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MAGAzINE REVIEW - THE CHAp MAGAzINE
bOOk REVIEW - HEARTSTONE bY CJ SANSOM
b i t s a n d b o o k s
In Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, we follow the tribulations of Aunt Dahlia
with her publication M’lady’s Boudoir. Here in Lewes, a splendid ‘mod-
ern’ variant called The Chap magazine is currently published bi-month-
ly. Subtitled a ‘Journal for the Modern Gentleman’, I cannot help but
feel Bertie Wooster would have approved. The editor is G<strong>us</strong>tav Temple,
and other editorial positions include literary, sartorial and ‘whiskerade’.
Examples of the sort of articles it features include one on ‘britches and
hoes’ and another called The Fitting Room ‘Where a gentleman and his
inside leg measurements may be openly and frankly disc<strong>us</strong>sed’.
The Chap shares the premises of the Vintage Shirt Company on Mount
Place and copies can be purchased from the shop, also available by subscription
01778 392022, £3.25 per issue, £20 annual subscription.
The extremely successful historical crime writer, CJ Sansom, lives relatively close to Lewes
and has a new novel coming out on 3rd September called Heartstone. Set in 1545, it is the
fifth in the series featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake. The action takes place during the time
of Henry VIII’s invasion of France, and includes the sinking of the Tudor warship, the Mary
Rose. As with his other novels, the attention to detail is remarkable. He told <strong>us</strong> that Lewes
M<strong>us</strong>eum was a <strong>us</strong>eful resource for researching the 16th century iron ind<strong>us</strong>try, and in the book
he <strong>us</strong>es the legend: ‘Grieve Not My Heart is Thine’ which he found on a fireback displayed
there. Designer of many Viva Lewes covers, Neil Gower, draws maps for the Shardlake
novels, and did a remarkable seven for this one, including a depiction of Shardlake’s journey from London to
Portsmouth and Portsea Island Area including the location of the Royal Tents to the east of Portsmouth.
Published by Mantle, for sale in British Bookshops (or ‘S<strong>us</strong>sex Stationers’ as some of <strong>us</strong> still persist in calling it).
bOOk REVIEW - REpLAY bY TRISTAN DONOVAN
Within weeks of the launch of Tomohiro Nishikado’s revolutionary video game
Space Invaders, Japan saw something of a financial crisis. ‘Children, teenagers
and adults alike flocked to the arcades to join the battle against the alien threat’,
writes Lewes-based author Tristan Donovan, in his j<strong>us</strong>t-published history of Video
Games, Replay. ‘Pachinko parlours, bowling alleys and even grocery stores reinvented
themselves as dedicated Space Invaders arcades. Cafés swapped their tables
for Space Invaders cocktail cabinets… Within three months of its launch Space
Invaders had gobbled up so many 100 yen coins it brought Japan to a standstill,
preventing people from buying subway tickets or <strong>us</strong>ing public telephone boxes.’
Donovan’s book is extremely well-researched, and beautifully written, and takes
you from the very first clunky games that scientists started producing in the fifties, via the revolution ca<strong>us</strong>ed
by Space Invaders, to the incredibly complex multi-million-dollar-making latterday products, with development
staffs in the several hundreds. The author, a freelance writer for publications such as The Guardian and
Stuff, has written the definitive history, it seems, and a great present for an intelligent gamer. Interestingly, he
didn’t call it ‘game over’.
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