K.J. Heritage video thumbnail for The Peculiar Case of the Missing Mondrian archive

The Missing Mondrian Archive: 15 Questions, One Stolen Painting

A few years ago, just after the publication of The Peculiar Case of the Missing Mondrian, I recorded a series of short author Q&A videos that have subsequently sat on my hard drive doing the electronic equivalent of 'bugger all'

So I rescued them from their digital cupboard, brushed off the virtual dust and dragged them back out into the daylight...

There were about twenty-five of them, but after one of those tedious sessions of being forced to watch yourself over and over, I wittled it down to a YouTube happy fifteen - just the right number for a playlist.

They cover, among other things, the origins of the book, Piet Mondrian, Jim Riven, Landa, the Girl with the Nice Boots, where the characters came from, how autism affects my writing, how I started writing in the first place and whether writers actually enjoy writing.

Spoiler: apparently I don’t. Mostly...

It's 'interesting' listening to me witter on about things that I found myself nodding along with, although a few things in my process have changed since then. See it as a behind-the-scenes, under-the-bonnet, kind of thing.

If you don't know much about The Peculiar Case of the Missing Mondrian, let me explain: it's a particularly ambitious paranormal coincidence mystery concerning the main character, Jim Riven, a man whose own ambitions stretch to nothing more than being left alone to drink the occasional lager. The universe, however, has a very different set of ideas.

The videos have now been collected into a single YouTube playlist:

The Peculiar Case of the Missing Mondrian | Behind the Book

You can watch the lot or simply pick whichever question sounds least tedious...

 

Doctor Who Christmas Specials, edited by Baz Greenland

Your Doctor Who Christmas Stocking Filler

It's been a lean 2025 from me regarding book releases (this is the first year in over a decade where I've not published anything), but I've just snuck in at the last moment courtesy of Baz Greenland and Doctor Who, with my entry in his book: Doctor Who Christmas Specials.

I give my thoughts on The Runaway Bride, and as one early reviewer put it: "K.J.Heritage's take on the Runaway Bride is the very best thing I've ever read, ever, honestly". So don't miss it. The perfect Christmas Gift for the Whovonian in your life. This, or a very long scarf!

Here's an excerpt thingy: 

This Christmas Special, instead of embracing the festive season with warmth, nostalgia, and a thick slice of whimsy, charges at full tilt in the opposite direction.

Nostalgia? No. Warmth? No. Whimsy? No effing way. Instead, it has themes of genocidal rage, poisoning, murder and some quite awful emotional trauma. Oh, and shouting.

A helluva lot of shouting.

Sure, there are a few nods to the festive season—passive-aggressive, taxiing robotic brass-band Santas, spinning exploding Christmas tree baubles, and some other minor unexploding seasonal décor, not helped by the fact that the outdoor sequences all take place in what looks like the middle of summer.

Add an unseasonal giant spider lurking beneath the London Thames Barrier who just happens to own a rather dangerous Christmas star-shaped spaceship with Lightning Attack’ enabled and we end up with an entertaining Christmas-like diversion.

But is it a Christmas Special?

Not quite.