A perfect Sunday with... Tim Lebbon
Stephen King's end of the world, Preacher and coffee followed by cake!
Back for a new season! 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 all-star horror author and tip-top bloke, Tim Lebbon!
Tim's perfect Sunday… brunch
Ahhh, Sunday, when we sleep in til mid-morning, get up and sit in the garden listening to the birds tweet and soaking up the sun, drinking coffee and having a long breakfast before – oh wait, hang on. We have a puppy, so we're up at 7am!
We both enjoy exercise, so by mid-morning I'm usually up a mountain, and my wife's in the pool. But that doesn't mean to say I don't like a Sunday snack that I tend not to eat during the week. And that's avocado and scrambled egg on toasted sourdough (with chilli and lemon juice in the avocado, of course), with a coffee the size of a bucket. Heaven.
Tim's perfect Sunday… read
I have a short story in the massive new anthology The End Of The World As We Know It, which contains three dozen stories set in the world of Stephen King's epic novel The Stand. It's been my favourite novel since I was a teen, and to write this story I had to re-read it yet again (for maybe the sixth or seventh time). And it is still epic, inspirational, and also remains my favourite novel.
Writing that story was a labour of love, and I can't imagine a more perfect novel to settle down with on a Sunday – in a garden chair in the summer, or in a cosy chair inside when the rains fall and the winds blow outside. With our puppy tired out from a long walk and asleep beside me, of course.
Tim's perfect Sunday… comic
Unlike a lot of my peers I came to comics and graphic novels quite late, but I adore Gareth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher.
The comic's great – deep, powerful, profound, violent, funny, sad – and I loved the TV series as well. Maybe some might not view it as appropriate for a Sunday, but I think it's terrific.
Tim's perfect Sunday... movie
Back when I was a kid it was undoubtedly Jason and the Argonauts, a film that I still think is brilliant (and the skeleton fighting scene still sends a shiver down my spine). But now I'd probably choose either Aliens or, if I was in a more chilled mood, Fellowship of The Ring (director's cuts in both cases because it's Sunday and the afternoon lasts forever!)
Aliens is my favourite film of all time, and getting to write novels in that universe has been a real gift. Sigourney Weaver as Ripley delivers some of the best acting I've ever seen. Among all the chaos and carnage, she can convey so much with a half-smile or a raised eyebrow. Sheer brilliance.
Tim's perfect Sunday... TV binge
One of my fave TV series of all time is The Shield. I've only watched it all the way through once – it's seven seasons, and there's so much new TV to watch – but give me a few long empty Sundays and I could easily immerse myself back in the gritty, grimy world of Vic Mackey and the Strike Team again. Groundbreaking TV at the time, it's held up so well, and is Shakesperean in its scope and storytelling.
Oh, and maybe Battlestar Galactica (new version) for the evenings!
Tim's perfect Sunday… podcast
I'm a big fan of Talking Scared, of course. And for a few laughs I still listen to Parenting Hell (Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe are hilarious). I also dip into the Rich Roll Podcast, and Feel Better, Live More, but they might be a bit heavy for a Sunday. I keep thinking about starting a podcast of my own … but probably not on a Sunday.
Tim's perfect Sunday… album
Wow… this is a tough one, because I'm a huge music fan. I listen to music almost from the moment I get up to when I go to bed, even when I'm writing (that has to be either instrumental, or music I know so well that lyrics don't intrude), but to come up with a perfect Sunday album is difficult. And hey, Sunday's a long day when you've nothing else happening, so it'll be a few albums at least. So here's a Sunday playlist:
Blast from the past: Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirror – Fish (his first post-Marillion album is a classic)
Something chill: Sunny Side Up – Paolo Nutini (one of my favourite artists, I wish he'd tour more!)
Sunday grungy: Viagr Aboys – Viagra Boys (only discovered this band recently, adore them)
Fresh punk: Cartoon Darkness – Amyl and the Sniffers (superb live band, raw attitude, great outlook)
All-rounder: England Keep My Bones – Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls (sublime punk-folk-rock)
And for a super-chill evening, anything by Mogwai.
Tim's perfect Sunday… treat
A walk with our dog Otis, through the local woods (where I estimate we've walked about 5,000 times or more, and I never get bored of that place… from bluebell spring to lush summer, colourful autumn and frost-speckled winter, it's a sheer delight), to our favouite cafe Baffle Haus. Lunch there – watching some of the cool bikes, or chatting with friends – with coffee and a cake to follow, then a walk back home along the local canal. Otis will swim, and he might get a bit smelly, but he doesn't mind the garden hose when he gets home. And by then it's time for another coffee. Bliss.
A dark folk horror tale of a deadly family curse, crime and murder that is sure to turn your blood cold, from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Netflix’s The Silence.
When Jodi, BB and Matt decide to burgle a derelict country home as a thrilling dare, they become embroiled in a twisted legacy of supernatural terror. There are rumours of a bizarre curse hanging over the hoard of antiques and jewellery within the house. And unbeknownst to the others, one member of the trio has darker motives for breaking into the property.
Lem is a brutal man obsessed with a gruesome family legend. He is determined to right the wrongs of the past and lift the curse placed on his bloodline. By completing the work of his father and bringing a bizarre selection of scattered relics back together, he hopes to be free of the malign influence that has hounded every generation of his family for two centuries.
Across a single day a deadly pursuit will culminate on the desolate, storm-swept Crow Island, and those involved are given cause to wonder… can believing in a curse deeply enough bring its own bad luck?
Tim Lebbon is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s written over fifty novels, as well as hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is Secret Lives of the Dead. He has won a World Fantasy Award, four British Fantasy Awards, a Dragon Award and a Scribe Award. His novel The Silence is a movie on Netflix starring Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka. The movie of his novella Pay The Ghost stars Nicolas Cage.
Tim has written extensively in existing universes including Alien, Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Star Wars, Firefly and Hellboy novels. He also novelized the movies 30 Days of Night, The Cabin in the Woods, and Kong: Skull Island.
He has written computer games, comics, and audio dramas. He is currently developing more novels, and both original and adapted screen projects.
He loves the outdoors, and spends a lot of time walking, running, cycling and swimming around the British countryside. He's competed in many Ironman and other triathlons. He's a huge music fan, and believes you're never too old to jump up and down in a mosh pit.
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