The first issue of Alan and Leah Moore’s new take on some old, classic British comics heroes, Albion, is here at last – you may wish to make a beeline to the nearest FPI for it now. Mike Carey’s firs issue of his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’ excellent fantasy London, Neverwhere, has also hit the stands recently and as a fan of the book I have to say I rather enjoyed it and will be looking for issue #2.
For Gaiman fans there is also the MirrorMask book which is quite luscious (you really do want to browse it, don’t you?) online and in-store right now and it really whets my appetite for the movie. Lucky me, I have a proof of Neil’s Anansi Boys novel (due this autumn) to fill the gap with – its the first time he’s written an overtly humorous novel since his popular collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, many moons ago and I can tell you it is fantastic, its inventive and it is indeed, very funny and you’re going to love it.
And, joy of joys, there are even more excellent novels coming before that – Provender Gleed, Accelerando, the Western Shore, Swarmthief’s Dance, Nova Scotia and… and, well, you will be able to read about some of them very soon in the SF Book Picks in the new FPI magazine next week! I’m not kidding, folks, there have been some terrific novels already this year (on top of such a strong list last year) and there is some terrific writing to look forward to.
Hard to single out even a few, let alone one, but if I really had to I would say the words ‘Vellum’ and ‘Hal Duncan’ to you. A debut novel from a gifted Glasgow writer which is stunningly good and I think is going to be this year’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and the Baroque Cycle combined for sheer intelligence, imagination and a prose style which enfolds you into the narrative as if it were a velvet cloak being wrapped around you.
Fri, Jul 1, 2005
General