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 →

You May Well Ask: Naomi Mitchison’s roaring twenties

‘But my baby died’. That’s the last line in Naomi Mitchison’s second volume of memoirs, You May Well Ask. It's a grim cliff-hanger that isn’t, because this happened in 1940 when she was running a small Scottish estate in Carradale, on a dangling arm of land off western Scotland that snuggles up to Arran in the Firth … Continue reading You May Well Ask: Naomi Mitchison’s roaring twenties →

Kate Wilhelm’s Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang

Three months ago I had never heard of Kate Wilhelm. Science Fiction and other Suspect Ruminations ran a week of Wilhelm guest reviews recently, which alerted me to her existence. I found Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang in Aberdeen's fine second-hand bookshop Books and Beans, a week after that, and carried it home in triumph. Where Late won … Continue reading Kate Wilhelm’s Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang →

Not so much the books I bought, but WHY

I read a lot of book blog posts gloating about bookish treasure finds, but I’m more interested in finding out why they spend the money, not what it was on. This is my most recent tally, which cost me £24.50, very good value. The proprietor held me in conversation on the merits of Ian Dury, with which I … Continue reading Not so much the books I bought, but WHY →