A perfect Sunday with... Eddie Robson
The Third Man, Parks and Rec, and Sunday's greatest indulgence
Every week, a top writer, artist, actor or creator reveals how they’d fill their perfect Sunday, sharing their favourite comfort reads, movies, food… anything that would make their weekend great.
Today, it's the turn of author of The Heist of Hollow London, Eddie Robson!
Eddie's perfect Sunday… brunch
I love a full English breakfast, but I also love taking the opportunity to have what is basically dessert for a meal, so I’ll say pancakes or waffles with bacon. Maybe pancakes with bacon followed by waffles with blueberries. And a proper amount of maple syrup, not the stingy thimblefuls some cafés try to give you.
Eddie's perfect Sunday… read
How To Be Both by Ali Smith. I read this for the first time a couple of years ago and loved it so much I did something I’ve never done with a book before. Immediately after finishing it, I turned it around and started reading it again. Partly because of its unusual structure – it’s got two narratives and half the copies were printed with them one way round, half with them the other way round, and I wanted to see how the first half read after experiencing the second – but also because it’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read. Smith’s writing is
so clever, vivid and funny.
Eddie's perfect Sunday… comic
The Motherless Oven by Rob Davis, and its sequels.
I’m in awe of the imagination of these books, which are about three schoolkids in a twisted world that’s roughly located between the mid-60s and the mid-80s. I own the original artwork of Vera standing on Scarper’s front doorstep holding a table to protect herself from a hailstorm of knives, so I see it every day.
Eddie's perfect Sunday... movie
The Third Man. Old movies play best on Sundays, I think – something made before, I dunno, 1965 – and this is pretty much my favourite movie of all time.
I’ve ripped it off so many times. If I can’t think what do with a plot, I nick something from The Third Man. It’s never failed me yet. I’ve just done it again, actually, with my next book.
Eddie's perfect Sunday... TV binge
The obvious answer is Doctor Who, but actually comedy is good for a Sunday, something more relaxed and lower stakes. I’ve been rewatching Parks & Recreation with my kids recently, and have been reminded how incredibly joke-dense it is, some of the best writing you’ll see anywhere.
Eddie's perfect Sunday… podcast
Like everyone who listens to Andrew Hickey’s A History Of Rock Music In 500 Songs, I recommend it to anyone who has any interest in 20th-century popular music. I prefer this format to the “relaxed chat” you get on most music podcasts – it’s packed with information and analysis, and you learn so much it’s actually hard to retain it all. I’ve listened to every episode of the main podcast, I’m now listening to it all again with the bonus episodes. When you start, it feels like a mountain to climb, but once you’re hooked, you can’t get enough.
Eddie's perfect Sunday… album
On a sunny summer Sunday, something psychedelic like Jane Weaver’s Loops In The Secret Society or Dangerdoom’s The Mouse And The Mask. If it’s a grey day, one to stay indoors: Scott 3 by Scott Walker or Gonna Take A Miracle by Lauro Nyro & Labelle. I’m a big Beatles fan and recently picked up a copy of their long-out-of-print Love Songs compilation, which struck me as a Sunday-vibes Beatles album.
Eddie's perfect Sunday… treat
I’m resisting getting any more LEGO sets because I’ve run out of space to display them – but it’s a great indulgence, a few hours to build some LEGO.
Eddie Robson's THE HEIST OF HOLLOW LONDON arrives 30th September in the USA and 30th October in the UK, published by Tor
In games of betrayal everyone loses.
Arlo and Drienne are ‘mades’—clones of company executives, deemed important enough to be saved should their health fail. Mades work around the clock to pay off the debt incurred by their creation, though most are Reaped—killed and harvested for organs when their corporate counterparts are in medical need.
But when the impossible happens and the too-big-to-fail company that owns them collapses, Arlo and Drienne find themselves purchased by a scientist who has a job for them.
The reward: Debt paid off, freedom from servitude, and enough cash to last a lifetime.
The job: Infiltrate a highly secure corporate reclamation facility in the heart of dead London and steal a data drive.
They’re going to need a team.
As well as The Heist of Hollow London, Eddie Robson is the author of Drunk On All Your Strange New Words, Hearts Of Oak and Tomorrow Never Knows. He created and wrote the BBC Radio sitcom Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully and the Audible rom-com Car Crash. He has also written episodes of Sarah & Duck and The Amazing World Of Gumball; many non-fiction books about video games, film, TV and music; comic strips for 2000AD; and more Doctor Who stories in different media than he can count. He lives in Lancaster.
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