unshavedmouse

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Burial Tide Giveaway!

Hey folks! If you’re based in the US, Goodreads are giving away 20 copies of my new horror novel, the Burial Tide! The offer is running until the 29th of June and you can enter HERE.

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"Please. Don't be boring."

It’s not a job I’d want as a writer, I’ll tell you that much. Trying to write the first movie about a black Captain America in such a viciously polarised time is a hell of a poisoned chalice and I don’t envy the approximately eighteen thousand screenwriters who worked on Captain America: Brave New World. What does it mean for a black man to represent America given, y’know, the whole business?…

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The Swan Princess (1994)

There really should be a sub-genre for animators who left Disney during the eighties all ready to set up their own animation studio with blackjack and hookers…only for Disney to get their groove back with The Little Mermaid and eat them alive. We all know of Don Bluth, of course, the one who came closest to unseating the Mouse from its throne. And we’ve also met Phil Nibbelink. Well today we’re…

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Pan (2015)

Old lags on this blog know, from my review of Disney’s Peter Pan written way back in the Hadean Epoch, that JM Barrie’s Peter and Wendy is one of my favourite books of all time. By a strange coincidence, I recently finished reading it to Mini-Mouse (my first full read-through in around fifteen years) and I was once more struck by how achingly beautiful it is purely as a piece of writing. Look at…

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Don't you click on that podcaaaaast! (You're a FOOL if you dare!)

‘Ello! Today’s episode of Now That’s What I Call Nostalgia covers iconic British claymation classic The Trapdoor! We had a great time re-watching and talking about this one.

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Apparently that's a lot? I dunno.

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Disney Reviews with the Unshaved Mouse #63: Moana 2

“You sons of bitches, we were so close. We were so close!“ After a string of godawful mediocrities and outright turds the likes of which the canon hadn’t seen since the earliest years of the millennium, the opportunity was ripe for Disney to start filling the executive-grade wicker basket with heads and put some people in charge with fresh ideas and real talent. But noooooooooooo. Disney…

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More reviews and interviews plug plug plug

Here’s a lovely starred review from Shelf Awareness for Readers and HERE is a link to the March 2025 issue of Story Monsters including an interview with yours truly. Do I wish I lived in a world where shameless self promotion wasn’t necessary to sell a book about fish? Yeah. What’s your point?

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And it's out!(plus new podcast episode!)

My first kid’s book with illustrations by the inestimable Dan Santat is now out! Swim to your nearest bookseller and get your copy of Don’t Trust Fish! And! Join me on Now That’s What I Call Nostalgia! where myself, Spouse of Mouse and Esther talk about Degrassi Junior High, that classic of Canadian television, and where I probably overshare with a story about a misidentified water balloon.

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Distrust is Growing...

Hey all, we are less than a week away from the launch of Don’t Trust Fish and already things are hotting up: Amazon have selected it as one of their best books for ages 3-5 for April Dubray have made it one of their Favourites for April Barnes and Noble have selected it as one of their Best kid’s Books of April And lastly here’s a lovely starred review from Booklist!

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Knock Knock is getting an audio book!

Great news! At long last, Knock Knock, Open Wide will be getting an audiobook version set for release on June 17th. It’s being produced by Tantor Media and will be narrated by Irish actress Aoife McMahon!

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Lá Fhéile Pádraig!

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Judgement at Nuremberg (1961)

You have probably never heard of Theodore Kaufman, an obscure American self-published author who wrote in the 1940s. Hell, even if you’d been living in America in the 1940s you almost certainly would never have heard of him. However, if you were a German living in the Third Reich during the war you would absolutely have known who he was, and would have believed him to be one of the most dangerous…

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Choo Choo!

Join us for the latest episode of Now That’s I Call Nostalgia where we talk about Thomas the Tank Engine Labor disputes! Police corruption! Crime! Prejudice! And an all train remake of The Cask of Amontillado! Fun stuff!

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Waterstones GIVEAWAY!

Hey folks, Waterstones are running a 25% off sale on preorders! But it is! And one of those books is Don’t Trust Fish! https://www.waterstones.com/book/dont-trust-fish/neil-sharpson/dan-santat/9781839136429 Use code PREORDER25 and secure your copy now!

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Into the Woods (2014)

Probably the most thankless job a director can set himself is trying to adapt a beloved stage musical to screen, as the people you most need to win over for your movie to be a success (fans of the stage version) are also the people most likely to tar and feather you in the streets over the slightest deviation from the source material. You may think comic fans get salty about adaptation changes,…

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Cover Reveal!

Hey folks! Delighted that I can reveal this terrifyingly gorgeous cover for my next novel, The Burial Tide! It’s an Irish folklore influenced horror novel (if you liked Knock Knock you’ll dig it) set on a remote island on the west coast of Ireland where nothing is what it seems. Should be hitting shelves 9th of September!