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The Flight of Michael McBride
On her death bed Eileen McBride anoints her son Michael’s left eye with a curious chrism. His father says nothing but lays down an iron railroad spike that Michael puts in his pocket. Afterwards he finds himself attacked and pursued … Continue reading
Sibyl Sue Blue
Amongst the ranks of near-forgotten women SF writers Rosel George Brown is one of the least remembered. Prior to her untimely death aged 41 in 1967 she published one collection of interesting if unspectacular short stories and this novel. A … Continue reading
Strange Devices Of The Sun & Moon
Lisa Goldstein (Tor Books, 1993) London, 1590. Elizabeth is on the throne, her court a roiling mess of intrigue, intelligencers and their paymasters. Playwrights, pamphleteers and poets gather, drink and feud in taverns across the plagued city. And the Fair … Continue reading
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Red Spider White Web
Red Spider White Web is not an easy read. It is intense, relentless, dense and dark. Misha’s prose is fragmented, jagged and/or sensuous, and poetic. Her characters are hard, distorted, tormented. For ten or twenty pages you will wonder where, … Continue reading
Cortez On Jupiter
Ernest Hogan’s debut novel, published in 1990 as part of Ben Bova’s Discoveries series, is a remarkable piece of original SF that is radical in ways that perhaps haven’t really been acknowledged yet. Cortez On Jupiter is the story of … Continue reading
The Weaponry of Deceit
Speculations on Reality in The Wasp Factory Note: this review contains detailed spoilers. The principal plot motivation in Iain Banks’s 1984 Gothic novel The Wasp Factory is the threatened return of the narrator’s brother, Eric Cauldhame, from the asylum in … Continue reading
East of Acre Lane – Alex Wheatle
Alex Wheatle’s second novel, from 2001, is a vivid, brooding depiction of Brixton in early 1981 in the weeks leading up to the riots. The posse at the heart of this novel are a bunch of unemployed black youths just … Continue reading
Post Everything – Luke Haines
Back in the 90s, the britpop wars saw every tabloid and their easily led readers arguing over who was best: Oasis or Blur. Those who believed themselves cooler than that pointed out the ‘correct’ answer should be Pulp. The truly … Continue reading
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Tagged Auteurs, biography, Black Box Recorder, books, Haines, music
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2012
I didn’t make New Year’s Resolutions as such, but I’ve been thinking about plans for this blog in coming months. Firstly, I hope to post more frequently and in more depth. I am pleased with several reviews already on here … Continue reading
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The Best Books of 2011
You know when you don’t think you’ve been keeping up to date, then you make a list? That was 2011. The year at least half a dozen of my favourite authors brought out new books I was desperate to read … Continue reading
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