JCG at PP with MDP

Tue, Jul 31, 2007

The quite excellent Marianne De Pierres, author of the Parrish Plessis novels (which I love) and the recent Dark Space (highly recommended, brief review here) tells me that her Parrish’s Patch forums will be host to the equally brilliant Jon Courtenay Grimwood over the 16th, 17th and 18th of August and all are invited to log in for a chance to chat with one of the top SF authors around. Actually, scratch that, Jon is is simply one of the best authors around, regardless of genre labels. No, that isn’t my humble opinion, it’s fact.

And sticking with the JCG theme, you may be interested to hear that Gollancz has an omnibus edition of Jon’s quite superb Arabesk Trilogy coming out this autumn. The volume will contain the three works featuring Ashraf Bey – Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen – in one, although sadly lacking the gorgeous, embossed metallic covers with Arabic script that the original hardbacks had when they came out via S&S’s short-lived but much-missed Earthlight imprint. Part thriller, part detective story, part SF with a smidgen of cyberpunk the series is, frankly, bloody brilliant, even by JCG’s high standards and showcases his flair for bringing exotic locations and different cultures to life (if he ever decided to chuck writing SF he would make an excellent travel writer) – if you haven’t read the series then you should treat yourself to the omnibus.