Jayne Margetts There is always beauty in violence, particularly when the written word is the vernacular. There are many kinds of perpetrators who wield the pen with the expertise of a dominatrix whipping her victim into submission; from James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard to the once savage and brutal Bret Easton Ellis (in his American […]
Alan Weisman: Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World
Thomas Handy Loon Colombia’s Gaviotas is a community only dreamers could visualize, and only outcasts could build. Surrounded by rebel-infested llanos (savannas) and vast coca plantations, the presence of its peaceful rhythms and homegrown technologies is as hopeful as it is unlikely. A super- efficient pump fills water cisterns every time children play on the […]
Emily Jenkins: Tongue First: Adventures In Physical Culture
Jayne Margetts It’s no secret that the thought of wading through another chapter and verse of literary cultural dissection usually holds about as much appeal as taking a skinny dip in a bath full of female pythons with PMT. After all, how many book store shelves are stocked with feminist rant and rave from the […]
Michael Marshall Smith: One Of Us
Antony Johnston One of Us. A powerful phrase — belonging, kinship, camaraderie. Familiar concepts, though this book deals with them in ways you may not expect. Initially our protagonist, Hap Thompson, seems anything but One of Us. An outsider, a loner with no life, an ex-wife, forced to live in exile from his hometown. The […]
Kruder And Dorfmeister : The K&D Sessions
Chris Mitchell Despite the rise of dance music in the 90s to the point where it’s arguably overtaken rock’n’roll as the defining sound of popular music, remixing is still something of a dirty word. It’s unsurprising given the way pedestrian remixes are continually used as filler on singles and even albums when an artist has […]
Erik Davis: TechGnosis
Chris Mitchell It’s traditional to think of technology as the epitomy of rationalism, functioning with the mechanical precision of mathematical logic and mindlessly performing laboursaving tasks for its human creators. But Erik Davis argues that the use of technology within our lives has managed to generate a whole new mindset of myths and mysticism which […]
Leon Wieseltier: Kaddish
Stephen Mitchelmore It is a commonplace that anyone brought up within a religious tradition and who has subsequently rejected it finds that its legacy runs deep. It is also a commonplace that the rejection often takes the form of the vacated space. It still seeks out the comforts of belief, even if it is a […]
Bruce Sterling: Distraction
Chris Mitchell If the novel of ideas has found a refuge within the 20th century, it’s within science fiction. Sci-fi lends itself perfectly to complex speculation about the future and what’s in store for the human race. The only problem is, sci-fi novels tend to function on such galactic-spanning levels that characters get reduced to […]
Peter Körte, Georg Seesslen: Joel And Ethan Coen
Gary Marshall The Coen brothers are responsible for some of the most impressive feats of cinematic lunacy in recent years, from the slapstick of Raising Arizona to the pastiche of The Hudsucker Proxy, and this book is the first attempt at highbrow analysis of their films to date. Although the profusion of photographs and widely-spaced […]
Magnus Mills: All Quiet On The Orient Express
Gary Marshall Magnus Mills’ first novel, The Restraint Of Beasts, uncovered the sinister underbelly of rural England, as a team of feckless fencers found themselves drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare. In All Quiet On The Orient Express, Mills tells the tale of an innocent holidaymaker who, erm, finds himself drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare that […]
Paul Gootenberg: Cocaine: Global Histories
Gary Marshall The story of cocaine is a depressingly familiar one. Like many of the drugs now banned, it was originally hailed as a groundbreaking new chemical and was manufactured entirely legally throughout the world. People claimed it could treat all kinds of illnesses, presumably because the patients were too whacked off their gourds to […]
Iain Banks: The Business
Gary Marshall Noam Chomsky was right, and Bill Hicks was a visionary. While we’re all distracted by politics, the world is actually being controlled by an unelected and unaccountable organisation with the power to make or break entire nations. The premise of Iain Banks’ latest novel will delight conspiracy theorists everywhere. Kate Telman is a […]
Supergrass : Supergrass
Gary Marshall I never liked Supergrass. “Alright” was cheerful to the point of inanity, and the band always seemed to have more facial hair than actual talent. Now, though, I want to join their fan club, follow the band around the world and tattoo the band name on my buttocks. Supergrass is a masterpiece – […]
Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon: Hellblazer: Damnation’s Flame
Antony Johnston John Constantine, Hellblazer. A legend in his own closing time, or at least ever since Garth Ennis got a hold of the character. Constantine is a magician; he lives in London; he looks like Sting (no, seriously). He doesn’t wear Dr Strange-style cloaks. He doesn’t wave wands and skulls about (at least, not […]
Feeder : Yesterday Went Too Soon
Gary Marshall We like Feeder round these parts. Their single Suffocate is seldom off the SPIKE stereo, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the band supporting REM on their recent tour. The band’s recent string of singles has been spectacular, too, throwing a range of different influences into the mix and giving them all […]
David Bowie : Hours
Jake Eyers finds David Bowie still playing with paradoxes in his introspective new opus hours… The real problem people have with David Bowie these days is contextualising him. Most of us under 35 see his previous body of work as a whole, complete with its mythology and its deserved place in the history of the […]
William Gibson : All Tomorrow’s Parties : Waiting For The Man
Antony Johnston has a meeting of minds with the elusive William Gibson about his new novel All Tomorrow’s Parties William Gibson needs no introduction. But he’s going to get one anyway. Gibson coined the term ‘cyberspace,’ visualising a worldwide communications net eleven years before the World Wide Web was born. His debut novel Neuromancer won […]
Chester Himes : Lesley Himes: A Life Of Absurdity : Life After Chester
Mark Ostrowski meets Lesley Himes, widow of the late, great Chester Himes Women without men: María survived Borges; Linda Lee, Bukowski; Mary, Hemingway; and Lesley, Himes. Women who dealt with their husbands’ blindness, alcoholism, mental disorders, strokes. Women who now control the reproduction of their late husbands’ work, their copyright. I was ruminating on the […]
Albert Camus: Solitaire Et Solidaire: Catherine Camus interview, daughter of Albert Camus:
Russell Wilkinson parle avec Catherine Camus au sujet de Le Premier Homme d’Albert Camus [Traduction française de Maria Kaninski et Emmanuelle Dumas For the English version of this interview, click here.] En janvier 1960, l’écrivain et philosophe français Albert Camus meurt dans un accident de voiture avec son ami et éditeur Michel Gallimard. Le manuscrit […]
The Bible : Canongate Pocket Bible Series: Revelation And Redemption
Lewis Owens on twelve meditations about the significance of the Bible at the end of the millennium The twentieth century has been a predominately secular one, asserting its autonomy after the apparent “death of God”. Our present “post-modern” world disallows any all-embracing meta-narrative that stands outside of both the author’s intent and the reader’s interpretative […]
J.G. Ballard : Crash : Prophet With Honour
David B. Livingstone on why J.G. Ballard is one of the most vital writers of the 20th century “This author is beyond psychiatric help. Do not publish!” It was with these ironic words that an editor at J.G. Ballard’s publisher futilely urged the suppression of Crash over a quarter-century ago, a book which many have […]
J.G. Ballard: Cocaine Nights
David B. Livingstone There’s something wrong with Estrella Del Mar, the lazy, sun-drenched retirement haven on Spain’s Costa Del Sol. Lately this sleepy hamlet, home to hordes of well-heeled, well-fattened British and French expatriates, has come alive with activity and culture; the previously passive, isolated residents have begun staging boat races, tennis competitions, revivals of […]
John Diamond: C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too
Gary Marshall As far as John Diamond was concerned, cancer happens to other people. A columnist who is paid handsomely for spouting off each week about whatever is on his mind, he undergoes tests for the lump in his neck and, rather than panicking, sees it as a potentially interesting anecdote. “I imagined myself in […]
Ethan Coen: Gates Of Eden
Gary Marshall Ethan Coen is one half of the deranged Coen Brothers, responsible for heights of cinematic lunacy including Saddam Hussein in a Busby Berkeley musical, attacks by squeaky-voiced German nihilists and Steve Buscemi in a wood-chipper. If you sat stony-faced through any of the Coen Brothers’ films (Fargo, Blood Simple, The Big Lebowski, The […]
Andrew O’Hagan: Our Fathers
Gary Marshall For anybody who read his first book, The Missing, it’s no surprise that Andrew O’Hagan has written a novel. While his debut book was non-fiction, its vivid evocation of O’Hagan’s childhood in Ayrshire and Glasgow and his poignant tales of the parents of missing children felt like a gripping thriller instead of limp […]
