Chris Fosten

@alphaood.bsky.social

101 Followers 144 Following

Reader, poet, writer, listener | 1/3 of The Ood Cast (http://theoodcast.com/)

A bright yellow paperback book - "Ban This Filth! Mary Whitehouse and the battle to keep Britain innocent" by Ben Thompson. The cover has a collage of images either scribbled over or redacted in some way, they feature Alf Garnett, Benny Hill and the Sex Pistols.
The cover of a paperback book: "Going Back" by Penelope Lively, which shows two children running barefoot across a field with ttwo family photos of them below.
The cover of a paperback book: "The Cricket War: the story of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket" by Gideon Haigh, which shows the West Indian bowler Wayne Daniel tossing the ball in front of himself while walking to his bowling mark.
A paperback book, "Chasing Jessop: The Mystery of England Cricket's Oldest Record" by Simon Wilde, the cover of which is red and shows a photo cutout of the cricketer Gilbert Jessop playing an attacking shot.
A paperback book, "Murder at Gull's Nest" by Jess Kidd, the cover of which is bright blue and shows a seagull with a bottle of poison held in its beak standing in front of a distant dark house.
A paperback book, "What Have I Done? My Autobiography" by Ben Elton, the cover of which shows a photo of the author performing with a microphone, with strips of bright pink, blue and orange above and below it.
A paperback book, "The Diary of a Madman and other stories" by Nikolai Gogol, the cover of which shows a line drawing of a dishevelled-looking man.
A rather battered paperback book - "A Far Cry From Kensington" by Muriel Spark - the cover of which shows three stylised versions of some of the main characters; one a larger woman in a red dress, another a man in a blue blazer and purple shirt holding a cup sat on an office chair and another woman in a grey dress behind him.
A paperback book - "Pagans" by James Alastair Henry - the cover of which features a daub of black paint that resolves into a city skyline at the top with a divide in the centre which appears to have a drop of blood hanging from it above two small white figures.
A hardback book - "Enough Said" by Alan Bennett - the cover of which features a photo of the author reclining in a comfortable chair, head supported by his hand on a cheek.
A paperback book - "The Comeback" by Ben Ashenden and Alex Own, a green cover with the cut-outs of the authors' heads on two cartoon bodies performing under a spotlight
A black paperback book, "BFI TV Classics: The Beiderbecke Affair" by William Gallagher, the cover of which shows a series circles of various sizes, each one containing the BFI logo, the title, the author's name and then an image of two middle-aged people holding a baby.
A purple book on a wooden table in front of a cup of tea. The book is "The Way of Julian of Norwich" by Sheila Upjohn, and the cover features a branch tip with some leaves and hazelnuts still intact.
A paperback library book, "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison, the cover of which shows the title surrounded by intricate blue and gold patterning.
A paperback book, "Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" by Grant Naylor, the cover of which shows a space scene with a road sign in the foreground that has been damaged by something that has shot past, leaving a trail behind it.
A hardback library book, "Once Upon a Time in the West Country" by Tony Hawks, the cover of whih shows a photo of the author on a bike facing two small pigs in the foreground.
A library paperback cooy of "Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Promise" by David Stuart Davies, the cover of which shows the silhouette of the great detective holding a pipe and a coin with a pentagram design against a green background.
A library paperback copy of "The Mystery Mile" by Margery Allingham, which shows an image of a red chess piece - a knight - on a black background.
Two paperback books, the first - "Finn Family Moomintroll" by Tove Jansson - is light blue and features a pair of moomins sitting on clouds, and the second - "The Exploits of Moominpappa" by Tove Jansson - is light green and shows a moomin standing on a mountain top holding a sheaf of papers and a walking stick with a flying submarine craft in the sky behind him.
A paperback book - "The Man Who Died Twice" by Richard Osman, the cover of which is dominated by the author name and title, but had a trotting fox in the centre.
Two old paperback books - "Winnie-The-Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" by A..A. Milne - the cover of one showing a small bear looking thoughtfully at some bees and the other showing the same thoughtful bear in a red jumper with a small piglet wearing a green outfit and a young boy dressed in a blue raincoat and hat.
A paperback book - "The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman - the cover showing mostly the title and author name, with a silhouette of a fox in the centre.
A paperback book on a bookshelf - "The Thin Man" by Dashiell Hammett - the cover of which shows a pair of feet in formal shoes walking across a wet street.
A paperback book - "The Box of Delights" adapted for the stage by Piers Torday. The cover shows a wooden box releasing shards of light, creating images of a Mr Punch puppet, a stag and a wolf in the starry sky, while two wolves approach through the snow.
A paperback book - "Death Comes at Christmas" by Gladys Mitchell - the cover of which shows an English village street in thick snow.
A small green paperback book - "The Christmas Thief" by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. The cover shows a close-up of the branches of a Christmas tree with a bauble decorated with an image of a man in a red jumper dragging away a Christmas tree in the snow.
The cover of a paperback books - "The Christmas Train" by David Baldacci - which shows a snowglobe with a steam engine inside.
A light purple paperback book - "A Highland Christmas" by M.C. Beaton. The cover is dominated by the title, but also features a Christmas tree with presents round the base and a fireplace.
Two small paperbacks next to each other, both Doctor Who Target novelisations by Terrance Dicks: "The Destiny of the Daleks," which shows a man with a mop of curly hair and a scarf looking thoughtful surrounded by daleks; and "Four to Doomsday" which shows a man in edwardian cricketing garbage in front of an alien humanoid creature sitting on a throne-like chair.
A slightly battered old paperback book - "Who's Afraid? and other strange stories" by Philippa Pearce. The cover show several images related to the stories within: a startled boy, a dog, a teddy bear with stern-looking eyes and a gentleman playing a violin.
The cover of a paperback book - "The Haunted Library: Tales of cursed books and forbidden shelves" edited by Tanya Kirk. The cover shows an illustration of a woman in a hat entering a library holding a candle to see some ghoulish figures in front of the shelves.
A small hardback book - "The Small Hand" by Susan Hill - the cover of which shows a flowery carved pattern with the shadow of a small boy in the centre.
The cover of a small 1980s paperback - "The House in Norham Gardens" by Penelope Lively, which shows a teenage girl holding a ceremonial tribal shield standing in front of a victorian house.
The cover of a small 1980s paperback - "The Watch House" by Robert Westell, which shows a skill on a dusty floor.
A small blue paperback book - "Haunted Houses" by Aidan Chambers. The cover shows a large, apparently abandoned, old house, with gate falling from its hinges and smashed windows, but with lights in windows of the top floor and a couple of bats flying in the foreground.
The cover of "The Man Who Died" by Antti Tuomainen, which shows the title interweaved through a picture of a human body's nervous system.
An old copy of "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett, which shows a man with a whip holding a rope around another, stooped man, a tree and two men watching, surrounded by a geometric frame of yellow, green, olive and white.
An old paperback copy of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", which features a bird standing on top of a skull
A paperback book, "The Birds and Other Stories" by Daphne du Maurier, on a granite worktop. The cover shows a number of bird shapes, with five of them making the shapes of the word 'Birds'
A blue paperback book on a kitchen worktop. The book is "Hunt for the Golden Scarab" by M.G. Leonard, and the cover shows two children standing in the doorway of an ancient Egyptian temple with magical music flowing around them.
A paperback book standing upright on a table in a train carriage. The book - "The Lost Stradivarius" by J. Meade Falkner - is back with an abstract orange pattern featuring the shape of a violin and things that could be seen as faces.
A yellow paperback book on a stripey rug. The book is "We're Falling Through Space: Doctor Who and celebrating the mundane" by J. David Reed, and the cover features a white mug covered in blue Police boxes at varying angles.
Two paperback books on a bookshelf. One, "The Killing at the Cafe" by Simon Brett, has a white cover showing a china cup and saucer and a half-eaten biscuit next to some bullet casings and blood. The other, "Guilt at the Garage" by Simon Brett, is light green and shows car-related images around he title, as well as a fountain pen and a poison symbol.
The cover of a 1990s Puffin Classics edition of "The Extraordinary Cases of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which shows a close up image of a deerstalker hat, a tobacco pipe and a magnifying glass on top of a newspaper.
The cover of a Puffin Classics edition of "The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which shows a man in a brown coat and deerstalker hat smoking a pipe, a grey haired man in grey tweed cap and coat with him, and in the foreground a dead body being discovered by a maid.
The cover of "Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain" by Amy Jeffs, which features a wood engraving of a tree against the sky, the wood picked out in bronze.
A hardback book, "The Impossible Fortune" by Richard Osman, which features an orange outline which features a small fox silhouetted above the title.
The covers of two Doctor Who novelisations by Christopher H. Bidmead: "Logopolis" which shows the threatening face of the Master and a large satellite dish, and "Castrovalva" which shows the smiling face of the Fifth Doctor in front of a view of space with a number of very bright stars.
The cover of "The House of Shadows" by Paul Doherty,a small green paperback with an illuminated letter H and an illustration of a knight in armour riding a horse.
A copy of the new comic "Who Killed Nessie?" by Paul Cornell and Rachael Smith on a colourfully-striped rug. The cover shows a group of mythical creatures and a human standing round the chalk outline of the Loch Ness Monster's body.
The cover of "Buried in Cornwall" by Janie Bolitho, which shows a copse of trees on the top of a frosty hillside at sunset.
The cover of a well-read 1980s copy of "Winter Holiday" by Arthur Ransome, which shows three children hauling a sledge up a snowy hill.
The cover of "Betjeman's Cornwall" by John Betjeman, which shows a man in a suit and cap holding a walking stick looking out to sea with a beach and hillside in the background.
The cover of "Benton and Hawthorne Investigate" by Lucy McCaul - showing several telephone receivers, the logo of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce and a pentagram.
The cover of an 80s paperback edition of "The Moving Finger" by Agatha Christie, showing a letter being written on a typewriter by a pair of hands wearing yellow gloves.
The cover of "The Poisoning in the Pub" by Simon Brett, featuring images of things associated with pubs: a pub sign, two horse brasses, a dartboard and a pint of beer, as well as a bottle of poison.