Tchaikovsky has written a symphony. There’s a prelude, a motif builds like a repeating storm - variations on a theme - and then the finale. What is itTchaikovsky has written a symphony. There’s a prelude, a motif builds like a repeating storm - variations on a theme - and then the finale. What is it to be human, what is sentience, what is reality? Big questions and answers are provided. Simply stunning (although I pity the editor) ...more
Ho! A book both gentle with the poetry of bees and slick with gore. David's imagining of those early inhabitants of Iona puts flesh on the reliquary, Ho! A book both gentle with the poetry of bees and slick with gore. David's imagining of those early inhabitants of Iona puts flesh on the reliquary, punctures the ball-sack of lust and adds new meaning to 'red sails in the sunset'.
A perfect start to 2024. Sharp as a dagger. Life encapsulated on the tiny holy island our flawed protagonists call home.
You should read it – short and bittersweet. It will stay with you....more
A future Scotland, with its drowned coastline and dependent on nuclear energy forms the background for Peter May's latest. He really is a consummate wA future Scotland, with its drowned coastline and dependent on nuclear energy forms the background for Peter May's latest. He really is a consummate writer, the characters brilliantly rendered with so few words and a plot that drives along like a winter storm, leaving chaos and death in its wake. I have nothing but praise for his imagined future independent Scotland – no tartan shortbread Brigadoon this, rather a version of the land I know where political expediency and lust for power now rides roughshod over everyone's lives.
My only criticism is the mention of an astrological telescope. An astronomical telescope allows the user to time travel – see the observable universe as it once was with the light from distant Earendel reaching the Hubble space telescope after 28 billion years. Maybe Peter May used an astrological telescope to look 30 years into our future? The past is fixed, the future can take an infinite number of paths of which A Winter Grave is one....more
It's a measure of a writer's success when a reader desires to inhabit the worlds they create, to hold the characters in their arms, to experience the It's a measure of a writer's success when a reader desires to inhabit the worlds they create, to hold the characters in their arms, to experience the joy and anguish they endure. In a way, Arkady places her own imago in our minds for reference and consideration. We share their stories in a way not so dissimilar to the Shard trick – but isolated, each of us small bursts of consciousness like stars born and occluded with the opening and closing of a book. And so what is left, at the turning of the last page? A recognition that 'other' will always be seen foremost as threat because that's the way evolution has wired us. A hope that we as a species can escape our programming. A wish that our creativity focusses on culture and improving the lot of our shared humanity. A resignation that we have yet to leave infantile games of hurt and war to mature in wisdom and progress beyond what God or whatever nature would constrain us to do. To reach for the stars, when we are made of Earth....more
My first Doug Johnson book which I scuttled through in a few hours, sharing my time with Sandy so I too have become Enceladus-Human if just for a whilMy first Doug Johnson book which I scuttled through in a few hours, sharing my time with Sandy so I too have become Enceladus-Human if just for a while. Doug Johnson imagines what first contact might be like, taking us on a page-turner where an unlikely band of heroes keep the tentacles of state from, well, Sandy's tentacles. He manages this task with practiced ease, investing each character with all too human traits as our alien struggles to survive.
At heart, this is a story of redemption. A reminder that, no matter how insignificant and damaged we might be, we all have the power to make the universe that little bit better through our actions. Doug also makes the deep point that human life is just one transient facet of life on this planet and we are but an impossibly small drop in an unimaginary vast ocean of universal life.
Let's hope first contact is as understanding of our human foibles as Sandy.
The son is in prison, addicted to heroin and acting as a confessor to the other inmates. What he learns sets in course a tale of revenge and results iThe son is in prison, addicted to heroin and acting as a confessor to the other inmates. What he learns sets in course a tale of revenge and results in him understanding why his father had to die.
Simon Kefas is about to retire from the police, his wife needs expensive medical treatment that he can’t afford.
Set in a world of drugs, child prostitution and bent coppers, The Child exposes the rotten underbelly of Norwegian life which Jo Nesbo eviscerates with the wickedly curved blade of a seasoned crime writer.
Reminding me at times of the Millennium trilogy, Jo’s writing takes you into the world of the hopeless and those who profit from exploitation. Written with the lean prose of a man who hasn’t time to waste words - this is a masterclass in noir....more
Heads up – I'm appearing at a literary festival alongside Rachelle next month so I'm going to be brief.
Scotland is besieged by English refugees seekinHeads up – I'm appearing at a literary festival alongside Rachelle next month so I'm going to be brief.
Scotland is besieged by English refugees seeking water, stopped at the border and subject to instant martial law if they transgress. The story centres on an extended family living on a small farm, the visitors they grudgingly allow in and the developing tensions as survival takes precedence.
I love the richness of the characterisations and the almost inevitable arc of the story. I'm less keen on the absence of speech marks but in places it does help drive the story forward so maybe that's just me.
Set in a near future, the human race continues to destroy species after species in search of profit. Cynical environmental organisations pay lip serviSet in a near future, the human race continues to destroy species after species in search of profit. Cynical environmental organisations pay lip service to protecting the bioverse whilst making a good living from being willing participants in the ongoing extinctions.
Enter the cast: Resaint - a woman whose specialty is in identifying species that can be considered intelligent The Venomous Lumpsucker - such a species Halyard - short seller of environmental bonds Several others including a bioengineer, an Elon Musk clone (not specifically, but the story could have gone that way), AI and a fleeing minister of the environment from the Hermit Kingdom.
There are knowing jokes aplenty here. Our once green and pleasant land now choked with sewage and run by a cabal of upper class morons becomes the Hermit Kingdom. The cynicism of those pretending to protect the environment whilst systematically lining pockets from the exploitation of the same.
A fine read but perhaps a little selective use of the scalpel blade applied to the MS would have made this a 5* but that’s just my subjective view. It’s still worth 4* and a good read for those interested in the arc of the Anthropocene....more
Orphan Mahony returns to the town of his birth, Mulderrig, where his young mother was brutally murdered. He searches for answeFeckin deadly, it is so!
Orphan Mahony returns to the town of his birth, Mulderrig, where his young mother was brutally murdered. He searches for answers, but the town keeps its secrets wrapped tighter than a winding sheet. When Mahony starts digging, the dead come out – inquisitive, amusing, annoying. These shades cling to life, pale facsimiles of who they once were yet they can still love, and hate, and desire vengeance. Mahony sees them all, everyone except for his mother.
He is assisted in his search for truth by Mrs Cauley, an indomitable actress in the last gasp of life herself. Together, they hatch a plot to flush out whoever killed Mahony's mother.
This is a crime novel like no other. Characters formed as full as the head on a Guinness, the good, the bad and the downright evil. Mahony is causing ripples and the townspeople want him gone – one way or another.
The language flows as easy and naturally as the craic in any Irish pub, the jokes and threats jostling beside each other as the pages turn. Yet the plot is as dark as Ireland's favourite stout, the violence brutal.
Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees…
Percival Everett takes a sharp blade to American racism and forensically removes the bollocks obscuring a truth most people would prefer stays hidden. What begins as the murder and mutilation of a few KKK rednecks, with a long-dead Black man the only witness, becomes an apocalypse. Two Black detectives are sent to investigate, their presence barely tolerated in the town of Money, Mississippi where even the whitest cops have a touch of tar running in their veins. In just a few short chapters, deliciously imbued with barbed humour and language so southern you can smell the Mississippi soil, we are introduced to a cast of characters shaped as much by the land as by the all-pervasive racism that runs as deep and as wide as the mighty Mississippi River itself.
This is a book as strange as the fruit hanging from the poplar trees. At times experimental, at times... mental, each short, sharp chapter encourages the reader to look deeper into the poisoned heart of Money and by extrapolation into the racism inherent even/especially in the top echelons of American society.
Don't be fooled by Percival's UncleTomfoolery. This book cuts deep, and none of us should smugly assume that we are innocent - pots calling the kettle black. The fear and repression of 'others' is going great guns – from populist right-wing politics in the UK to communist opportunism in Ukraine; ethnic and religious cleansing in China to the wholesale extermination of native peoples in Brazil or Australia.
An unlikely candidate for the Booker 2022 but a worthy one....more
I have trouble attempting to understand the planet on which we live, so to face the probability that we inhabit one of countless universes - all of whI have trouble attempting to understand the planet on which we live, so to face the probability that we inhabit one of countless universes - all of which have sprung/are springing from some 11 dimensional string soup is a challenging concept to face.
Spread throughout this book are touching anecdotes about the author's life and the challenges of growing up in a restrictive communist regime. These asides are resting places - lower energy benches to regain your mental agility before crossing swords with Einstein and his ilk and facing the improbability that all that we see, and all that we touch doesn’t even begin to reach the sides.
String theory is explained in terms that even I can grasp, the dual nature of matter existing as bundles of wave energy - and quantum entanglement then ain’t so spooky after all. What is spooky is seeing to the edge of everything and realising there’s so much more and facing the fact that, unlike explorers of yore setting sail across an unimaginably large ocean, we may have reached our limits.
The math is kept simple (still headache inducing for me) but the journey to the multiverse is fascinating. More so when the author spells out that the ancient Greeks beat us to it!
If only the human race can survive the next billion years, who knows what we will discover?...more
Lachlan Munro has written the definitive guide to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. I have avoided reading it until I completed my own homage - a moLachlan Munro has written the definitive guide to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. I have avoided reading it until I completed my own homage - a modern re-interpretation inspired by the original - but if you want to know more about the author and his work look no further....more
I very much enjoyed her previous work – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel, – and once beyond the alluring cover of this beautiful volume I was at last ableI very much enjoyed her previous work – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel, – and once beyond the alluring cover of this beautiful volume I was at last able to slip through into the world so lavishly portrayed inside.
Part magical realism, part detective story, partly philosophical but wholly imaginative, Piranesi is the most logical choice to guide us as we wander the partly drowned labyrinth of a classical temple complex too huge to comprehend.
Piranesi lives in a hidden world, his only company the bones of a few forgotten souls and the occasional appearance of the Other – a serious and well-dressed academic whose intentions are never clear. Massive tides flood the building at times, and Piranesi's detailed notebooks help him predict where and when. He spends his time exploring, talking to birds and content to be cared for by the house – living for the most part on a diet of fish and seaweed like a marooned sailor.
All that changes when more people start visiting the house and Piranesi's grip on sanity, and then his life, is threatened.
Not everyone can enter Piranesi's world, both in the story and outside of the story. To be able to do so, you need to access a childlike ability to enter worlds that may be entirely of your imagination, and maybe not. Many adults lose this skill, many never realise what they've lost. But Susanna, you don't need to cry for me. For I've wandered through your ruins with this book upon my knee....more
There's talent here, that's undeniable. And imagination, oh yes! A fine imagination. But how many stars shall I give you?
Forgive me my Sorting Hat whiThere's talent here, that's undeniable. And imagination, oh yes! A fine imagination. But how many stars shall I give you?
Forgive me my Sorting Hat whimsy, but the whole process of writing a book is more akin to magic than anything else – and Ann Leckie had me entranced from cover to cover. I think it's the Hugo and Arthur C Clarke awards, together with the 'next Iain M Banks' tag that lost a star. Expectations were raised too high although this is as fine a piece of SF as I've read since The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet with which it shares a similar confusion and blurring of gender – something of a reflection of the times we live in as the black and white standard definition of our sexuality adapts to more vibrant rainbow colours under clearer optics.
The Banks tag I can understand, ship's minds, multiple worlds, thousands of years, immortality – all valid constructs in a Culture novel. Here Ann Leckie takes the single mind in multiple avatars ball and runs with it (them) until we have an interstellar Quidditch game with no idea of the rules.
As a pre-teen I emptied my local library of SF books, devouring anything with the merest hint of a spaceship on the cover until I had to start searching the adult shelves for new material, with the occasional 'do your parents know you're reading this?' from the librarian who acted as censor in all things. This book would be allowed out: no real sex scenes; little swearing; some violence – yet at heart it deals with far more seditious material. What if your leader(s) were working for themselves and not for the people, the empire, they created? How ruthless would they be in suppressing any truth which might cause the natural order to become unstable – or, Gods forbid – overturned?
Therein lies the true message hidden under a cloak of invisibility, only too real in today's geopolitical landscape. SF can see into the future, it can sometimes prophesize, often it can warn us that the path we follow isn't necessarily the road we should be on. Ann Leckie does all of this, and keeps me entertained at the same time. Now that is magic!...more
Carlo Rovelli's Helgoland is more philosophy than quantum physics, but when you look deeply into the smallest particles of nature that is what you areCarlo Rovelli's Helgoland is more philosophy than quantum physics, but when you look deeply into the smallest particles of nature that is what you are faced with. Merely observing quantum effects changes what we fondly if naively understand as reality. If you understand quantum theory then you really haven't been paying attention.
This is a heady wee volume, a deceptively small book containing some big ideas – ones that have the power of forcing the reader to consider what is the nature of matter; what am I? Carlo brings some big guns to play, from the big-hitters in physics like Bohr, Heisenberg, Planck, Einstein to philosophers such as Bogdanov and Nagarjuna. It is not an easy book to read – why should it be when it questions something as basic as reality?
He writes conversationally, as if he an I were sat at a pub table sharing a beer and discussing the very fabric of reality (as you do), casually dropping references to Lenin and Shakespeare to make a point more lucid.
Unusually for me, I'm going to have to read this again. And then at least once more; if only because this is not something easily digested at the one sitting.
I'll leave you with a quote he uses, from Shakespeare's last work The Tempest, as it sums up the book for me:
The Fortean Times meets a science-fictionalised The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, tipping a knowing (or unknowing) nod towards Gaia, Roger ZelaznyThe Fortean Times meets a science-fictionalised The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, tipping a knowing (or unknowing) nod towards Gaia, Roger Zelazny's Chronicles in Amber series, ancient norse mythology's Yggdrasil and fascist leanings within England's present politics.
The story starts on Bodmin Moor, one of those ancient places on our islands that I always found to be 'thin' and it's not long before we're not in Bodmin anymore. This is a mighty big book, in terms of reach and content, exploring worlds and possibilities in the way a global entity may play with dice. On the whole I think it worked, characters well drawn and true to themselves if slightly comic book in places. I particularly liked the ending(s) although the vast reaches of the universe serve merely as a mute background to Earth.
At its heart the book deals with the age-old problem of whether to cleave to isolationism or follow the road to multiculturalism of the highest order.
Adrian loses a star simply because a lesbian, after meeting her partner after 4 years unexplained absence – and arriving in a completely different dimension populated by sentient turkeys living in tents on a grassy plain – bewilderingly asks what she does for sanitary products when I'm sure other questions would have taken precedence. It's a small niggle, but a niggle nevertheless.
It is still a great book and I can heartily recommend it. ...more
The first book I’ve read by Craig Russell and it’s a finely detailed and textured telling of RLS’s encounter with Hyde - and the story he was told. ClThe first book I’ve read by Craig Russell and it’s a finely detailed and textured telling of RLS’s encounter with Hyde - and the story he was told. Clever writing, intricate in execution and with a flavour of the original story flowing in its veins.
I am only astonished at the coincidences to my own retelling of RLS’s Kidnapped - even to the sharing of my leading character’s name. But that, as they say, is another story (and one yet to be published).
Becky Chambers, much like the divergent mix of aliens sharing the cramped quarters of the Wayfarer, isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers with this taBecky Chambers, much like the divergent mix of aliens sharing the cramped quarters of the Wayfarer, isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers with this tale of exploration of inner and outer space. She bucks the trend; not only in crowdfunding her self-published book which attracted so many sales that it was snapped up by a commercial publisher - but in describing alien races that are truly alien. Inter-species sex? Sure, why not? I can see a few people might stop reading as the characters perform out of the usual sci-fi constraints and start behaving more as, well, people. If that means they are selfish, obsessive, sick, dependent, in love, in lust then that makes it all the more real. It’s slightly sad that many reviews concentrate on the ‘gay’ aspects when there’s so much more going on. The rights of sentient AI for one, the loyalty that binds a crew together, the pursuit of ambi (a precious commodity), outcasts, clones - not many stones left unturned. Becky spins some big universal concerns whilst the plot rattles along so easily that I can almost forget the hours and effort this book must have demanded of the writer. It’s good to read a story where even the aliens feel real. ...more
Sorry, could not finish and it's been put aside for so long I can't find it anymore. Nothing against the subject matter which is fascinating, I just cSorry, could not finish and it's been put aside for so long I can't find it anymore. Nothing against the subject matter which is fascinating, I just couldn't get on with Stephen's chummy writing style. It's a me thing rather than any criticism of Stephen – many people find his approach engaging and refreshingly conversational.
I may search out a more scholarly text at some point to fill in the huge gaps in my knowledge....more
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