Philip Davies’ Lost London

In a former life in the 1990s I used to work for English Heritage as one of its select and overly academic team of ‘monograph’ editors. We published the formal reports on nationally funded excavations and headline-making building-related stories. My four colleagues were the proper archaeologists, so I was the stand-in for architecture. I like architecture, because … Continue reading Philip Davies’ Lost London →

Patriarchal post-apocalyptic retro: David Brin’s The Postman

David Brin’s The Postman (1985) starts really well. I was very impressed with the central conceit, of a man struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic survivalist society who starts a myth of a Restored United States to get the people to cohere around the myth and make it real. But it all fell apart through … Continue reading Patriarchal post-apocalyptic retro: David Brin’s The Postman →

John Updike and The Witches of Eastwick

Today’s letter in the Really Like This Book podcast scripts catch-up is U. I haven't read many authors whose surnames begin with U, and John Updike is not one of my favourite writers. I find his writing about American suburban life in the 1960s and 1970s a bit peculiar. When I read some of his short … Continue reading John Updike and The Witches of Eastwick →

Mike French and Karl Brown: An Android Wakes

An Android Wakes is a graphic novel that’s been put through a centrifuge, restoring it to the traditional form of an illustrated novel, pages of illustration interspersed with short chunks of prose. It’s in an unreconstructed style that is all about traditional sf-dystopic concerns that I first saw in the 1970s in 2000 AD, the first modern … Continue reading Mike French and Karl Brown: An Android Wakes →

The outbreak of war: Angela Thirkell’s Cheerfulness Breaks In

Today's letter in the Really Like This Book podcast series script catch-up is T, so it has to be Angela Thirkell. I've spent several years writing about Thirkell, so I need to remind myself that although she used to be really famous, now she is hardly known at all, unless you're in the Angela Thirkell … Continue reading The outbreak of war: Angela Thirkell’s Cheerfulness Breaks In →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Karen Russell’s short stories

Reading short stories is a calming way to drop off to sleep: you start, you finish, you think about maybe reading one more, you turn the light out. Zzzzz. Not so with Karen Russell: her genius and enticing weirdness makes you read the whole damn lot in one go. She's published two collections of stories … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Karen Russell’s short stories →

A homosexual sf future wrestling with political ecology: Naomi Mitchison’s Solution Three

If you like elliptical, immersive, euphemistic strangeness in your science-fiction narrative, this novel is for you. Published in 1975, Naomi Mitchison's Solution Three retains some slang that was archaic even then, like ‘cat’ for person, which made this reader jump, and certainly adds to the strangeness in the dialogue. Could you ever empathise with a … Continue reading A homosexual sf future wrestling with political ecology: Naomi Mitchison’s Solution Three →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Ursula Buchan’s A Green and Pleasant Land

I met Ursula Buchan a few weeks back, after corresponding by email on and off over a year, and we got on like a house on fire, since we are both researching the same subject but from different angles. She sent me a copy of her most recent book - A Green and Pleasant Land: How England's … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Ursula Buchan’s A Green and Pleasant Land →

Vern Sneider and The Tea-House of the August Moon

Today’s letter is S, and today’s author in the Really Like This Book podcast series catch-up is totally obscure. I present to you The Teahouse of the August Moon, by the American novelist Vern Sneider. This is a gentle comedy about the American occupation of Japan after the Second World War, where the Japanese get the … Continue reading Vern Sneider and The Tea-House of the August Moon →

The joy of genderless space opera: Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword

Some time ago I reviewed Ann Leckie’s debut and multiple-prize-winning sf novel Ancillary Justice. I loved it, and was highly impressed by what I still think is an immense technical achievement: writing fiction in which gender is simply of no importance at all. Leckie has invented a culture in whose language all pronouns are female … Continue reading The joy of genderless space opera: Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword →