Welcome back to On The Fly with Jon Gill – the first ever sponsored edition no less.

Polaris Publishing have sponsored this episode – they are the publisher of this episode’s guest Jonathan Melville who has a new book out, A Kind of Magic [“an engrossing read” – Total Film], a behind the scenes look at the ’85 sci-fi classic Highlander.

I first met Jonathan 10 years ago – and the great thing about him is that he simply writes about things he loves… he’s a full on genuine fan who has managed to turn his hobby into a job.

Based in Edinburgh, has written for the Guardian, The Scotsman, SFX magazine and Radio Scotland. He’s currently working on another Polaris book, a behind the scene look at another 80s classic, Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero.

In this pod we talk about the book and writing in general – the challenges of getting interviews with the likes of Clancy Brown and Chris Lambert – not to mention what it took to get Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen who worked on the soundtrack.

We also touch on his previous book Seeking Perfection an unofficial guide to the 80’s comedy monster movie Tremors – as well as Jim Henson and the Muppets and other properties Jonathan has in mind to cover in the future.

Find Jonathan on Twitter

Giveaway!

Polaris Publishing are developing a fantastic line of movie-related books from Jonathan's A Kind of Magic to Nige Tassell's And It's a Beautiful Day a companion to the Coen Brothers Fargo – John Rain's hilarious look at Bond in Thunderbook and 80s action movies in Explodobook.

Coming in 2022 is AJ Black's A Cinematic Connery; a revised and updated edition of Brian J Robb's Screams and Nightmares and Jonathan Melville's new book on the making of Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero.

You can these an a whole raft of other titles at www.polarispublishing.com
Follow Polaris on Twitter

However, if you have an aversion to paying for books – 1. Please get that looked at, but 2. Indulge yourself with the first OnTheFly giveaway courtesy of Polaris Publishing:

To win a limited, signed, hardback copy of A Kind of Magic, all you need to do is share a link to this podcast on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

One lucky winner will be picked from each platform.
Remember and tag me @OnTheSuperfly and hashtags #OnTheFlyPodcast and #Giveaway I may not see your entry. Feel free to share on all platforms, but you will only win once ;)
Deadline for the competition is 18 September 2021.

Thanks to Pete at Polaris for making this happen and sponsoring this episode – follow Pete on Twitter