The hole in the pantry

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Rel
I wrote this earlier this week, for a performance with Sid Calderbank, the Lancashire Society, and Lancashire Authors’ Association at Tarleton Library.

It’s based on a true story. There was a crack in my grandma’s pantry floor. There probably still is. It came and went. I cannot promise that it reached down to hell.

T’ole in grandma’s pantry, came and went tha see
She sed th’ was a mahn shaft
That fell, infernally
My teddy fell in, Jasper
Was found just half a ted
T’ole ‘d et his body
And left mi wi his ed
Mi mam sed that were rubbish
Twas no more than an inch
A slight case of subsidence
Two inches, at a pinch
Big sister, she knew better
She’d erd wha t’owd folks tell
In’t night that ole in’t pantry
Was like a wishing well
What’s that yer saying mister?
That ah’m t’oldest one?
Ah did have a big sister
But sadly, now, she’s gone
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September 2024 book blog

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Rel

After the leviathan of a book that was ‘999’, I stuck to shorter volumes in September. The first was ‘Underground’ by Al Ramsay. Al is a local author and we’ve known each other for a while. ‘Underground’ came out around the same time as my own book, “Hearts’ Home”, so we met up for a book swap, a coffee and a natter in The Artisan Deli, a rather nice cafe in Penwortham. This is a very civilised way of acquiring reading material, but I would stress that you should have other reasons for writing and publishing a book. If the tax man is reading this, don’t worry, my publishing balance sheet is still so far into the red we’re talking infra. Having read and enjoyed the previous books in the series I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while. If you’re looking for a quick, fun read with lots of laughs, this is for you. Felix is a teenager living with his parents and his kid sister. He’s at an awkward age, and probably always will be. His ambition is to be a successful journalist, and to this end he has set up an online news outlet, focusing on local news. Suspecting that a local landmark has been sold for scrap, he makes a late night visit to a local scrapyard to gather evidence … at which point his life comes tumbling down. With a mix of global geopolitics, eco-activist cells, a terrifyingly jolly funeral director and Felix’s auntie’s late old flame all mixed into the plot, this story has a cliff hanger at the end of every chapter. Lots of fun, I hope there’ll be another Felix story.

From Al to David… my next read was ‘Incorcisms’ by the always delightful David Hartley. Many years ago, when the world was young and David Hartley was even younger, we went to some of the same open mike reading events and I was struck by his imagination and skill with the written word. Since then, he’s gone and gotten himself a PhD and has published several collections of short and flash fiction. Treat yourself, read ’em all, they’re brilliant. A lot of them are very dark, most of them are very funny if you like it dark. I followed up ‘Incorcisms’ with two more of his short story collections, ‘Fauna’ and ‘Spiderseed’. I recommend them with absolutely no hesitation at all.

By now, it was clear that September was going to be a month for reading books by people from the North West who I’ve met a time or two. Caroline Blake and I first crossed paths at the excellent ‘Telling Tales’ book event at Chorley Theatre. She came to the first event, where I was reading, and I went to the second event, where she was reading. I bought ‘Just Breathe’ after hearing her read from it. It’s a well structured story with several interesting characters and a great premise. If you enjoy intelligently written contemporary romance, this may be the book for you.

My next read was by David Hartley’s dad, Pete Hartley. David kindly added ‘Ice and Lemon’ as a freebie when I bought a book bundle from him. I was wondering if I’d perhaps ruined my perfect September score of only reading books by people I’ve met, then I read Pete’s blog and realised that we attended at least one of the same writing events in Chorley many years ago. He got an entire book from it, I got a rather strained flash fiction. But we must have met, it was a small event and I’m fairly sure I spoke to everyone there.

Do not judge this book by its cover. It looks vaguely chick lit, vaguely rom com. It looks like a holiday read, something to take to the beach and read without thinking. It isn’t. The premise of the book is that everything dies, instantly. Bacteria, viruses, cows, cats, worms, centipedes. Everything on Earth just stops living. Except … Except for a few scattered humans who were high in the air at the time, travelling by plane to or from somewhere. A surprising number of these people manage to land safely, and thus follows a fairly standard, if somewhat bleaker than most, post apocalypse story. The fun part for me is that the story is set where I live. I know the hotel where the survivors hole up, the football stadium where our protagonist searches for his dead family, I shop at the supermarket which becomes the larder for our first group of survivors. I will never see my local B&Q in the same light again. And so, on with the story. It’s a decently plotted sf story with a nice idea behind it. It gets a bit meta and mystical towards the end, but not too much so. I enjoyed it, and have passed it on to a friend. Last thoughts – is the ‘Citric Chronicles Book 1’ a reflection of some future plan for a sequel, or a cute reference to the unwritten sequel which is one of the books McGuffins?

And then, right at the end of the month, I blew it. I didn’t have to, there are a couple of unread, indie books on my tbr pile written by authors that I’ve met at least once and who live in North West England, but I failed. I went to a fair to sell my own books and completely forgot to take something to read. I’d forgotten to bring my ‘currently reading’ so did something I never do … I bought a cheap paperback from a nearby supermarket. It was that or a magazine, and ‘The Gathering’ by C J Tudor was probably roughly the same price. I don’t usually do thrillers or murdery things, but this book promised vampires, and I was tempted. I read it in the space of seven hours of sitting behind my stall, whilst, of course, trying to engage with potential customers. Another stallholder saw me reading it, and came over to rave about C J Tudor and ask me if I’d read any of her other books. I had to confess that this writer was completely new to me. My new friend hadn’t yet read this book, so I happily passed it to her when I finished it. So, it was a gripping, easy read with a decent plot, interesting characters and some nice worldbuilding. If you like police murder mystery thriller things with vampires, you’ll love this.

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August 2024 book blog

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Rel

I’d say that in August, I was mostly reading books by Tej Turner; with the exception of an absolutely huge anthology that is celebrating its quarter century this year. Strictly speaking, I didn’t finish it until mid September, but I read most of it in August, and if I leave it out, my August reading doesn’t look brilliant.

Let’s get ‘999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense’ edited by Al Sarrntonio, out of the way first. I was reading this all month, dipping into other books for light relief. It’s been on the shelves since I first read it on publication, and I’ve been giving it the side eye for about ten years now, wondering if I’d ever get round to reading it again. Anyway, I did. Whew! This is a big book. I bought it when it first came out, as a collection of horror and suspense stories that was issued to celebrate the millennium. Hence the 999, for 1999. Also, I guess, for the UK emergency number, although this is a very US centric collection.

There are a lot of stories in this book. It’s a huge book. It’s massive, and heavy, and that’s probably why it took me so long to re-read it. It’s also surprisingly archaic in places, and also male author heavy, as many surprisingly recent anthologies are. I know, 25 years old isn’t ‘surprisingly recent’ unless you’re in late middle age and remember buying it on publication, but still …

Let’s tackle these notes in some kind of order. First, the ‘short novel’, by William Peter Blatty. ‘Elsewhere’ is a ghost story that is screaming out for a film or TV adaptation. It reads more like a screenplay than a novel, and is dialogue heavy. It’s a nice idea, but I found it a long read for a short novel.

Then there are the three novellas. ‘The Ruins of Contracoeur’ by Joyce Carol Oates is the first in the book and is one of only three stories by a female writer in the book, out of a total of twenty nine. It has, of course, all the grace and skill that you’d expect of the author, with a hint of something that is never quite revealed. David Morrell’s ‘Rio Grande Gothic’ is a tense story that drew me in and did not disappoint. ‘Mad Dog Summer’ is a Bram Stoker Award winning tale from Joe R Lansdale. I loved this Harper Lee meets Stephen King story about a series of murders and the free range kids of busy but honourable parents. The landscape is truly another character in this story.

On to the eight novelettes. Kim Newman’s “Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue” is exactly what you’d expect of a late 20th century Kim Newman story. It’s got zombies, black humour and a morally dubious protagonist. I loved it. On to Stephen King’s ‘The Road Virus Heads North’, which was also featured in King’s own anthology ‘Everything’s Eventual’. For me, this is a classic King story, with that sense of mounting dread and inescapable doom that he does so well. It still frightens me, a quarter of a century later. “Good Friday” by F. Paul Wilson is a lovely vampire apocalypse story that could well serve as an origin story for a vampire hunter. “An Exaltation of Termagants” by Eric Van Lustbader is a nice story with a predictable ending. Ramsey Campbell’s ‘The Entertainment’ is classic Campbell, drawing us into the dank and shadowy grotesque world of the story with no mercy at all. “The Shadow, The Darkness” by Thomas Ligotti is a stylish and dark story that left me with an impression of a place and time but, three weeks after reading it, I can’t remember the plot at all. I do remember enjoying it though. Gene Wolfe’s ‘The Tree is my Hat” is a lovely disconnected ghost story and one of the highlights of the collection. Finally, for the novelettes, “Rehearsals” by Thomas F. Monteleone is a rather sweet redemption story, which doesn’t quite belong in this collection, but does provide some relief from the darkness.

So, on to the short stories. I’d forgotten how much I love Thomas M Disch stories, but ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ reminded me. This story alone would make the anthology worth buying, it’s just perfect. “Keepsakes and Treasures: A Love Story” by Neil Gaiman is about a boy’s love for his mother, kind of. “Growing Things” by T.E.D. Klein is a fascinating story that keeps everything in the subtext, I enjoyed it. It may grow on you. “Excerpts from the Records of the New Zodiac and the Diaries of Henry Watson Fairfax” by Chet Williamson is one of only two stories that I remembered reading the first time round, a quarter of a century ago. If anything, it’s become a little too plausible to be classed as horror. I absolutely loved ‘Itinerary’ by Tim Powers, it’s exactly my kind of weird, and gets the ‘I wish I’d written this story’ award of the anthology. The second story in this book written by a woman is “Catfish Gal Blues” by Nancy A. Collins, and doesn’t it just make you wish there were many, many more. It’s funny, cutting and has a great payoff. I loved it. “ICU” by Edward Lee is a revenge gore short story, brutish and straightforward. “The Grave” by P.D. Cacek is the last story from a woman, and is a creepy little story about someone who should really, really, never have been a mother. Rick Hautala’s ‘Knocking’ is a claustrophobic horror about coping or not coping with the fall of civilisation. “Des Saucisses, Sans Doute” by Peter Schneider fills the gap until the next story, “Angie” by Ed Gorman. “Angie” is another nasty little tale that shows that we don’t need anything supernatural to invoke horror, the banality of self serving evil is more than enough. Being the work of the editor and anthologist gives “The Ropy Thing” by Al Sarrantonio a secure spot in the book. This story is pure Twilight Zone, being the tale of something eldritch taking over the planet. Creepy. Ed Bryant’s ‘Styx and Bones’ is a fun tale of witchcraft and revenge that I liked a lot. “Hemophage” by Steven Spruill is a really nice vampire story that deserves a longer treatment, I’d read the hell out of the novel. “The Book of Irrational Numbers” by Michael Marshall Smith is kinda the B side of Stephen King’s recent novella ‘‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream’ which was written twenty five years later. What can I say, it’s MMS, and I loved it. Bentley Little’s ‘The Theater’ is an odd little story about a hidden theatre with some very odd inhabitants; it’s well written and really drew me into the story. “Darkness” by Dennis L. McKiernan is the last short story in the book, and is expertly written, I enjoyed it.

So much for the HUGE anthology, and on to the smaller stuff.

Tej Turner’s ‘Janus’ has been on my to buy list since it came out, and I got round to it at last. Turner is an anthology mate of mine in Hic Dragones ‘Impossible Spaces’ collection, and in this book, he has created another impossible space. Janus is a club, a building, a concept. We first come across it as a place that’s one step up from a rave, a breathing space and refuge for people who don’t fit into conventional spaces. With time, the club becomes more popular, more successful, and distinctly less of a refuge. The book is presented as a series of short vignettes which introduce a cast of characters who occasionally reference each other, but don’t seem to be connected. It’s not until the end of the book that everything comes together, in an emotionally satisfying way that serves as an introduction to Turner’s next novel.
I enjoyed this story, and recommend it.

The sequel, ‘Dinnusos Rises’ was my last read of August. We meet again the characters and places from Janus, and follow their experiences, bafflement and acts of courage as they become caught up in plots and plans laid by shadowy figures on both sides of a societal change.

I did enjoy this, the characters are appealing and sympathetic, and whilst I know that Turner has left this universe behind, I’d love to read more stories about these people.

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July 2024 book blog

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Rel

Having read ‘Babel’ and ‘The Poppy War’ trilogy, I was keen to read Rebecca F Kuang’s latest, ‘Yellowface’. Money being tight, I’ve been waiting for the paperback, and I confess that I didn’t say no when I spotted an absolutely mint copy in the local charity shop for 30p. I’m not a monster, I gave them a quid for it, then returned it to another charity bookshelf when I’d finished. I reckon she can afford it. And there we have it, a self published author being ever so slightly envious of a pretty, charismatic, successful young writer. Ahem. So, ‘Yellowface’. It’s funny, witty and a little bit weird at the end. This meta novel about the publishing industry features one of the least self aware narrators I’ve encountered in a long while. Poor Junie is an aspiring writer who has fallen at one of the last hurdles, and is lying in the mud and sulking whilst her luckier friend is galloping to the finish line. Is it luck, or is it a combination of talent, charisma, beauty and ruthlessness that has granted literary stardom to Athena Lui? None of the characters in this book come across as likeable, but it doesn’t stop the reader from being invested in their choices and stories, and even caring for them – they’re still young women in a harsh world that will chew them up and spit them out. I found the book fast paced at first, but it slowed down a little towards the end, giving me time to savour everything that had happened and was going to happen.

I didn’t read much in July, too busy putting my own self published third book out into the world. It’s called Hearts’ Home, and it’s the third book in the Ransomed Hearts trilogy about rock ‘n’ roll werewolves. Enough of that, hopefully you’ll find reviews of those books elsewhere.

My second read of the month was ‘The Fiends in the Furrows III: Final Harvest’ This series has become my go to for introductions to writers of folk horror. ‘Final Harvest’ is the final book in the trilogy, and the last story of the last book is, fittingly, by Tracy Fahey, the queen of body horror and folk horror. At this point, I reckon it should be compulsory to end any horror anthology with a Fahey story. ‘Witchwalking’ doesn’t present anything new or groundbreaking, but it does what it does with breathtaking skill and verve.
OK, now I’ve got over the final story in the book, what of the rest? We kick off with ‘F is for the Farm’ by veteran spec fic writer Steve Rasnic Tem. This story takes folk horror into the city, and is an enjoyable account of a young man getting into all kinds of trouble for the love of a pretty girl. I LOVED Charlie Hughes’ ‘The Motley’ for the whole ‘town council gone bad’ idea and also for the genuinely creepy monster. Thersa Matsura’s ‘Child of the Gods’ is a sad and horrifying story about mother love and sacrifice. Richard Thomas’ ‘The Keeper of the Light’ is a beautifully told story that creeps up on you. A folk horror anthology wouldn’t be the same without a contribution about Appalachia, and Ryan Cassavaugh’s ‘The Last Honeyboy’ serves up a sweet treat set in North Carolina. Fox Claret Hill’s ‘Mrs Badger’s Bones’ is a genuinely nasty piece that I really enjoyed. Matt Elphick takes us to Southern England with ‘Cooper’s Hill’ and a protagonist who clearly has no idea that he’s in a horror story. ‘As the Thing is Needed’ by Damien B Raphael takes us into the past with a story about a refugee child trying to hold on to her history in a hostile world. Dan Coxon’s ‘Come Sing for the Harrowing’ is another story about a clueless protagonist who hasn’t watched enough horror films. ‘Back Yonder’, beautifully written by Melissa A Szydiek, instantly brought to mind ‘Mrs Todd’s Shortcut’ by Stephen King, but that ain’t a bad thing. Rae Knowles follows up with one of my favourite stories in the book, ‘Mulberry Silk’ is a merry tale of a cult with an unusual and very genuine leader. It’s not often that high fashion and folk horror meet, but Knowles has nailed it. Coy Hall’s ‘Herald of the Red Hen’ feels like it’s part of a bigger story, and has strong fantasy elements. ‘The Gods that Drift with Us’ by Zachary Rosenberg is a delicious tale of revenge, and one of my stand out stories of the anthology. J.M Faulkner’s ‘Radegast’ has nothing to do with Radagast the Brown, but is a story about a Slavic god and a return to the homeland by two brothers. Die Booth’s ‘Paper Coins’ take us to Wales, and a rugged landscape that hides its own secrets. I have a bit of a soft spot for all things Welsh, so this story leapt out at me. Catherine McCarthy’s ‘The Sickle and the Tithe’ keeps us in Wales with a traditional folk horror tale of sacrifice and good harvests. I loved it for the gradual change of the protagonist’s emotions over the course of the story and her life. Timothy Granville’s ‘Sarsen Wood’ makes no bones about the morality of the group of kids at the heart of his story, and there is no merciful bliss here for the sacrifice. Alex Wolfgang’s ‘Malleability’ has a sf feel to it, it’s certainly not set on this planet, but it still has strong and dreamlike folk horror vibes, I loved it. And here we are, end of the book, with a Tracy Fahey story to finish off with. Did I say that you should always save the best until last?

My bedtime reading, which I finished on the 2nd August but I’ll cheat and put my thoughts in here, was Marc Burrows’ ‘The Magic of Terry Pratchett’.

This book was so obviously written by a fan, the love of its subject absolutely shines through.

I don’t read many biographies, but I have read a lot of Pratchett, and have also read (and loved) Marc Burrows’ book about Manic Street Preachers, so this was an obvious pick for me. This chronicle of Sir Terry’s life and death, his books, his campaigning and his philosophy is written with love, respect and generosity. It acknowledges fully the importance of the people around him, especially his parents, wife and daughter, and draws parallels between Pratchett’s own life and surroundings, and the events and landscapes of his stories.

If you like Pratchett, you’ll probably like this.

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June 2024 book blog

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Rel

I started reading China Mieville’s ‘Iron Council’ at the end of May. It’s a chunky read, and I finished it in June. I did not want this book to end, I wanted it to continue, through the landscape of my future self, a story telling grinding and forcing its way through my life, ceaseless and everchanging. But it’s finished. I could return, and revisit, and explore the story again, but it wouldn’t be the same.

I read Perdido Street Station many years ago, then lost track of the sequels. I bought The Scar not knowing it was a sequel, and read it quite recently. Where The Scar grabbed me straight away and didn’t let me go, Iron Council was a slower starter, I read a few pages at a time, then a chapter or two, then raced to the end through whole sections. This book is something amazing and beautiful. I loved it, and will miss it.

However, most book hangovers can be cured by a new Stephen King anthology, and luckily I had one to hand. ‘You Like It Darker’ holds lots of stories, some so typically King that it felt like I’d read them before, but they ARE King, and at his age, themes come around a lot.
My main takeaway is that ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream’ deserves at the very least a movie, and possibly a five season Netflix series. I loved this story so much. The supernatural elements are sparse, the real horror comes from the David and Goliath situation that our protagonist finds himself in. Imagine reporting a dead body and finding yourself under investigation by a cop who is so utterly convinced that you’re the killer that he’ll twist anything and everything to justify that conviction. ‘Laurie’ wasn’t a new story for me, but I enjoyed the re-read. ‘Rattlesnakes’ is absolutely pure vintage King, with creepy dead twins, hallucinations and best of all, Danny Trenton’s dad reflecting on the events of ‘Cujo’. Another favourite was ‘The Answer Man’, again full of familiar themes but so nicely and invitingly laid out. I can’t give a King anthology less than a 5, your mileage, as they say, may vary.

There were a couple of hot days in June, remember? When it’s hot I need an easy read, and fortunately charity shop bargain, Ben Elton’s ‘The First Casualty’ was on hand to give me what I needed. I like Ben Elton books because they don’t annoy me and they’re easy to get through. OK, the characters are drawn with an eight inch paint roller but the settings and descriptions are fine. This once was a detective story set in the horrors of WWII, with a likeable protagonist (well, I liked him) and a cartoonish feminist sidekick.

Octavia Butler’s ‘Xenogenesis’ trilogy is getting a lot of attention from the sf community at the moment, and deservedly so. I’m doing a fair job at the moment of unpacking and sorting books these days, and finally have all three books on the shelf together, so I took the opportunity for a re-read. ‘Dawn’ is the first book in the series. It’s a long time since I read this book. I remember buying it new, so it would have been late eighties, so thirty five years ago maybe? I remember enjoying it, but finding it a little confusing, and now I understand why. I just don’t get the xenophobia that is the main theme of the book. Honestly, if some alien creature wanted to improve an otherwise extinct human race and its own race by cross breeding with us physically and culturally, then honestly, go for it! There doesn’t seem to be a single human character in the book that feels the same way. Maybe there’s someone in the sequels, I don’t remember. Having said that, I very much did enjoy the re-read.

‘Adulthood Rites’, book 2 of ‘Xenogenesis’ was my next read, and I finished it on the last day of June. In this book we follow the progress of one of the first ‘constructs’, a being created from human and alien genes and raised within a family consisting of all its living parents. A great story, fascinating characters, and wonderful world building.

I read book 3 in July, but for the sake of tidiness I’ll put my review here. I read it in a day. Reader, I binged the whole trilogy over the course of five days. So … ‘Imago’, the third book of ‘Xenogenesis’ – Jodahs is the first of its kind. Lilith’s child, another of her many offspring from her mating with a human and one of each Oankali gender. Jodahs has five parents and many siblings, including their paired sibling, born from the body of their Oankali female parent. It’s complicated.
Being the first of its kind, it has a long journey ahead of it as a young adult. It has to find its own way in the world to become all that it can be.
A wonderful, beautiful story from one of the masters of science fiction.

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May 2024 book blog

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Rel

May’s reading got off to an excellent start with Jeff Noon and Steve Beard’s ‘Gogmagog’.

It’s surprising how much you can get done in a day. Our heroine is a retired riverboat captain, she spends her days becoming more and more unsavory and enjoying her life as a disreputable old woman. Her closest friend is the cabin boy from her last days on the boat. The two of them have settled into a reasonably happy life, overshadowed by the death in battle of the boy’s father. All of this changes when a young child turns up, asking for passage upriver to the city of Ludwich. She is accompanied by a metal person, her guardian and protector. The voyage would have been an easy one just a few years ago, via a river that is haunted by the ghost of a dragon, but the Blight has descended and the ghost is infected; and the voyage to Ludwich is rarely made.

I loved this book. I love Jeff Noon, but this is d i l u t e d Jeff Noon, which makes the book easier to read but not quite as satisfying as Vurt or Pollen. Nevertheless, the cast of characters from various tribes and species are the kind of people who stay in your brain. I’m looking forward to Book 2.

My copy of the themed anthology ‘Barcelona Tales’ must have slipped behind some more books soon after I bought it, because it’s taken me a long time to get round to reading it. I bought this Ian Whates edited collection for the Lisa Tuttle and Aliette de Bodard stories, and they did not let me down. The Tuttle story was another riff on the writer with imposter syndrome being abused by fake fans, and I very much enjoyed it. The Aliette de Bodard was very different to anything of hers I’ve read before. I’ll be keeping this one on the shelves to return to these two stories in particular. Other stories were more than good enough to justify buying the anthology, although some of them did seem a little bit like padding, in that they were clearly part of their author’s wider work and not as self contained as I like a short story to be.

Michael Marshall Smith’s ‘Only Forward’ is one of those iconic books that are part of my cultural landscape but doesn’t get revisited nearly enough. It’s thirty years old now, so I decided to mark the occasion with a re-read. An earlier review of mine reads ‘Possibly one of the best sf books ever written.’ and a re-read, many years later, confirms this. It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel, the plotting and world building is so good, and the last part, that series of reveals just dropped into the story, is just stunning.

I’ve been ‘getting around’ to the MaddAddam trilogy since they first came out, but never quite got to them. When my sister asked for the set for Christmas a few years ago, I resisted the temptation to buy two sets, knowing that she isn’t one to hang on to books. My patience was rewarded a year ago when she destashed them, but still, they sat on my tbr pile, like the best chocolate in the box that goes uneaten because when its gone, its gone.
Anyway, I decided it was time, and I was not disappointed. Set across two timelines, with the same central character dropping hints about ‘Oryx’ and ‘Crake’, the story slowly reveals how we got from almost now, to the dystopian future of the other timeline. The protagonist is intensely unsympathetic, a selfish lazy character who falls far from their privileged upbringing, but never so far as to be in actual danger. Oryx and Crake is as close to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as I’ve read in any of Atwood’s work.

Book 2 of the MaddAddam series covers the same time period as ‘Oryx and Crake’, but from other points of view. Whereas the main voice in book 1 was the manchild Jimmy / Snowman, in the second book we hear from two women. Brenda / Ren is a couple of years younger than Jimmy, and their orbits cross several times during their childhood and early adulthood. Toby is older, a survivor of toxic capitalism who lives a cautious, hidden life within a green cult, The Gardeners.
‘The Year of the Flood’ is a fast paced, funny, touching book with very real characters. I loved it.

MaddAddam, the third book in the series, is an absolute delight. All the strands come together, with love, laughter and sadness. I enjoyed this book a lot.

As May drew to a close, I picked up Chine Mieville’s ‘Iron Council’, which I’ll talk about in June’s blog.

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April 2024 book blog

Posted on May 24, 2024 by Rel

As promised, ‘Earth’ by David Brin. In the afterword of this book, the author talks about the challenges of writing a book set 50 years in the future. It was written at the end of the 1980s and is set in the late 2030s, and from the perspective of the mid 2020s, Brin did a pretty amazing job of predicting the challenges of the 21st century. I read it in 1990, when it was first published, and again a few years later. It does feel odd to look back at 1990s me and her thoughts and memories about reading this books. It’s tempting to list the things that Brin got right, and discuss the things that he missed or was overly optimistic about, but that would be unfair, it’s a novel, not a prediction.
As a novel, it’s still a wonderfully engrossing and entertaining work of sf. The only jarring notes are the sudden in depth descriptions of someone’s race and skin colour, and a description of a non-white woman as ‘exotic’. Whilst these passages are clearly not written to offend or upset anyone, the passage of time has made them seem odd enough to jolt me out of the story for a while.
This is a plot driven novel, and whilst the characters are relatable and sympathetic, they’re there to serve a purpose. The plot itself is fascinating, and the story remains remarkably fast paced for such a long book. The broad cast of characters all have their own challenges to meet, which helps to keep the story moving.
In a world where the post-apocalyptic thriller holds a lot of sway, it’s fun to read a book which is about trying to avert an ongoing apocalypse where one unexpected threat suddenly puts all the others in the shade.
A very enjoyable book with some memorable scenes.

From a doorstopper SF novel to a collection of Charles Dickens stories … it was time to finish Christmas Stories. I started reading this book a long time ago, probably not the nine and a half years ago that Goodreads claims, but it was certainly several years ago. Then I mislaid it. Go on then, I admit it, I didn’t mislay it, I misremembered the colour of the cover and the size of the book, and it became invisible on the shelf. Also, Dickens needs to have the right mood, because he does go on, doesn’t he? I have to be in the right mood, and when this book actually physically fell off the shelf when I got my knitting caught up my books, it was serendipitously at a time when yes, I was in that kind of mood.
So, it’s a lot, lots of stories, lots of words, and it’s funny and touching and at times it’s laugh out loud. If you like Dickens, you should read it.

From a book that took me YEARS to finish, straight to one that I read in a day. Carol Walker’s ‘The World According to Spud’ is written by a friend of mine, someone I’ve known in the world of cat rescue for decades. This was a fast and fun read. Spud’s views on life are divided into short chapters, and each chapter is divided into sections. For example, the sports section is divided into football, rugby, cricket and darts. This makes it very easy to read. This approach seems to be very practical, but it’s put to great effect. We learn about Spud’s humble origins as an unwanted kitten, and his elevation to a show winning ‘household pet’ at cat shows. We learn about the volunteers who rescued him, and who are still working hard to rescue and help other cats and kittens; and their co-operative work with other local charities. We’re told about the cats that live with Spud, and his ‘mum’, Carol, the author, and their home in a small town just south of Preston, Lancashire. I really enjoyed this book, and how it was laid out, it’s factual and fun, and I recommend it.

I started to read Jeff Noon’s ‘Gogmagog’ at the end of April, but I’ll save the review for my May blog.

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March 2024 book blog

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Rel

The Burning God by R. F. Kuang, being the 3rd book in the The Poppy Wars trilogy. Well. First of all, the entire series was fast paced and almost impossible to put down. There was something going on pretty much all the time. It was usually something depressing, violent or downright evil, but yes, there was a lot of action in this book. There was precisely one sympathetic main character in the book, and his relationship with our protagonist threatened once or twice to save her from herself, but never quite made it. The ending was sad but expected; after watching our protagonist repeat the same mistakes time and time again, it was obvious that there was never going to be a happy ending.
I found it to be an interesting series, but I won’t be reading it again. Kuang’s later novel, Babel, is one of the best things I’ve ever read, so please don’t let this put you off reading Babel.

Dark Terrors 2 is a horror anthology from the mid 1990s. It’s basically an old bag of Revels in which some flavours have stood the test of time a lot better than others. As always with ‘older’ horror anthologies, I’m left wondering where the women authors are. I’ll leave it at that.

Dark Love is another mid nineties horror anthology, with a fairly obvious theme. I’m pretty sure I bought this anthology when it came out, and have read it a few times since. I’ve mentioned before how weird it feels to look at the contents page of a horror anthology and see so few female names. It’s even weirder because, you know, 1995 doesn’t FEEL that long ago. Well, not to me anyway.
So, this book. It starts off with what is probably my least favourite Stephen King short story, ‘Lunch at the Gotham Cafe’ I’ve read this story a few times, it’s been anthologised by the master himself, but I just can’t get on with it. It’s just too dismal. ‘The Psycho’ is a nice little story with a killer punchline, I enjoy it every time round. Kathe Koja’s ‘Pas de Deux’ didn’t really ring my bell, and I dnf’d the story, I’ve read this anthology several times now and even my terrible memory let me know that I wouldn’t enjoy the rest of it. It’s a perfectly good story, just not my thing. ‘Bright Blades Gleaming’ is your standard serial killer / Jack the Ripper origin story. OK, but nothing to set the world on fire. And so we reach John Lutz’s ‘Hanson’s Radio’ which is still a cracking, creepy, and well crafted dose of horror. ‘Refrigerator Heaven’ is a proper horror story, along the ‘evil that men do’ route of the sheer banality of evil and horror. I still liked it, and enjoyed the hint of eldritch horror lurking behind the normality of the story. ‘Ro Erg’ is basically a Mary Sue story about adopting a new identity and being a naughty boy. I finished it, out of curiosity. It’s well written, but the story didn’t stir any interest this time round. Ah, but then the English master takes his turn – Ramsey Campbell’s ‘Going Under’ is properly creepy and horrible, and is one of the best tales in the book. ‘Hidden’ and ‘Prism’ are very short stories about troubled children, I enjoyed both of them, and am glad the authors didn’t try to lengthen them, they’re perfect as they are. ‘The Maiden’ is a nasty little story about some nasty little teenagers. It’s not subtle. ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles, I’ve got Mine’ is a first person pov story about a chap who really shouldn’t have been allowed out of the asylum. ‘Waco’ is a tale examining how one of the poor deluded victims of the Waco cult would react if they truly believed they were meeting God. ‘The Penitent’ is an ode to torture. Not my thing. ‘Driven’, the next story, did hit my buttons. I do enjoy a story about desperation and mundane threats. It’s well written and I was ‘driven’ to re-read it to capture it properly. ‘Barbara’ is a tale of tables turned, a fun read with a fairly predictable but still satisfying ending. ‘Hymenoptera’ is a story about a fashion designer and a wasp. I got nothing from it, I’m afraid. That’s the thing about these multi author themed collections, every so often the box of chocolates yields a malteser. ‘The End of It All’ is another nasty story about nasty people who all get what they probably believe they deserve. ‘Heat’ is another very short story about sex and violence. ‘Thin Walls’ is a thin but enjoyable read, with two of the few characters in this anthology that I found myself caring about. ‘Locked Away’ is pretty much porn, with very little story. It’s followed by the last story of the collection, ‘Loop’ which is appropriately enough about porn, with a lot of story.

After reading a fantasy trilogy and two horror collections, I was in the mood for a hefty sf novel, so I’m currently re-reading David Brin’s ‘Earth’. I’ll review it next month.

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February 2024 book blog

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Rel

February began with a couple of new paperbacks that had arrived as gifts in December. I didn’t review Ambrose Parry’s ‘A Corruption of Blood’ at the time, but from the vast distance of six weeks, I’ll confirm that it was a jolly good read, mixing mystery, medicine and mayhem in Victorian Edinburgh. If you like a good historical whodunnit, this might hit the spot for you. As I’ve mentioned before, Ambrose Parry is the joint pen name of Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman.
Being already in a Brookmyre state of mind, I followed up ‘A Corruption of Blood’ with ‘The Cliff House’, a standalone crime thriller by Brookmyre alone. The story is told from multiple viewpoints, and is set on a remote Scottish island that has been hired for a hen party. There are secrets, lies and a lot of history bubbling under the surface, and they all become a lot more important when one of the hens is abducted. I absolutely adored this book, it was witty, warm and clever.
I started reading ‘Dark Terrors 2’, a 1990s horror anthology edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton, but I’m still dipping into it, so will leave the review until next time.
And so to the meat of the matter, the second book in R F Kuang’s ‘The Poppy War’ trilogy. ‘The Dragon Republic’ evoked mixed feelings. I hated this book, I cringed at the horror of it, the casual cruelty, the obscenity of war and genocide, and the despair of the protagonist. I loved this book, I raced through it and when I got to the end I was angry with myself for leaving it too long to order book 3. I had to wait three days for it to be delivered. I shall report on ‘The Burning God’ next month.

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January 2024 book blog

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Rel

January and the first half of February were about writing more than reading, and I’m very happy to announce that I sent book 3 to the copy editor today. Hearts’ Home will be self published, just as the two previous books in the Ransomed Hearts series were. Of course, writers gotta read, and I pretty much spent January reading ‘Screams from the Dark’ a monster 470 page trade paperback sized anthology edited by Ellen Datlow. Appropriately enough, the theme is ‘Monsters’.
There are 29 stories in this book, and as with most multi-author collections, some hit the spot and others didn’t quite do it. The stories, and the collection as a whole, doesn’t shy away from the idea that humans can be the worst monsters of all. Because I don’t have any other books to talk about this month, I’ll go into some detail here. Beware spoilers.
Ian Rogers’ ‘You Have What I Need’ is a cool little vampire story set in a busy hospital. Fran Wilde’s ‘The Midway’ harks back to the Golden Age of SF and horror, evoking both Bradbury and Lovecraft with a touch of Free Willy.
I’ve learned to watch out for Gemma Files stories, they’ll eat into your head and seed your nightmares. ‘Wet Red Grin’ has a title that made me think immediately of Barker’s ‘Rawhead Rex’, and whilst the plot doesn’t echo that classic horror story, the vibe certainly does. Probably one of my favourites of the book.
Daryl Gregory’s ‘The Virgin Jimmy Peck’ grabs the ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ trope and sends it through the Buffyverse to a tragicomic and unnerving conclusion.
Priya Sharma’s ‘The Ghost of a Flea’ was a bit above my head. I’ve heard of William Blake, but until now the only John Varley I’d heard of was the USian SF writer. I’m afraid this story fell somewhat flat for me, although it was well written and plotted, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Brian Hodge’s ‘The Atrocity Exhibitionists’ catches the zeitgeist. It’s one of those stories that will doubtless age poorly, but is enormous fun today. The monster is us, and our unrelenting social media demands on celebrities. The monsters are the celebrities who feed on clicks and adulation and will do anything to protect their fame. It’s not subtle, but it’s fun.
Joyce Carol Oates is a welcome contributor to any anthology, and with ‘The Father of Modern Gynecology’ she brings to our attention a true monster of his time.
Continuing the theme of monstrous males, Indrapramit Das’s ‘Here Comes Your Man’ is a tale of predatory men and a young couple from the city.
Siobhan Carroll’s ‘Siolaigh’ makes a welcome and enjoyable contribution to the sea monster / folk horror / sacrifice genre.
‘What is Love But The Quiet Moments After Dinner’ is a tasty little treat from the very reliable Richard Kadrey. Sometimes, you meet your soul mate, and when that happens, the results can be messy.
Norman Partridge’s ‘The Island’ is a mythic vampire tale that takes a while to get over.
Garry Kilworth took the theme pretty literally with ‘Flaming Teeth’. It’s a story about an ogre, and some people who got really, really out of their depth. I loved it.
Caitlin R Kiernan’s ‘Strandling’ is about love and death and the end of the world. It’s a beautiful story.
‘The Special One’ served as my introduction to Chikodili Emelumadu. I very much enjoyed this creepy little story of self delusion.
Glen Hirshberg’s ‘Devil’ wouldn’t find itself out of place in a horror anthology from the last few decades, it has a remote location, innocent tourists, a ghost story and a monster. This is another of my favourites.
A C Wise absolutely creeped me out with ‘Crick Crack Rattle Tap.’
Stephen Graham Jones takes on an urban legend in ‘Children of the Night’ and turns it into one of the most entertaining vampire stories I’ve read in ages.
Kaaron Warren’s ‘The Smell of Waiting’ is an inventive, creepy tale that draws you in, but didn’t quite pay off for me. Am I allowed to be sad about an unhappy ending in a horror story?
Livia Llewellyn’s ‘Now Voyager’ was my only DNF in the collection. It didn’t grab me, but bear in mind that I was reading all these stories right before bedtime, and I may have loved it if I’d come to it with more energy.
Carole Johnstone’s ‘The Last Drop’ is another story based on historical facts. Mary Timney was the last woman to be publicly hanged in Scotland. This story explores the monstrousness to be found in all of us.
Nathan Ballingrud’s ‘Three Mothers Mountain’ reads as a fairy tale, and leaves behind a haunting feeling of wanting to return to the world he’s created in this story. This is probably the only story in the collection that has left me wanting to know more.
Margo Lanagan’s ‘Widow-Light’ is another of my favourites. Every year, a girl or a young woman is chosen to be sacrificed to the monster on the hill. One year, the villagers pick the wrong victim, and things suddenly change.
Joe R Lansdale’s ‘Sweet Potato’ is a luscious little story that I very much enjoyed.
Brian Evenson’s ‘Knock Knock’ is a scary story about a monster that just wouldn’t stay dead. Rules are rules, until they’re not.
Cassandra Khaw’s ‘What is Meat with no God’ is fantasy horror. The undying soldier, animated by magic, is a fearful creature, but what would it be like to be that soldier?
A new Laird Barron story is a treasure, and ‘Bitten by Himself’ does not disappoint. Some men are just born to be monsters.
The mother / daughter / sister relationship is fertile ground for horror, and Kristi DeMeester digs deep in ‘Burial.’
I found myself thinking about Jeffrey Ford’s ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ several times in the weeks after I read it. Again, it has echoes of Rawhead Rex, which the universe is clearly telling me to re-read. We have a secret government experiment, an isolated community, and a dreamlike telling of the chaos that ensues.
John Langan’s ‘Blodsuger’ is one of the longest stories in the collection, and brings the book to a close. I do enjoy a story of European monsters transplanted to the US. This would make a great film.

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