The City & The City

The city is Beszel and the city is Ul Qoma, two cities in two different countries, but each occupying the same geographic space. The cities are built in and around each other, however anyone in one city (resident or visitor) is forbidden to take any notice of anyone or anything in the other city. Any failure to do so incurs the wrath of the mysterious and all-powerful "Breach". When the body of a murdered student is found in Beszel, it seems like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad, but the investigation proves more complex and dangerous than Borlu could have imagined, leading him from one city to another and to the even more mysterious places in between.

This 2009 novel from British author China Mieville works as a complex and intriguing fantasy tale in a well-realised world, the rules by which the two cities exist together and function are well worked out and believable, but this also works as an exciting detective novel, and it delivers anything you might want from a crime novel. A gruesome murder, investigation, no shortage of suspects, action, chases, and a likeable and troubled protagonist. It also makes a point about how people deliberately ignore the more troubling aspects of where they live.

I Am Behind You

This 2017 horror novel is the sixth book from Swedish stand-up comedian turned author John Ajvide Lindqvist to be translated into English.  Four families on caravan holidays wake up one morning to find the rest of their campsite has vanished. In fact everything has vanished, they are totally alone in the middle of a seemingly endless blank, flat field, where, despite clear bright blue summer skies, there is no sun, and the grass is the exact same height.  Where are they?  How did they get there? Why are they there? and, more importantly, how can they get back?  Running low on food and supplies, their situation is desperate, but there is something else out there.  Something that knows their worst mistakes and deepest desires, and will confront them with their darkest dreams and worst fears, and something even worse.

Lindqvist is still probably best known for his debut novel, Let the Right One In (2004) which was  adapted as an acclaimed Swedish film in 2008 and a successful US remake, Let Me In (2010).  With Let the Right One In and his subsequent books, there can be little doubt that John Ajvide Lindqvist is one of the most interesting modern writers working in horror.  The characters in this book start off wondering where they are and how they got there, and are little the wiser by the end of it.  For every question that is answered, another is posed, and it really seems to just stop dead.  However, this is the first volume in a planned trilogy, so presumably we'll find out what happens later.  The ending, though is a fairly minor issue when this is such a chilling, gripping novel and genuinely disturbing.  It's full of dark humour and often graphic gore.  The frequently surreal happenings in the book work because the  characters are interesting and well-drawn, with their past lives depicted in flashback.  Lindqvist is frequently compared to Stephen King, and this has a lot of King-like elements to it, with the disparate collection of ordinary people having to band together against horrific adversaries, although it's more like if Stephen King had ever collaborated with Ingmar Bergman, because it has a very strong philosophical element to it.  Lindqvist his a particular gift for writing about children and one of the child characters, six year old Molly is one of the most terrifying characters you're likely to read about this year.  This is definitely recommended.

A Legacy of Spies

This 2017 novel is by John le Carre, one of the greatest British writers working.  Moving between past and present, the novel follows Peter Guillam, retired British spy and former right-hand man of legendary spymaster George Smiley, living peacefully on his family farm in Brittany, until he is summoned back to London by the Secret Service who are investigating an operation Guillam was involved in over fifty years ago.  Forced to rake over his murky past in Cold War espionage, Guillam is forced to reckon with the consequences of a life of personal and professional betrayal.

This fine novel returns to the world of Cold War spying that made John le Carre's name and features the return of his best-loved character, tubby, bespectacled, soft-spoken, but ruthless spymaster George Smiley.  The novel is a kind of follow-up to le Carre's 1962 breakthrough novel The Spy Who came in From the Cold, and also calls back to his other best known book Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1973).  Written in spare terse prose, this is nevertheless complex and emotionally devastating.  As with many le Carre novels, this deals with the psychology of a spy, and the moral and psychological consequences of that lifestyle.  This is John le Carre at his best.   

The Girl with All the Gifts

This 2014 novel from writer M. R. Carey (the pen-name of British writer Mike Carey, whose probably best known as a comics writer probably best known for his runs on X-Men, John Constantine: Hellblazer, Lucifer and his own series The Unwritten), is a striking post-apocalyptic science-fiction / horror tale.  Set in a near future Britain, ten year old Melanie is a bright, intelligent, friendly girl who loves school, particularly her favourite teacher Miss Justineau.  She lives in a cell on a military base.  Every day soldiers strap her to a wheelchair at gunpoint, muzzle her and take her to her classes with the other children on the base, similarly strapped and muzzled.  Occasionally there are new faces.  More often children disappear and are never seen again.  Outside the  world is gone, most of the population has become infected by a fungus that turns humans into cannibalistic zombies known as "Hungries".

This a deeply affecting, exciting, thrilling, and occasionally surprisingly tender story.  The plot moves along at a brisk pace, with interesting and engaging characters.  The are some plot contrivances, with characters often being rescued from certain death at the very last moment, and it's full of stuff that you will probably have seen before in many other zombie apocalypse stories (of which there have been a lot!).

Moon Palace

This 1989 novel by American novelist Paul Auster opens in 1969 and follows recent graduate Marco Stanley Fogg in a quest for family and identity which takes him from New York City to the desolate beauty of American West.  Along the way he encounters various characters who all have their stories to tell.

The book deals with familiar Paul Auster themes such as the relationship between life and art, the role that chance plays in life and unreliable narrators.  It is beautifully written and full of memorable characters.

Oracle Night

This 2004 novel by acclaimed American novelist Paul Auster is set over nine days in 1982.  New York author Sidney Orr is recovering from a serious illness, and has not written anything new in a long time.  Passing by a stationery shop, Orr stops and buys a blue notebook.  The notebook seems to unlock something inside Orr and he begins writing again.  However, while he is once more exploring his creativity, Orr's world is rocked by a string of life-changing events, some of which seem to be connected to the stories he is working on.

This short novel is beautifully written, moving between Orr's work and his "real" life.  It explores the links between life and art and how art and creativity can impact on the real world.  Orr is an interesting, if often unlikeable main character, and is surrounded by several other memorable characters.  It's definitely recommended, particularly to writers.    

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Volume 1

Written and illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki
130 pages
Genre:  Manga, action, adventure, science-fiction, fantasy

Thousands of years after a devastating war, humanity has been reduced to small struggling tribes, as the world is slowly submerged in the ever-growing Sea of Corruption, a toxic forest full of poisonous spores and bizarre and dangerous mutant insects and plants.  In the tiny Valley of the Wind, lives the young princess Nausicaa who has an instinctive empathic bond with animals of all kinds, even the deadly giant Ohmu insects.  As a deadly war looms, and the Sea of Corruption grows ever bigger, Nausicaa may be the only one who can save the world.

This beautifully illustrated manga series was created, written and drawn by acclaimed animated movie writer/director Hayao Miyazaki, and formed the basis of his 1984 movie of the same name.  The artwork is beautiful and creates a stunning fantasy world.  It features many Miyazaki hallmarks, such as the environmental theme, and the intricately designed vehicles, particularly aircraft.

  

Ranma 1/2: Volumes 1 and 2

Written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi
360 pages
Genre:  Manga, action, comedy, romance, martial arts.

Ten years ago Genma Saotome promised his friend Soun Tendo that his martial artist son Ranma would marry one of Soun's three daughters and carry on the tradition of the family's martial arts school.  However there is a shock for the Tendos when Genma and Ranma finally appear.  While travelling in China, teenaged Ranma fell into a cursed spring, resulting in him changing into a girl every time he touches cold water, and only turning back into a  boy when she touches hot water.   Also Genma is a panda.

Ranma 1/2 is probably one of the most beloved manga series ever created.  Running from 1987 until 1996, this is a hugely entertaining blend of action, comedy and romance.  The story is constantly moving forward, with everyday events given a hilarious martial arts twist.  Takahashi's art style is beautifully detailed with a real vibrancy to the action scenes.

Consumed

Written by David Cronenberg
Genre:  Thriller
358 pages

This novel tells the story of Naomi and Nathan who are both writers and kind of have a relationship in airport departure lounges and hotel rooms and mostly through e-mail, Skype and text. Naomi becomes fascinated by the savage murder of a celebrated philosopher by her equally celebrated philosopher husband. Soon the two of them become involved in a bizarre world of sex, surgery, cannibalism and technology, in a tale that takes in political and philosophical conspiracy, 3D printing, North Korea and Sailor Moon.

David Cronenberg is best known as a movie director, and this is his first novel. It's intelligent and well-written but, like his movies, kind of cold and unemotional. It is definitely Cronenberg, but belongs more to his later work like Crash and Cosmopolis, than to The Fly and Scanners.  It's worth bearing in mind that, although there is some pretty horrific stuff in here, this isn't a horror novel.  It's more like a techno thriller.

It's worth reading, but it is too detached to be particularly involving or exciting, and there isn't really an ending, it just feels like it just stops.  I don't know if there will be a sequel or not.

For a debut novel, it definitely shows that Cronenberg has enough talent to be a really good prose writer.  

Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey

Written by Richard Ayoade
Genre:  Humour, cinema
307 pages

Richard Ayoade, actor, writer and movie director.  A multi-talented renaissance man.  Only one man can hope to unravel the enigma of Richard Ayoade, and that is Richard Ayoade himself.  He does so in this book of interviews with himself, alongside some of Ayoade's writings on the world of cinema.

Richard Ayoade is probably best known for starring in the TV sitcom The IT Crowd, co-writing and appearing in the TV comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and appearing in the Ben Stiller movie The Watch.  He has also directed the movies Submarine and The Double.  This is his first book and it is basically a parody of pretentious, high-brow film books, in particular publisher Faber and Faber's (Director) on (Director) series of book-length interviews with prestigious movie directors.
The book really hits the tone of those particular books perfectly.   If you are a fan of cinema than it is worth checking out.
A lot of it is very funny, if you go in for Ayoade's wry, surreal brand of high-brow humour.

     

The Wine-Dark Sea

Written by Robert Aickman
Genre:  Horror, fantasy
450 pages

This book is a collection of eight short horror stories (or "strange stories" to use the author's preferred term) by English author Robert Aickman.

An English tourist in Greece makes an unwise trip to a shunned island; two young women on a  walking holiday in northern England shelter from  a severe storm in a remote farmhouse, only to discover some disturbing secrets about heir initially friendly host; a lonely academic becomes obsessed with a series of strange telephone calls from a mysterious woman; a mother becomes terrified of her increasingly violent and ever hungry twin sons who seem to be growing at an unnatural rate; a man is haunted throughout his life by a faceless specter whose appearance always means death for someone close to him; a little girl receives a grotesque dollhouse as a gift which has such a strange effect on her that her parents get rid of it - years later the dolls seek revenge; a tourist in Venice takes a gondola trip with a seductive but sinister guide; and a woman visiting Sweden stays at a secluded sanitarium for a rest but it turns out to have a profound and disturbing effect on her  

The stories are creepy and subtle, with little graphic gore in them.  They tend to start out form a very realistic, but details increasing pile upon details leading to a final sting at the often enigmatic conclusions.  

John Constantine: Hellblazer - In the Line of Fire

Written by Paul Jenkins, with art by Sean Phillips and Al Davidson
Year of Publication: 2015

Magician and con man John Constantine has once more evaded damnation.  This time by splitting off the negative aspects of his personality and sending them to Hell in his place.  However, things are far form over for him.  Haunted by the loss of parts of himself, Constantine has to find out what kind of person he wants to be.  In the meantime there are ghostly dogs, haunted houses, demonic soccer fans and the spirit of England itself and more to deal with.  At the same time he has to confront the deepest and darkest of his own past in order to become whole again.

John Constantine was first created by legendary comics creator Alan Moore in the pages of Swamp Thing in 1985.  In 1987 the character graduated to his own title, John Constantine:  Hellblazer, which ran for 300 issues until 2013.  Throughout it's run Hellblazer was one of the cornerstones of Vertigo, the mature readers imprint of DC Comics.  In more recent years Constantine has become part of the more mainstream DC Universe. John Constantine was a working class English magician, who was always at best an antihero.  He was a con man, a manipulator, a thief and often extremely unlikeable but usually sympathetic, even when he succeeded, it was often more due to luck, bargaining  or trickery than any magical ability.  Fortunately for fans, Vertigo are reprinting Hellblazer in bulky large format books.  In the Line of Fire is the tenth volume collecting issues 97 to 107 which ran throughout 1996.  It's part of the hitherto uncollected four year run on the title by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Sean Phillips.

The book consists of loosely linked mostly one and two part stories and one three part story.  The story about the soccer hooligans and the demon is possibly the weakest, but it is still pretty fun and the rest are good slices of classic Hellblazer.  Interestingly, for an American comic published by an American company, the stories are very British and full of references to British politics, history and mythology.  Jenkins has a good feel for time and place and roots the comic very much in the Britain of the mid nineties.  The horror is rooted in the characters and is well complemented by Phillips' artwork which is at turns realistic and moody.

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

Written by Neil Gaiman
Year of Publication:  2015
Genre:  Fantasy, horror, Science-fiction

This is fantasy author Neil Gaiman's third collection of short stories (following Smoke and Mirrors (1999) and Fragile Things (2006)).  Here is a collection of short tales (some of them very short) and poems ranging over a variety of speculative fiction, from horror, to fantasy and science-fiction, fables, fairy tales  and dramas.  There is a story about Sherlock Holmes in retirement, a Doctor Who short story and a second short story follow up to Gaiman's successful novel American Gods (2001) (the first story "Monarch of the Glen" can be found in the Fragile Things collection).

As the title suggests, there are some pretty disturbing scenes and elements in the stories, so people who were turned on to Gaiman from his children's books may be advised to think carefully before reading.  All due to the range of the stories it may be too much of a mixed bag for some.  However, this collection is a great sampler of Gaiman's themes and is definitely recommended for fans.

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth

Written and illustrated by Isabel Greenberg

Year of Publication:  2013

This is a wonderful fantasy graphic novel set in the mythical world of Early Earth.  A storyteller from the land of the Nord at the North Pole embarks on a quest to find a missing part of his soul which he believes is at the South Pole.   Along the way he meets a variety of different people from different lands and they swap stories and folklore.  This is a book about storytelling and about stories and stories within stories.  It's written with a contemporary sensibility and sense of humour, but it has a genuine mythic charge and a real timeless quality.

The artwork which resembles medieval woodcuts is beautiful and detailed making good use of a limited colour palette.   

A Delicate Truth

Written by John le Carre
Year of Publication:  2013

"Operation Wildlife" is a top secret mission engineered by Fergus Quinn, an ambitious politician in the British Foreign Office, and Ethical Outcomes, an American private defense contractor to capture a high-ranking terrorist arms-buyer in Gibraltar.  It is so secret that not even Quinn's private secretary Toby Bell is cleared for it.
On paper the mission is a complete success but, three years later, Bell discovers some disturbing secrets about what happened in Gibraltar.  Slowly uncovering the mess of death, corruption and ruined lives that Operation Wildlife left in it's wake, Bell finds himself torn between his duty to the Service and his conscience.

John le Carre rose to fame in the early 1960s with Cold War spy thrillers such as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963), The Looking Glass War (1965), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974) and Smiley's People (1979).  As the Cold War thawed in the late 1980s and 1990s, le Carre seemed to struggle to find a subject, but that has recently changed.  His latest books deal passionately and angrily with the modern world of surveillance and espionage.

This novel is a gripping and chilling suspense tale which, as always with le Carre is beautifully written.  His books are complex and take their time to build.  His characters usually stiff, posh British spies or civil servants inhabiting a world of country estates, gentlemen's clubs, offices in Whitehall, lonely hotel rooms and casual betrayal.            

The Rats

Written by James Herbert
Year of Publication:  1974

This book was the debut novel of one of Britain's most popular authors, James Herbert, who was an art director at an advertising agency before he turned his hand to writing.  By the time of his death in March 2013, Herbert had written twenty four novels and two books of non-fiction.

The Rats tells the story of a new breed of rat appearing in London.  These new rats are much larger, stronger, more intelligent, more vicious and bolder than normal, and one of their preferred foods is human flesh.  To make matters worse, they carry a new type of disease, and a single bite from one of the rats causes death within 24 hours.

It's very much a pulp B-movie style plot with the handsome tough but caring teacher hero, Harris, bravely battling the evil mutant rats, and indifferent or ineffectual authority figures.  It's very much a product of it's time and many of the attitudes and some of the language in the book are not exactly politically correct.  The female characters are rarely anything more than victims or girlfriends.  There is also a lot of clunky dialogue.  However this doesn't really detract from the force of Herbert's writing.  The action scenes and the film's plentiful explicit gore scenes are handled with real skill and power, and there is also a very strong level of social commentary.  Also in the scenes of the rat attacks, the secondary characters who are soon to be brutally slaughtered are depicted with skill and compassion.    

The book was an immediate bestseller on it's first publication and helped introduce a new wave of more visceral, socially aware contemporary-set horror writing.  It was also very controversial due to it's frequent graphic descriptions of death and mutilation.  Herbert wrote two sequels to The Rats:  Lair (1979) and Domain (1984).  The novel was also adapted into a video game in 1985 for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, and it was adapted into a movie called Deadly Eyes (1982).       

House of Small Shadows

Written by Adam Nevill
Year of Publication: 2013

This is Adam Nevill's fifth excursion into supernatural horror.  The story revolves around 38 year old Catherine Howard, a woman with a deeply troubled past, who works for an antique dealer.  She is offered the career opportunity of a lifetime when she is asked to visit the lonely country house, Red House, and value the estate of master puppeteer and taxidermist M.H. Mason.  When Catherine arrives she is met with suspicion and outright hostility by the house's two residents: Mason's elderly wheelchair-bound niece Edith, who is his sole surviving heir and executor, and her formidable, mute housekeeper, Maude.
Catherine finds the house full of grotesque puppets and dolls and hideous tableaux made up of stuffed animals: such as amazingly detailed World War I battlefields populated by dead rats.
At night however the house comes alive with strange sounds and shadows.  As Catherine delves deeper into the mysteries of the house and it's occupants she becomes convinced that she is the victim of a monstrous game.

The book is hugely atmospheric, with a twisty plot.  It's very heavy on backstory and takes some time for the action to kick in, but it all leads to a genuinely shocking conclusion.  The characters are well drawn and the sense of time and place is well done.

It's main flaw is that sometimes the pacing flags, but that is a minor quibble.  This is a must-read for horror fans.

Doctor Sleep

Written by Stephen King
Year of Publication:  2013

This book is the sequel to Stephen King's popular 1977 novel The Shining.  It takes up the story of Dan Torrance, who was a five year old boy in the original novel, thirty five years later.  Dan has spent much of the intervening time trying to repress the nightmarish memories of what happened to him in the Overlook Hotel and also to dampen the powerful psychic ability which he calls "the shining" with drugs and alcohol.  However, he has now settled down into a quiet life in a small New Hampshire town, attending Alcoholics Anonymous and staying clean and sober.  He also has a job at the local nursing home, where he uses his shining ability to comfort the dying, earning the nickname "Doctor Sleep".  However, Dan makes contact with an eight year old girl named Abra Stone, who lives in a nearby town and whose own shining ability is far more powerful than Dan's ever was.  Abra is targeted by a group called the "True Knot", seemingly normal middle-aged people travelling around in RVs and Winnebagos but who in reality are powerful psychic vampires who feed off the essence or "steam" given off when children who have the shining are tortured and killed.

This is a hugely entertaining novel and one of the best that Stephen King has published in recent years.  It really is back to what he does best.  The characters are likeable and engaging and the book moves along at a good pace.  Although it is very different in tone and plot to The Shining, the earlier book is constantly referenced throughout this (and it is worth remembering that this is a sequel to the book and not the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation, which King famously disliked).  One of King's talents as a writer is his ability to place the fantastic events in a very realistic seeming world, full of pop-culture and other real-world references.  This novel includes a few references to NOS4R2, a novel by King's son, Joe Hill.       

The Hellbound Heart

Written by Clive Barker
Date of Publication: 1986

Frank is a sensualist and pleasure-seeker of the highest order who cares about nothing and no-one except himself and gratifying his own desires.  However he has become bored with what this world has to offer him, and obtains a mysterious puzzle box called the Lemarchand Configuration.  If he solves the puzzle and opens the box then otherworldly creatures called the Cenobites will appear and take him to their own world of ultimate pleasure and ecstasy beyond anything to be experienced on Earth.  However, when he does solve the box the Cenobites turned out to be hideously mutilated monsters, and the pleasure that they offer is the ultimate in pain.
Shortly afterwards, Frank's brother Rory moves into the house with his bored wife Julia.  However Julia, who was once briefly but passionately involved with Frank, soon discover that he is still there, trying to escape from the realm of the Cenobites.  The only thing that can help him escape and make him whole again is blood.  Lots of blood.

This book is really too short to be called an official novel.  It's really a novella, and was first published in an anthology called Night Visions 3 edited by George R. R. Martin which also contained stories by Ramsey Campbell and Lisa Tuttle.  It belongs really to the "early, scary ones" part of Clive Barker's career where he was specializing in gruesome horror stories, such as the Books of Blood series.  The story is well-written with Barker's usual evocative and seductive prose.  It is probably most famous as the inspiration for the cult horror movie Hellraiser which was written and directed by Barker.  As you might expect the film follows the book very closely, although there are several differences.  Barker had had some very unpleasant experiences with previous films of his work (Underworld and Rawhead Rex) and wanted to write The Hellbound Heart as something that he could adapt and direct himself.

While not Barker's best work, it is still a gripping and sometimes shocking horror tale and well worth checking out.      

Saga: Volume One

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Fiona Staples
Year of Publication: 2013
Publisher: Image Comics

The planet Landfall has been at war with it's moon, Wreath, for countless years, and has spread to many other worlds, such as the planet Cleave.  On Cleave, reluctant Wreath soldier and prisoner of war, Marko, falls in love with his prison guard, Alana.  When Alana falls pregnant, the couple escape.  She gives birth to baby Hazel, who has her father's horns and her mother's wings.  Soon both sides are after the couple, as well as violent mercenaries known as "Freelancers".  However as the couple make their escape from their pursuers, they also have to deal with the nameless "Horrors" of Cleave.

This book collects the first six issues of the critically acclaimed Image Comics series which blends science-fiction, fantasy and romance.  While the main premise of the story is not hugely original, the strength of the series lies in it's startling world-building.  It depicts a universe that is surreal, funny, disturbing and beautiful, with organic spacecraft, giant cats that act as lie detectors, teenage ghosts, royal robots with television sets for heads and magic.  The script by Brian K. Vaughan is witty and intelligent and features strong and memorable characters.  The artwork by Fiona Staples is beautiful with lush, colourful paintings and some of the most bizarre and hilarious creatures seen in science-fiction or fantasy.

It is worth pointing out that Saga is definitely aimed at an adult audience.  It is very violent and often quite sexually explicit.  However it is a fun, exciting, sexy and at times powerful slice of science-fiction / fantasy that is very well worth checking out.