Jared Shurin's Blog, page 11
March 26, 2018
The Kitschies
Disclaimer: It has been five (?) years since I had anything to do with The Kitschies, so, this is a non-disclaimer disclaimer. This has nothing to do with me or with Pornokitsch as a whole. (Anne still makes the trophies though!)
But, god damn, they're fun to watch. Check out this lovely website created by sponsor Blackwell's. And buy all the books - at a discount!
This year's shortlists look exceptional: I've read precisely zero of the books, but have now ordered a half dozen based on their...
March 23, 2018
Fiction: '01001001 01000011 01000101' by Robert Sharp
The book was big and heavy, which meant it would burn well. Ree ran her fingers over the embossed cover before opening it. The leather was a little damp, of course, but not sodden, and the pages inside were crisp and dry. She tore out the first page and threw it onto the fire.
���Not like that,��� said Sam. ���We don���t need any more kindling. Just throw it on.���
���I like looking at the letters,��� said Ree. ���These ones have little decorations. Tails and hats.���
Sam stepped over the fi...
March 22, 2018
Review Round-up: Smoke 'em while you got 'em
Some reviews that are united by being... written. And since this site ain't around for much longer, it is now or never! Featuring Margaret Millar's Fire Will Freeze, Bill Beverly's Dodgers, Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and Lucas Dale's First Watch. Something for everyone and/or no one, I suspect.
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Fire Will Freeze by Margaret Millar (1944)
Utterly bonkers ���sealed room��� mystery - think of it as punk-Christie, with an emphasis on surreal dialogue, backhanded...
March 21, 2018
Robert Chambers, A Titan in Yellow
A pre-Tolkien, pre-Lovecraft fantasist who spanned genres, styles, and formats: Chambers was a success during his lifetime, and a massive influence beyond it.
Chambers: Successful, forgotten
Chambers wrote over a hundred books. He churned them out quickly and on topical issues, for example, using the background of WWI or the stock market crash, or dealing with provocative topics like adultery, depression and alcoholism. His fiction spanned romance, literary drama, heavy-handed war fiction, c...
March 19, 2018
Stewart, Stewart, Heyer: Touch Not the Cat, Thornyhold and Envious Casca
Three books by two favourites: Mary Stewart's Touch Not the Cat and Thornyhold and Georgette Heyer's Envious Casca.
For more on Stewart, check out our Author Appreciation and our convenient 'field guide'. For more on Heyer, er, just read a lot of Heyer? (It is well worth it.)
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Touch Not the Cat
by Mary Stewart (1976)
Touch Not has the hallmarks of one of Stewart���s classic romantic suspense novels: a beautiful woman (Bryony Ashley), both supremely confident and utterly alone in the worl...
March 16, 2018
Friday Five: 50 Final Favourites
This is our 162nd Friday Five column.
Over the past decade, we - with the help of some spectacular guests - have made over 1,500 recommendations - from vegetables to Star Trek novels, cover-tentacles to character-swaps, geek anthems to fanfictions, memes to Pakistani action heroes.
Friday Fives only had one rule: be positive. They were always an excuse to talk about something we loved, no matter how niche or geeky or mundane. As a result, we got interesting people, being really passionate,...
March 15, 2018
Ban Fiction: 'Is This to Be a Psychopath Test?' by Mazin Saleem
"What would you say is the function of humans?"
"To parasitise. To live off other forms of life whatever forms they have or will take."
"And what separates the forms, humans and animals, from artificial life?"
"Our reliance on logic."
"Does that define humanhood?"
"Not quite. More, the denial of the concept of irrational self-interest."
"Denial?"
"Disapproval. Disproof."
[ ]
"Considering the above, what do you think of humans?"
"I don���t understand. These tests make you nervous."
""Well...
The Ides of March!
They cast me in Julius Caesar because I���m good at pretending to be surprised by murder.
Our aim was for Brutus. You���ll just have to trust me when I say he deserved it. The director told me the aim was for Brutus, he told me Brutus deserved it, and he gave me a figure and a cash advance. He told me who was in on it: Julius Caesar, Cassius the Conspirator - and now me. They wanted somebody strong and reliable in the chorus, because they weren���t all as accustomed to the act as I was. They...
March 14, 2018
Review Round-up: Squadron Supreme, The Bug Wars, Crownbird and Beasts of the Burnished Chain
Four reviews with nothing in common, really. Squadron Supreme, Robert Asprin's The Bug Wars, Kit Thackeray's Crownbird, and Alex Marshall's new novella, Beasts of the Burnished Chain. Featuring: Military science fiction, four-colour superheroes, colonialist espionage action, and some grimdark skullduggery!
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Squadron Supreme
by Mark Gruenwald and Tom DeFalco (1986)
Squadron is really quite spectacular, and every time I read it, I'm more impressed. It is, for those that missed it, a pre-Wa...
March 13, 2018
Non-Fiction: 'A Day on the Moon' by James Naysmyth and James Carpenter (1874)
We well know what are the requisite conditions of life on the earth; and we can go no further for grounds of inference; for if we were to start by assuming forms of life capable of existence under conditions widely and essentially different from those pertaining to our planet, there would be no need for discussing our subject further: we could revel in conjectures, without a thought as to their extravagance. The only legitimate phase of the question we can entertain is this: can there be on...
