
What is your OC's "darkness moment" in the plot? (no need to share if spoilers!)
Right off the bat she's met during a "darkness moment" in losing quite literally everything and everyone she's ever known and spends most of the story affected by it in different ways (one involving a bit of a strange fear that developed).
Loss (in all different forms) being a key theme here. Even prior to the narrative, she's experienced a lot since childhood (some indirectly inflicted) which has her go through lengthy bouts of depression and anxiety essentially. Insecurity is also at play that ends up self-sabotaging a lot of forward momentum, especially when she starts feelin' them feelings. 💔
There are a fair amount of darkness moments altogether, nearing the end being the darkest of them and thus a Major spoiler. 🤐 But an early-ish scene example is Elena thinking Alucard is going to die from an unbeknownst 'illness' but, surprise surprise, he doesn't... but the direct aftermath let's just say wasn't handled... delicately, causing quite the fear-based rift between them.
THANK YOU SO MUCH ASKING, DEAR! THE AMOUNT OF FUN I HAD WRITING THESE!!!! *Shrieks* 💙💙💙💙 Will get to the other soon! Just need to polish the writing up a smidge, my first drafts are the messiest of messy! 😅😵💫
It is 4:35 AM, on the 7th of November, 1947.
Doctor John Watson has been missing for a week, and Sherlock Holmes is smoking a pack of cigarettes in his office.
Now when I was thinking about the fates for the three elf fathers and their wives (aka my beloved Cuivienen elves) I noticed that I might have accidentally created some parallels between Iminyë and Elwë.
To summarize Iminyë's general fate I don't actually have to say much because I have not fully fleshed out her story yet, it got some holes and probably will change a bit over time but the general idea is the following:
A few days - days - before Oromë shows up for the first time Iminyē accompanies a small group of Tatyarin healers into the woods in the search for healing herbs. They never return.
Iminyë and the others first get lost in the forest and later on are kidnapped by some servants of the enemy and brought to one of their strongholds. Over time she ends up in Angband. She never sees the light again but it I'm unsure whether she died or not. (I really want to write a snippet now where she survives until Maedhros is captured and has to take care of his wounds from torture so that he cannot die ouch). Her husband Imin doesn't deal well with the loss of his wife and he fades away in grief over the course of the journey westwards, being the first elf to do so.
Elwë similarly gets lost in the woods but instead of the enemy Melian finds him and instead of torture and maybe death love and hope greets him. His people (or at least half of them) never see him again either but he is able to return to those who remain, with his wife by his side and build up a kingdom, have children and all that what Iminyë could never have but wished for dearly.
Just accidental parallels to hurt my fragile heart even more. I swear I don't do this intentionally.
I finally finished Sheehan’s book, Disappearing Act, and I decided to rank which short stories I enjoyed from most to least along with a blurb about why.
Please note that this is not meant to be a proper critique. I am not looking at the stories over-critically or picking them apart piece by piece. These are just my first thoughts and feelings after having read them and are purely subjective.
For other people who have finished the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts, too! I’m itching to discuss some of these. c:
Anyways, without further ado, spoilers for Disappearing Act in the blurbs. The final thoughts at the very bottom are spoiler free.
1. Funeral (1st story) - Fun in a graveyard (haha) humor kind of way. I got very Alfred Hitchcock / Twilight Zone type vibes from this one; the creeping sense of dread in something as grey, familiar, and human as a funeral, or a man coveting someone else’s wife. Love this one. It got a good chuckle out of me despite the subject and I'll definitely read this one again.
2. Skin (4th story) - Terrifying and, along with “Funeral”, probably one of the most well-written of the bunch. I loved the detailing of the main character’s daily life, how her meticulousness and obsessiveness is shown through Rob’s word choices. The slow build toward the climax had my heart racing and my only critique is the Hag's dialog. I’m not fond of overusing dialect and Rob really pushed writing her accent to detail. It slowed down the pacing and I just always find too much accent work in text a little tacky. Still! An excellent story that I’ll probably read again. Great horror.
3. Desert Donkey Legs (8th story) - I love this one. Whimsical, strange, and captures a kind of freedom I think I've only experienced in dreams where I'm flying or, sort of like the main character, running with a superhuman sort of speed and grace (minus the fuzzy legs). I'm sure if I dug deeper, I'd find something more meaningful, but my first impression after reading this one is simply a jealousy for the animal kingdom. It's vicious in reality, but in a romanticized light, a person could almost imagine that most animals have it pretty easy. What does a donkey have to worry about but eating and sleeping? A dog? A cat? A mole? I think this story does a good job of capturing that sort of desire to find freedom outside the restrictions of human society. I enjoy this one a lot and don't actually find it quite as sad as the others.
4. Treasure (9th story) - A disturbing (but thankfully non-explicit) glimpse into the mind of a pedophile. Ranking this one above "Rose" only because I think it's better written and works well as a thriller or horror, and I’ve never cared all too much for fantasy. It’s more grounded in reality than the other pieces, and therefore much more terrifying. Overall a successful, brief character piece that, while jarring, treats the main character with the disgust he’s due. Not much else to say about this one.
5. House In the Country (10th story) - Whoof. If I'm honest, I didn’t know where to rank this one. It’s on par with “Treasure” and I’m only giving it number 5 by a very slim margin, with that margin being that “Treasure” felt much more satisfying by the end as we have the certainty that the criminal got what he deserved and things will look brighter for the town once he’s behind bars. Ian’s death in “House In the Country” was also satisfying, but that satisfaction is ruined by Dylan’s fierce hope for his future and the reader’s knowledge that his television heroes are never going to arrive to save him. This is certainly the heaviest of the stories, but the most well-written. "House In the Country” is the first story where I forgot entirely that I was reading “A Book By Robert Sheehan”, and I was just reading “A Book”, and that’s a great thing. It shows some promise in Sheehan’s ability to branch out into producing more fiction, with a bit more polish. I think I could write a whole essay picking this one apart and talking about the things I loved.
6. Rose (3rd story) - Surreal to the point that I got a little confused at times about the world, which could have done with some better exposition, but beautiful. It reads like a dream twisting to a nightmare and I liked that a lot. I think this story would be best suited as a full novel rather than a short story and of all the stories, I think this is the one I would like to see expanded.
7. We Are All Alive At the Same Time Hurtling Through Space (15th story) - A small glimpse into the affair between an elderly ambassador and her younger attaché. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this one, as it’s really just that, a glimpse, but I liked it a lot for both how it was written and the charm of the characters. I especially loved the bits about how we pick up things from our parents, which they picked up from their parents, and so on and so forth, and how those little things (such as a simple throat-clearing) can survive through generations. Parts of our ancestors and their ancestors live on, forever, through their descendants. There’s just something enamoring about that.
8. Snakes (6th story) - Less interesting than the others, but I enjoyed the twin element and the somber end. I’d like to have something more interesting to say and pick apart the meaning behind the snakes and the reference to Old Dark Magic in relation to Sa, but I’ll need to re-read it. Maybe I’ll do that some other time. Anyway, this one is well done.
9. Salvador Daley (16th story) - This one had an interesting storytelling quality about it that made it feel like being spoken to, face-to-face, at a pub, listening to someone talk about an odd firebug local. There’s really not much else to say about it. This is the second to last story (and the final one written by Rob) and, yeah, definitely think I’m getting tired at this point. Not for a lack of enjoyment, but perhaps a lack of structure.
10. Alleyway (13th story) - This is another head-scratcher. It isn't as surreal as the others, I just don't understand the symbolism behind the alleyway man or the main character's motivation to break his routine. Maybe, just first-thinking, it's a commentary on how wound up in technology and capitalism we all are, how we let it rule our lives and, in a way, turn us into little machines desperate for any sort of positive change. I think the main character breaking routine and going a little nuts to give alleyway man a taste of nature is an example of a person attempting to escape, or maybe symbolic of someone who only pretends to care about the earth at surface level, so long as it's big and loud and leads to internet fame?
11. Medusa (5th story) - Could be the (albeit pretty tastefully written) sex scene that put me off, but I didn’t like this one either, and it was hard to decide whether which I disliked more: this one, or English Def. In the end, I decided I disliked this one the most because there’s a very sudden POV change that tripped me up and pulled me out of the story. It’s also told in second person singular, which can be done well, but this story sort of loses its traction around the middle.
12. No Frills (11th story) - Some nice lines that I really enjoyed and had a decent start but totally unraveled for me halfway through. I'm either too stupid to understand this or way, way too sober.
13. English Def (2nd story) - A trudge. Enjoyed some parts, but overall I didn’t think this one was very pleasant (not that it needs to be! I just didn’t care for it). Again, the overuse of dialect bothered me. I suppose if the goal was to make me really feel like an angry Englishman drunk off his head, then it did a wonderful job lmao
14. Vending Machine (14th story) - Didn’t care for this one. Well-written enough but I don’t think Rob should have written from the standpoint of an American, not because he’s Irish but there’s a few oddities that sort of take me out of the story because I’ve never heard an American speak the way this guy does. But then I don’t know any truckers so maybe it’s a subculture I’m not familiar with. In any case, this one, like most, had some interesting bits, but overall was just too meandering for me. I know that plot is secondary or not even all that important in these stories, but I think some plot is required for a story to be compelling. Even character driven stories or studies say something about the character. This one...? I don't know. I could just be missing something but I feel that I didn't learn anything about this character. If there's any symbolism to be had with the vending machine, its flown straight I've my head.
15. Scab (12th story) - Unfortunately another story I didn't care much for, but with only five more stories to read at this point, I've realized that surreal stories just aren't for me. I think this one could be about self-harm but while the character ends up intentionally hurting himself at the end, that doesn't quite feel right either. Dunno. This one didn’t do much for me personally.
16. Frayed (7th story) - Unlike “No Frills”, “English Def”, and “Medusa”, which... I didn’t like as a whole but could find some spattering of something enjoyable, "Frayed" was an unpleasant read both in style and subject. The concept is intriguing and nightmarish in a way that could be fun, but I don’t like the execution. I think I actually could have been more okay with this one if it hadn't included the yelling for help, shushing, and burping. It went from bizarre, surrealistic horror and veered screeching tires and all into vore fetish territory. Not to shame anyone's kinks, you do you, but it's not for me, and Rob has awakened a whole new squick for me that I didn't even realize I had. So... thanks, Rob, sorry, Rob?
There’s also final short story by Joseph Sheehan (I assume Joe Sheehan, Rob’s dad) which I won’t talk too much about since Rob didn’t write it. It’s nice, though, and has a similar feel as “Salvador Daley”.
SO. Anyway, TLDR, overall thoughts...
Without spoiling too much, Disappearing Act is quite a bit darker than I was led to believe by earlier marketing. Where I expected something fun and light-hearted, I got severe child abuse, attempted mutilation, urine, and potential vore fetish. However. With the exception of “Frayed” which, I’m sorry, I hated, Robert handles his subjects well and the darkest and most disturbing of the stories (”House In the Country”) is actually one of the best written.
Overall, this was a good debut for Rob as an author. It isn’t perfect, many of the stories suffer a bit structurally, and from my rating list, I’d really probably only re-read 1-9, but it’s not a bad book by any means. You can tell that there is a lot of heart behind them, and passion. Rob’s note at the beginning very much makes the book feel like a personable gift to his audience. So even though some lines or stories read like someone trying a little too hard, you can still feel the love and sincerity behind the words, ideas, and whatever he’s trying to convey.
I’m glad to have read it, overjoyed for Rob, and I hope we get to see more of his writing soon. I’m eager to see how he grows and get another peak at that wonderfully strange mind of his.
"I bet Gertrude would be able to do this, you know? She - She would eat a hellscape like this for breakfast."
Jon paused, slowly sitting up from where he had been re-tying his shoelace. His brown eyes met Martin's, growing ever so slightly wider.
"I - don’t think she would have done very well here," he said in a hushed tone, as if realizing some sad truth.
"No?"
"No."
Martin sat beside Jon on the felled tree trunk. Jon had followed Martin with his gaze for a moment but then stopped as if caught, eyes staring out into the middle distance.
Martin recognized the expression on his face.
"Do you… Know that?"
Jon sat up a bit straighter, though the sigh he let out seemed to deflate him at the same time. His eyebrows rose as the brown of his eyes shifted to a glowing, radiated green.
As Jon began his Statement about Gertrude Robinson, eyes beginning to slowly open within his worm scars, Martin was hit by a small wave of deja vu.
Despite all the changes - the scars, the eyes, the deep shadows that never seemed to leave his face - Martin could still see the man Jon had been when he had first joined the Archive.
His hair had been longer then, though anything seemed longer than the buzz cut he currently had. But it had been sleek and proper, every strand in its place, not quite long enough to begin to curl at the edges.
Jon had been wearing glasses.
Martin blinked, having forgotten that.
After waking up from his "coma," Jon had shrugged at the news of his glasses being destroyed in the explosion, having said that he didn't need them anymore.
Martin tried not to dwell on the fact that while Jon's sight had healed beyond what it had been before, his scars had not faded at all.
But it had been so long since he had seen Jon with his glasses on that Martin could almost still see them in their missing silhouette.
It had been just at the start of it all. Jon, still getting used to the Archives, to him and Tim and Sasha and all of their noise. When he had still joined them in the break room during lunch. He had stayed mostly quiet, absorbed in whatever book he had brought that day.
He had certainly had the profile of an archivist then, with his deep red shirt, ivory coat, and those glasses perched on his nose as he read.
Martin liked to watch Jon read. Not the statements, but books or magazines or whatever else he had gotten his hands on. Martin enjoyed the unhurried and steady pace that Jon read - not darting like Tim's or the practiced skim that Sasha had. Jon would read at a comfortable pace, absorbing every word and even then, before the tape recorders, he would lightly move his lips as he read.
There was quite a difference with the man in Martin's memory to the man sitting beside him. Before, his dark skin hadn't been tore into by worms. His hands had been calloused, yes, but not rough like they were now, his left permanently marked by the Desolation.
But what had sparked the memory was the way Jon had sat up, as if lightly thrilled. Just as he had before, when reading.
The way his spine straightened and his eyebrows rose, his breath seeming to faintly hitch. The hand not holding the book had half risen, eventually fidgeting with the leather corded glasses chain at his neck.
Martin had realized that it was Jon's reaction to something exciting or unexpected happening in his book of choice. His body physically reacting as his mind perked up.
It had caught Martin's attention back then, that reaction. For all of Jon's drawling dismissals and eye rolling, it had been a small wonder to see him unable to hide his excitement.
It had caught his attention in the empty, Lonely plane, when Jon's eyes had gotten that same wide look when Martin had seen him. They had been even wider after that first soft kiss, his hands partially raised, hovering just above Martin's arms. His back had been as straight as ever as he had looked up at Martin in a thrilled delight.
It was such a similar movement to when he began a Statement, that it took that thought for Martin to truly see the difference.
Jon still sat straight, his now glowing green eyes wide, eyebrows raised. But his shoulders were slumped, heavy and tired, and his hands lay still on his knees.
He was tired. Even with the growing power of the Ceaseless Watcher, Martin could see how it drained him.
The compulsion to speak, to watch, to state what he was Seeing, what he Knew - it lacked the true unconscious excitement that Martin had originally seen.
He couldn't stop Jon's words. He knew and had accepted that, could feel the way his mouth was locked in place, keeping him from interrupting. He couldn't even tear his eyes off Jon's face.
But Martin reached forward nonetheless, not needing to see as he took Jon's hand that rested on his knee.
Jon's eyes did not turn - they were all still caught in that middle distance, unwavering as they delivered their vision to their master. His words did not falter, his breath hardly hitching at the touch.
But his shoulders raised, the invisible weight on them lifting away. His free hand twitched and moved now with his words, writing an inkless script in the air.
The hand in Martin's turned so that their fingers could lace together. He felt Jon's thumb press gently against the back of his hand in a small, wordless delight.
