Gillian Polack's Blog, page 301

Kaaron Warren - the Baggage interview

I asked Kaaron Warren some questions and her children asked her some more questions and between us we have an interview. I suspect I was hoping that the children would ask her really difficult questions that were to do with deep secrets we know not of, but they're good people and haven't betrayed their mother's deep secrets. They didn't even ask her why she has a cannibal fork.

Do you need an introduction to Kaaron? Probably not. She's well-known, after all, for her amazingly creepy...

gillpolack @ 2010-08-10T10:36:00

My day got turned into something different by this blogpost: http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2010/08/09/when-the-cover-doesnt-match-the-story/

If I wanted to explain to someone why I asked Tessa to be in Baggage, I would just send them to this post. I don't know how much of this I'd given words to, but I knew her writing and I knew her and I knew she had something to say. And I'm just tringing words together here to hide the fact that I'm still thinking about what she's saying, over there on ...

gillpolack @ 2010-08-09T20:20:00

I'm guilty of writing one last review. Also of starting in the middle, just to see if anyone noticed. I am done with reviewing for the moment. I know, I said that yesterday. This time I mean it.

The rest of my evening will be spent in front of the television fighting the good fight. I don't mean that I'll be struggling with remotes. I mean that I have a vast stack of paper that needs to be put in its place. Or places. Ready for work at a later date. or to be filled in and sent off now. Or t...

City of Dreams and Nightmare - Ian Whates

The opening isn't wonderful - the authorial voice is a bit strong and overexplaining. In fact, the inner voices of characters are really this narratorial voice, too. It's disconcerting. The voice fades and the narrative improves and I was quite taken with the world of the book. The city reminded me of Glenda Larke's new trilogy. In tone, the novel itself reminds me of some of the Quentaris books*.

Anyhow, once the introductory set up is out of the way and we know that Tom (a street brat)...

gillpolack @ 2010-08-09T15:34:00

A while back, fjm said, as an aside, in a comment on something, that a particular literary experience of mine ought be written up. I don't know if I've done quite what she wanted but I puzzled out why I hadn't written about the topic in detail elsewhere and I turned it into a narrative and lo, it's my new piece for Bibliobuffet: http://www.bibliobuffet.com/bookish-dreaming

I keep wanting to say that it's "Chaim Potok Meets Gillian Polack" in a daikaiju event, but really, it was just summer...

gillpolack @ 2010-08-08T23:23:00

I've run out of time and am back in normal mode. No more Angry Robot reviews for a bit. It's a pity - I was enjoying myself!

Gary McMahon Pretty Little Dead Things

The Next Angry Robot book I read was today. Not three months ago. Yes, I'm finally caught up a bit. It's Gary McMahon's Pretty Little Dead Things. I had to finish it early enough in the evening so it wouldn't follow me to bed.

Thomas Usher is one of an increasing number of characters in novels and on TV who talk to dead people and make a living out of it. McMahon sets this up straightforwardly and with much disclaimer. Not the "I am not the kid in the movie" but "I am not a Raymond Cha...

Amortals by Matt Forbeck

I read an Angry Robot book today*, from their electronic review copy program. It was very satisfying.

Not only it was a good book, but it made me feel almost normal. Almost human? Maybe it makes me feel life is under my control again. Except that I keep wanting to use that old slogan "Tight, taut and terrific" about Amortals, which is accurate, but oh, so wrong. There's not a wasted word. There's not an idea that doesn't make sense. I meant to start it tonight and finish other work, th...

EDGE by John Meaney writing as Thomas Blackthorne

I'm still doing serious thinking. This means I get to do some more reading, because it really helps me frame my ideas. This means, of course, I get to introduce you to another Angry Robot book. I've given myself a Wednesday deadline for this batch of thinking, so this may well be the last book for a little. We'll see.

What I'm trying to work out is how dynamic history is in novels. This is one of those things that sounds really straightforward and is anything but. It will probably take...

gillpolack @ 2010-08-08T13:34:00

I'm going to ask forgiveness in advance. I wrote notes on two other Angry Robot books at the same time I read Lauren Beukes' Zoo City. Now, I remember posting a review of her book, but the others had an embargo for a couple of weeks and I can't remember if I posted the reviews or not. I can't find them using a search engine, so I'm assuming I didn't post them and life got in the way (which has happened a lot this year). This means you get two more review posts in the next five minutes. O...