Author:Al Robertson

A lot of the hype around this SF debut has focused on how it updates cyberpunk for the 21st century. The use of a noir plot in a high tech setting certainly echoes Neuromancer (and Crashing Heaven also shares more than a few structural similarities with that classic), but there’s more than just that old genre at play here. For all the Chandleresque men crashing through doors with guns and running down mean streets, there is also a real sense of the bleak emptiness of space and the beauty of glittering fragile spaceships that Alastair Reynolds would be proud of, and maybe even a nod to Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos. That’s not to say Robertson is a plagiarist. The core SF concept at the heart of this novel is AI, and Robertson runs with this as well as anyone has in recent years, with a treatment I haven’t seen anywhere else. Lead character Jack is an accountant with a military AI residing in his brain, almost the last of its kind. This AI has a name, Hugo Fist, and manifests as a wooden ventriloquist’s doll. Oh, and it’s going to be taking over Jack’s body in the near » Continue Reading.

Author:Roy Thomas/Paul Levitz

I was lucky enough to get these for my 50th birthday and after a couple of weeks of intense study I’ve managed to read enough of these to form an opinion.

They are both just astounding, fantastic, brilliant. Both cover the first 75 years in the life of the two most important comic publishers ever.

Starting with the origins of Marvel/DC, back when Marvel was Timely Comics and DC were National Allied Publications and moving into the Golden, Silver & Bronze ages both books (and indeed both companies) follow a similar path. Recounting the ups (the superhero booms of the 30s, Second World War & early 60s, the Horror and Romance boom of the 50s and the return of Horror in the early 70s) and many downs (mainly the regular take-overs and near bankruptcies, battles with the Comics Code Authority and disputes with artists and writers)

But the main reason to own these books is the reproduced art which is stunning. All the greats are represented Kirby, Ditko (my two favorites), Kane (Bob & Gil), Infantino, Shuster, Romita, Buscema and loads of others.

Add the quality of the printing, the binding and the fact » Continue Reading.

Author:Frederik Pohl

Frederik Pohl is a classic genre writer – unknown outside sci-fi circles, very highly regarded within it. I don’t think that every 40-year old novel I read is worth sharing, but on rereading Gateway I was blown away by how good it is. I’ve probaly read it at least four times over the decades, and it gets better every time. Pohl’s starting point is a classic trope – the artefact left by vanished aliens (the rather strangely named Heechee). Gateway is an asteroid stuffed full of spaceships that go somewhere across the galaxy when you press a button, and sometimes even make it back. A gold rush ensues attracting prospectors escaping lives on a grimly overcrowded earth, including the protagonist Robinette Broadhead. Who we first meet at a robot psychiatrist’s – fabulously rich after a trip that has left him not just wealthy but fabulously guilty. The story unravels in flashbacks to Robin’s arrival at Gateway and struggles with his own fear about taking a ship that may never return, out into the void for an uncertain reward. Pohl’s world is economically but vividly created – and his characters are never less than adult and believable. Robin makes » Continue Reading.

Author:Clive Barker

A long time ago, Clive Barker wrote and directed (from his own novella The Hellhound Heart), the classic horror movie Hellraiser, a dark tale of deceit, sexual jealousy and betrayal that introduced us to the Cenobites – otherworldly creatures that relish pain, torment and despair. Their leader, Pinhead, became a horror icon but like Freddy and Jason before him, his original impact has been leached away by a parade of increasingly shoddy sequels. This book is Barker’s attempt to reclaim Pinhead, but there’s more riding on it. Much like Pinhead himself, after a spectacular start with the Books of Blood and the fantasy epic Weaveworld, both of which marked him out as a writer of prodigious talent and imagination, Barker’s work has tailed off into a long nose dive of mediocrity. These Gospels have been promised for years, and there were high hopes attached to them, especially with the news that Pinhead’s foil would be another of Barker’s long running characters, the occult detective Harry D’Amour. Supposedly, the original manuscript ran to around a thousand pages, before being cut down to this 350 page book. Which begs the question, considering what has been left in, how bad were » Continue Reading.

Author:Stephen King

Spoiler alert! The second book in the trilogy begun last year with Mr Mercedes. While not a direct sequel as such, it picks up the story of some of the characters from that novel. The plot involves the manuscripts of unpublished novels being stolen by an obsessive fan, and their subsequent theft by a third party. It’s a decent read in a summer holiday sort of way, but there was something slightly irritating and whiney about the characters portrayed by King, which begins to grate after a while. It’s one of those books where you realise early on that the good guys will get into some scrapes along the way but will all live happily ever after in the end. Having said that, there is a nice twist in the final pages which sets up the third and final book in the series – ‘End of Watch’ – which will follow next year.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

If you read Mr Mercedes this is worth a look, although it’s not as good as that book. It can also be read as a stand alone novel, although you would not pick up on all » Continue Reading.

Author:Irvine Welsh

Welsh returns to the familiar setting of Edinburgh for this new novel, featuring as main protagonist ‘Juice’ Terry Lawson, who appeared as a lesser character in a couple of earlier works. The book follows his adventures as a taxi driver, encompassing a hurricane, the search for a missing woman and the acquisition of a rare bottle of whiskey, with some unlikely adventures on the golf course and of course in the bedroom thrown in for good measure.

Length of Read:Long

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

This is not one of his very best works but it’s certainly ranks above average in his canon and is a decent read for a holiday. Doesn’t reach the heights of his very best work such as, say, ‘Skagboys’ or ‘Porno’, but an improvement on last year’s disappointing ‘Sex Life of Siamese Twins’. As with all his ‘Scottish’ books you have to be prepared to negotiate the local accent and dialect he gives to his characters, which can be hard work at times.

One thing you’ve learned

Much prefer Welsh’s novels set in Scotland to those set in USA. This book is not for the easily offended though as there’s lots of » Continue Reading.

Author:Wyndham Wallace

Telling the story of how the City Slang PR officer and Uncut writer Wyndham Wallace went from being a long-time fan of Lee Hazlewood to becoming his manager and friend, Lee, Myself & I has an absolutely tremendous first half.

Through Wyndham we meet Lee, and are entertained not only by the mere presence of the man, but also a seemingly endless fund of howlingly good anecdotes and observations, the famous Hazlewoodisms. Anybody familiar with Lee’s records will be happy (though not at all surprised) to learn that he was a man who walked it like he talked it. The difference being that if anything he was even more eccentric and irascible in real life as he was on record. Wyndham captures him beautifully.

This first half builds towards a climax of sorts as Lee prepares for his first-ever UK concert, appearing at the Nick Cave-curated Meltdown in 1999. A story of the meeting between Cave and Hazlewood provides one of the many highlights; the description of the concert itself – ‘There he is, one hand tucked stiffly in his pocket, sauntering onstage like a man returning from the toilet’ – an absolute joy. Wallace is » Continue Reading.

Author:John Connolly

I was lucky enough to hear John Connolly speak last week at Waterstones in Piccadilly and the great man signed books for me and my niece. The 13th Charlie Parker novel was inspired by the author seeing the arrest of an elderly war criminal on TV and wondering why an such an old man was handcuffed. The story unfolds as Parker is convalescing in a small seaside town and kicks off with a corpse washed up on the beach. His reputation preceding him, he takes an interest in whether it is a suicide or murder. The story revolves around Nazi war criminals, living their final years in quiet normality and the terrible atrocities that were committed during the last World War as well as the shocking lengths they will go to keep their true identities secret. Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that Louis and Angel are in the background, as well as other recurring characters. After The Wolf in Winter, this feels like a return to form (not that TWIW was a bad book, just that it felt a bit like taking a breath in the narrative). Connolly has given a couple of new plot lines » Continue Reading.

Author:Gareth Murphy

Maybe not epic but certainly comprehensive history of recorded music from the development of wax cylinders right through to downloads. For me, Murphy spent a bit too much time on the very early years of Talking Machine manufacture and the move from cylinders to discs we would recognise today. The story starts to get interesting after WW2 and even more so in the 60s and 70s when the likes of Clive Davis and David Geffen enter the picture as well as Chris Blackwell of Island and Dave Robinson of Stiff. I could have read a lot more about this period and less about Thomas Edison. Surprisingly, Motown was glossed over a bit but overall it was a good, informative read.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Pete Doggett’s You Never Give Me Your Money

One thing you’ve learned

Indie labels are good at the creative stuff but usually can’t run a business that well.

Author:Michael Cunningham

A peculiar diversion, it begins with what one would ordinarily expect to be a plot jumping-off point…and then nothing really happens, although that nothing is written beautifully about. There’s a lovely chapter which follows the dramatis personæ through and beyond a New Year’s Eve party, a couple of vignettes set in a vintage store and some light drug taking, but it’s more about enjoying the language than the narrative. I once heard a song which contained the couplet “He’s as bitter as a New York February morning / She just smiles and doesn’t mind” which kept spinning round my head while I was reading. I think I’d rather like to hear that song again.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Reading some John Irving, or visiting New York.

One thing you’ve learned

Don’t look for conclusions.

Author:Christopher Brookmyre

There has always been a rock and roll swagger in Christopher Brookmyre’s writing. His thrillers are an action packed riot of sharp humour, social commentary and strong, likeable characters. In Dead Girl Walking, Brookmyre reprises his (now post Levison discredited) investigative journalist Jack Parlabane searching for a lost rock star. The narrative alternates between Parlabane’s search and the tour blog of a young naive musician on her first tour. The plot twists around the darker business interests that lurk beneath the surface of the music industry. As with most Brookmyre novels its all tremendous fun.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Tartan noir in technicolour. If tempted check out the ebook short story The Last Day of Christmas which acts as a prelude to Dead Girl Walking

One thing you’ve learned

Data theft can be achieved using a strong diuretic

Author:Richard Balls

I came across this after listening to the Word in Your Ear podcast where Hepworth and Ellen spoke to the author. The book is an enjoyable history of the label born out of the pub rock scene of the early seventies and follows the rollercoaster ride of huge successes followed by periods of releases that did nothing at all. Balls covers the artists and releases in enough detail to be informative without slipping into anorak territory, covering the highs (Ian Dury, Madness, both of who kept the label afloat at different times) the lows (unreleased product, the tie up with Island) and the bonkers/inspired (touring unknown acts by train anyone?). It was unfortunate the neither Jake Riviera or Dave Robinson would speak to the author but there are plenty of quotes from other major players in the story to fill in the gaps.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

The BBC4 documentary about Stiff.

One thing you’ve learned

The music business is poorer for the loss of labels like Stiff but it benefited for a while from its unique Can Do attitude to artists and promotion.

Author:Clare Mackintosh

While TAW was offline I read this crime / police prodedural novel pretty much in one series of sittings (started in a coffee shop, continued on the train, in a departure lounge, on Cityjet Seat 13F and at the Mijdrecht Hotel to be more specific) and for three days after I’d finished it I was still being drawn back in order to replay some of the key events of the book in my mind in the hope of them turning out differently. There is an author’s note at the end – don’t be tempted to skip to it until you have finished and, before beginning, make sure you are sitting extraordinarily comfortably as I imagine you’ll be there a while. The prologue delivers a terrible first blow almost without warning- I almost stopped right there – and the first part of the novel builds tension subtly and inexorably before delivering a blindsiding blow to take the reader into the second half which, cleverly, effectively serves as a prequel to the story we have been drawn into so far. It’s not without its tropes – a senior female figure is “…brilliant but terrifying” (not ‘and’), crunches are ‘sickening’, there’s » Continue Reading.

Author:Jim Davidson

As 2012 draws to a close Jim Davidson is waiting to go on Celebrity Big Brother in an attempt to revive his flagging career, his older brother falls ill, his dog dies and he learns via the press he’s being investigated by Operation Yewtree. To make matters worse at the start of the new year, the day before entering the Big Brother house, he ends up in a cell.

Regardless of how you view Davidson it’s worth suspending your prejudices and reading this book. First because in parts it’s very funny. Second it provides an inside, and quite disturbing, look at a police investigation from the point of view of the accused. Third it will shake your faith in the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ basis of British justice.

It’s written in a rather chippy style which can become a bit wearing and at times it borders on rant. You can almost forgive the latter given that Davidson was faced with some absurd allegations which the police seemed determined to pursue regardless of the facts.

Whether or not there has been an establishment witch hunt in the wake of the Jimmy Savile revelations is open to question. However, this » Continue Reading.

Author:Danny Baker

I’m sure many who hang out here would have received a copy from Santa, so I’d be interested to know what you think. For me, this was that difficult second album. Flawed, but still worth the pocket money.

I became familiar with Danny’s work through his All Day Breakfast Show podcasts, which I found enormously enjoyable and got me through some months of a commute that otherwise threatened to do for me, both physically and mentally. As with volume 1, some of the anecdotes were already familiar, although some weren’t. All are told with some panache – the Zappa and Dylan being for me great examples, but I do wonder about the process for deciding what went in to the book and what didn’t. I can’t help but recall a Baker and Kelly podcast where they talked with some amusement about how familiar they both were with stretching limited material gossamer thin on Radio 5 Live, and I get a sense something a little similar is happening here. Compare the limited insight we get into Chris Evans to the chapter long account of the exploits of DB’s dog Twizzle.

Danny makes it clear at the very start of » Continue Reading.

Author:David Kinney

I was part way through Ian Bell’s book on later period Dylan when Mrs Wells bought me this. It is a book about top drawer Dylan obsessives.Was this some kind of joke? The irony was reinforced when I discovered that I have had dealings with some of the people in the book. It was an easier read than Bell’s excellent but dense tome, bigger print and I loved the opening quote Fan: You don’t know who I am, but I know who you are. Dylan:Let’s keep it that way.So I switched to this book and couldn’t put it down. Turns out Dylan really does know a lot of these people- how could he not? They are usually front of stage at all his shows and are taking the same travel routes to the next gig as he is. And he is by no means uniformly dismissive of them of hostile to them. They all seem pretty smart and obviously a bit unbalanced. Along with the stories of their lives, their encounters with Dylan and the extraordinary lengths they go to to see him or collect stuff there is a lot about Dylan, the music and stardom. It’s thoughtful » Continue Reading.

Author:Paolo Hewitt

I posted this review before understanding the nooks and crannies of our new home. It should be in this section, so I’m posting it again, in the right place. Before I review this book I shall declare an interest. I knew Paolo Hewitt back in the 70’s, not long after he had left Burbank Children’s Home, the setting for this book. He had come to Guildford to meet up with his friend, and by then, my friend, Des. Des has now been my friend for 40 years. I am as close to him as any of my 4 brothers. We have been through good times, bad times and times that were as low, as desperate and as troubled as it gets. So, I am biased. Des is one of the subjects of the book.

I bought the book as soon as it came out. I’ve followed Paolo’s career as a talented writer and Des had been involved in some of the research for this one, so I knew it was coming out. I put it on the top of my book-pile, and left it. And left it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to start it, wasn’t sure » Continue Reading.

Author:Keir Nathan Thomas

Singer Stripehead, guitarist Graham, bassist Danny and drummer Theo are the members of moderately successful 90s indie rock band Diamond Head Crater. More than a decade after being ripped off by their manger and splitting up, they get together as a much-ASBOed layabout, a paraplegic, a trainee accountant and a fishmonger to re-form the band.

With additional input from Stripehead’s nymphette daughter and their manipulative former manager – both of whom have their own agendas – they begin to claw their way out of the Stockport pub circuit and back up the ladder of fame.

There are a smattering of minor errors that have escaped the eye of the proofreader, and the book really deserves a better title. However, the plot canters along at a good pace as the band discover that the road back to stardom isn’t a smooth one.

The novel takes in just about every rock and roll cliché you can think of but they’re all presented with a nicely humorous twist. Thomas is particularly adept at aping other genres – the formal minutes of band meetings and a rock magazine feature especially being moments to treasure.

Imagine Spinal Tap meets Tony Parsons with » Continue Reading.

Author:Tim Earnshaw

Washed-up, guitar shop-owning former rock star wakes up one morning and… Possibly the best summary of this is novel the one I read which proposed it to be somewhere between Franz Kafka and Frank Zappa. Multitudinous diversions tempt the reader into thinking he (or she) has finally got a handle on where the story is going, only for the latest tangent to be revealed as yet another in a seeming trawlerful of red herrings. Almost an anthology of scenes from the same movie, but shot by a number of different directors, our (anti) hero lures us into rooting for him to somehow win out, even as his prospects of doing so diminish perceptibly by chapter.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

High Fidelity, Catch 22, The Twilight Zone, Zabriskie Point.

One thing you’ve learned

There’s such a thing as a Fender Nocaster.

Author:C J Sansom

The sixth novel in the Matthew Shardlake series, set in Tudor England. The lawyer/sleuth has to recover a controversial confessional book written by Catherine Parr, stolen from a seemingly locked cabinet – only one page has been found, clutched in the hand of a murdered printer. Sansom brilliantly recreates the London of 1546, from the lavish gilded palaces to the poverty of the ramshackle huts around St Paul’s to the dungeons of the Tower.

Length of Read:Long

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Fans of meticulously researched historical fiction, who love to immerse themselves in a long complex story – if you liked the preceding tales in this series you’ll certainly enjoy this.

One thing you’ve learned

Hilary Mantel doesn’t have a monopoly on fiction based on the Tudor era.

Author:Will Romano

Not so much a book as a series of individual articles that can be dipped into in isolation if required. Looks at the development of the prog scene from its early days up to the present, covering significant bands and albums. However, even the ‘in depth’ articles seems rather superficial, only scratching the surface and tending to leap off at tangents onto other subjects for no discernible reason. Quite a few interviews are thrown in, but these are mainly with peripheral figures rather than the main players.

Length of Read:Short

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Had quite high hopes for this book but they were unfulfilled in the main. It’s for hard core fans of the genre only really, and can’t particularly recommend it even for them.

One thing you’ve learned

Didn’t learn too much new to be honest other than perhaps prog is better understood by being listened to rather than by being written about.

Author:Simon Parkes (with JS Rafaeli)

I received this book as a Xmas gift and read it in two sittings last weekend. It is a thoroughly enjoyable gallop through the history of the iconic (and my favourite) London venue.

Simon Parkes, a Gordonstoun-educated son of a Northern fishing magnate, fell in love with the venue’s “dilapidated elegance of that art deco”. He tells how he bought the old “Brixton Astoria’s” lease from a top brewer company for merely a quid (in return for a deal on Watneys beer concessions) and hired a bunch of South London roughnecks to clean up the place and provide the necessary “security”. The book is a trove of lively stories about how he then built up the “Academy” brand, first through Jamaican reggae gigs and post punk New Wave and, later on, rap, dance/rave and Britpop. Throughout the 80s he contended with drug pushers, Brixton gangsters, Jamaican “Yardies”, and the cut-throat world of live music promotion in London.

There is some interesting history about the old theatre at the start of the book and, of course, Parkes’ friendships with legends across the whole spectrum of pop, rock and dance music propel the narrative and » Continue Reading.

Author:Stephen King

The latest King novel is a masterful hommage to the writers that have inspired him. Combining the King magic touch of relateable reality infested by unnatural fears, with the lifegiving electricity of Mary Shelley, the grotesque monstrosities of Lovecraft, and themes, quotes and details from all of the icons of the horror genre. As creepy as Pet Sematary and impossible to put down until the end, this is one of his very best novels IMO.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Pet Sematary, The Dead Zone, and the classics of early horror. Horror fans who enjoys spotting references and feeling clever.

One thing you’ve learned

Beware of electricity.

Author:Terry Hayes

It has been a long, long time since I read a thriller that I couldn’t put down; that at every opportunity I’d grab the chance to read a few more pages. A post 9/11 thriller telling a tale of international terrorism. As with Day Of The Jackal, though you know the ending it grips from page one. A retired agent from a secret US intelligence group is brought back to trace the Saracen. What is his weapon? They don’t know. It’s just known he’s dangerous. He can bring catastrophe to the USA and has to be stopped. Fragmentary clues are pieced together as Pilgrim chases him down. Is it literature? No. Is it a potboiler that explodes with excitement? YES. From New York, to Saudi Arabia, to Turkey and to the Hindu Kush, with death and danger everywhere. I loved it. There is a flaw in the unlikely connection between the sub plot and main plot, but that’s a minor quibble. It gallops along and we, the readers, just hang on for the ride.

Length of Read:Long

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

The aforementioned Day Of The Jackal, The Name Of The Rose or The Straw Men. » Continue Reading.

Author:David Buckley

Back in the days before Twitter allowed us to find out what they were having for breakfast, pop stars could be quite mysterious and there was no act quite as mysterious as Kraftwerk. After they released their albums, they would invariably carry out a perfunctory bit of promotional work (usually, if memory serves, on the TV science show ‘Tomorrow’s World’) and maybe do the odd concert, after which they would retreat to their studios in Dusseldorf (the splendidly named Kling Klang) to start work on their next project, or maybe that should be projekt. When I say they ‘started work’, that would have been a guess. In those days, we had no idea what those mysterious Germans got up to. Years would pass; pop fashions and prime-ministers would come and go, but Kratfwerk wouldn’t even answer the phone. What were they working on? New music? Testing new synthesisers? Building robots? Constructing a time machine? Or perhaps a combination of all of the above? It turns out, according to David Buckley’s biography, that they were quite often goofing around with gizmos, enjoying coffee and pastries or indulging in that most rock and roll of pastimes, cycling. Their imperial phase » Continue Reading.