Archive for April, 2026

Library Addition: Two Signed “Garth Marenghi” Firsts

Monday, April 20th, 2026

In 2004, BBC 4 aired Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, a horror parody series satirizing the cheapness of 1980s BBC TV shows, created by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, all supposedly the work of “Garth Marenghi” (Holness), “the only writer to publish more books than he’d read.” Last year, I showed these as the Halloween offering for our regular Saturday movie group. Dwight took that as a license to buy these two signed “Marenghi” firsts and give them to me as a birthday gift.

  • “Marenghi, Garth” (i.e., Matthew Holness). Garth Marenghi’s Incarcerat. Hodder & Stoughton Coronet, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine protected dust jacket, signed by the author (as Marenghi). Received as a gift.

  • “Marenghi, Garth” (i.e., Matthew Holness). Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome. Hodder & Stoughton, 2022. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by the author (as Marenghi). Received as a gift.

  • Congratulations to Pat Cadigan for Beating Cancer

    Friday, April 10th, 2026

    She just posted the good news.

    Yesterday, my oncologist called to give me the results of my latest CT scan and it seems the thing that I didn’t think could happen, happened: there is no more cancer.

    My mind is blown.

    My original oncologist told me I might have two years or less. If you look up the prognosis for recurrent endometrial cancer, median survival is still given as 12 to 15 months. The five-year survival rate is 20% to 55% depending on how it recurs. I managed to hang in for eleven years, and now it’s gone.

    That’s the limit of my coherence right now. There’s a wild party going on in my head.

    Congratulations!