words and images
The fiction we now call Fantasy is largely a mid-twentieth century invention with roots in older mythologies. Here I want to look at some novels from the Dark Ages of the genre, the 1960s and early 70s, rooted explicitly in the Dark Ages of Europe. All of them are far too good to forget.
Finding a good new-to-me writer and series is always a delight and I’m celebrating my discovery of Aaronovitch and The Rivers of London by putting them in the context of some books I’ve known much longer.
A mash-up of Fleming – Deighton – Le Carre spy novels and Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos? Why not? And some cubicle-life workplace humour for light relief? Sure. The result won’t be to everyone’s taste but some of us will find it to be great (gory, gruesome) fun.
Continue reading “Magical London – Gaiman, Stross and Aaronovitch”
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
Thich Nhat Hanh
Rider, 2021 plumvillage.org/books
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet is a very worthwhile book with a couple of odd aspects.
The general reader is likely to read it exactly as it is presented, as a book by Thich Nhat Hanh (“Thay” to his many followers) with commentaries from one of his senior students. As such, it is wise, gentle and encouraging, like everything else of his that I know.
Black Swan – a Koorie Woman’s Life
Eileen Harrison and Carolyn Landon
Allen & Unwin, 2011
All reviews say more about the reviewer than they pretend to, but this one is far more personal and autobiographical than most.
Black Swan came to me as a review copy when it was first released, but the newspaper I freelanced for wasn’t interested so I set it aside for myself. It has been on my shelf ever since. In the aftermath of thinking again about Singing the Coast, its time has finally come: its parallels and contrasts with that book and with my own life made it particularly relevant to me this year.
Eileen Harrison was born into a large, close-knit family on the Aboriginal Mission at Lake Tyers on the Gippsland Lakes. She grew up there, attending the mission school while I was attending the state school in Leongatha, 250 km away. I went on to secondary school; she was not allowed to. Rather, she and her family were uprooted by a new government policy and sent to the Western District, far from extended family.
This is a collection of mini-reviews of science fiction and fantasy books which I liked enough to recommend but haven’t reviewed at length, often because I couldn’t find time. It began as a string of comments to an identically-titled post on Green Path which now continues independently as Environmental Science Fiction.
The most recent additions to the collection are at the top; dates given are the dates reviews were added.
The Year’s Best SF Vol 2 • Tales from the Inner City • Anthropocene Rag • Zen Cho • Every Version of You • The Scar • Babel • The Year of the Jackpot • Children of Memory • Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits • Reconstruction • The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida • The Anomaly • Flyaway • From Here On, Monsters
This fat volume published by Saga presents ‘the best SF short stories published in 2020’ in the opinion of its expert editor, Jonathan Strahan, and I’m not going to argue: it’s a terrific collection. Nearly thirty authors, newbies to veterans, explore our most pressing current concerns (race, gender, AI, social justice, climate change) by projecting them into possible futures. Others have fun with future crime or the implications of hard science.
Bonuses are an outline of what happened in SF publishing and a critical overview of the best novels and novellas of the year. I was pleased that so many of my own favourites rated well. Let’s see: Anthropocene Rag, The Order of the Pure Moon, Flyaway, The Ministry for the Future, Agency, and books by Wong, Tchaikovsky, Johnson and Doctorow.
This volume’s only negative is a small one, its totally generic title. There must be hundreds of collections called The Year’s Best Science Fiction, with various subtitles, so include the editor’s name in your search for it. To add to the confusion, ‘Volume 1’ (which I’m sure was just as good) is actually the previous year’s collection from the same editor and publisher. (14.3.25)
Shaun Tan’s Tales (2018) will probably be shelved amongst children’s books in your local library or bookshop. They are variously whimsical and surreal, gentle enough not to frighten small children, and they are generously illustrated with his own paintings, which are sometimes more important than the text. But don’t be deceived: they are subtle, profound fables about our relationship with the animal world. Buy the book for a child by all means, but be sure to read it yourself. (8.3.25)
Alex Irvine’s Anthropocene Rag (2020) is a roadtrip, somewhat in the manner of Spinrad’s People’s Police, through territory explored by Cory Doctorow, William Gibson and Greg Egan among others.