Category: Reviews

Fragile Remnants Buried Deep: “This Dreaming Isle” anthology

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Or, Weird Fiction Against Brexit. That's too reductive a description but the timing of this publication - and editor Dan Coxon's impassioned introduction - mean it's not entirely flippant and not entirely inappropriate. Coxon was angered by Paul Kingsnorth's right-wing reading of Paul Wright's stunning 'Arcadia', a reading which "moves away from the weird, unsettling … Continue reading Fragile Remnants Buried Deep: “This Dreaming Isle” anthology

Mike Tomkies: Wilderness(e) man

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"No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe" wrote Donne. Well, Mike Tomkies tried his damnedest. Tomkies's books sold in their thousands in the 1980s, but in today's Nature Writing Revival he is nowhere to be found. Both my Dad and cousin Colin (with whom I went birdwatching in my teens, chugging around Fife … Continue reading Mike Tomkies: Wilderness(e) man

A completely unnecessary piece on Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman”

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I had thought about compiling a ranking of Neil Gaiman's Sandman books in the manner of my previous (and gratifyingly popular) China Mieville and Clive Barker top 10s. But if you don't know Sandman, although they can be read as stand-alone volumes, you'll get more out of them if you read them in order. So … Continue reading A completely unnecessary piece on Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman”

Brussels Expo58

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Nothing dates like a vision of the future. I was in Brussels recently for a family holiday. Lovely city; highly recommended. Anyway: we visited the Atomium. You might not know the name, but you know the image: "the steel balls". As a piece of architecture, from afar it looks like a toy; one of the … Continue reading Brussels Expo58

Every fertile inch: Derek Jarman’s “Modern Nature”

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Dungeness occupies a peculiar place in the English psyche. If the more overtly symbolic Dover cliffs can be read as embodying England's stance toward Europe - aloof, haughty, withdrawn - Dungeness, whose geography is far less confrontational, is more ambiguous. It is an English wilderness; one of the largest expanses of shingle in Europe. It … Continue reading Every fertile inch: Derek Jarman’s “Modern Nature”

“Landfill” by Tim Dee

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My copy of Landfill was supplied for review by Little Toller Books. Tim Dee's latest book may just be his most important. His 2008 work The Running Sky is justifiably recognised as a classic of modern nature writing. Through the months of a year Dee looks at a particular species, habitat, or aspect of our … Continue reading “Landfill” by Tim Dee

Lodestone – the work of Benjamin Myers

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Benjamin Myers is a writer whose time has come. Recent winner of the Walter Scott Prize for his stunning The Gallows Pole, Myers has been a prolific voice of the English North for several years, and his wider renown is thoroughly deserved. It also comes at a fertile time for writing from the North of … Continue reading Lodestone – the work of Benjamin Myers

Summer Reading

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In Scotland the schools are off, and the weather has been uncharacteristically summery since late May. I'm away on holiday. Time to share with you what I've been reading in this fine weather, and what's in the suitcase for the trip to Kernow. The Devil Rides Out - Dennis Wheatley: 1930s black magic horror hokum. … Continue reading Summer Reading

Habitat and Habit: “Reservoir 13” by Jon McGregor

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Warning: contains spoilers, sort of. I read Jon McGregor's debut novel, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, when it came out in 2003. I was, I confess, immediately envious of his talent, given that he's two years younger than me. Ah well, some people have it. This is the first novel of his I've read … Continue reading Habitat and Habit: “Reservoir 13” by Jon McGregor

Meta-nostalgia: “The Beatles Story” by Arthur Ranson & Angus Allan (1981/2018)

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This is a follow-up to my previous piece on nostalgia. Not because the world needs any more writing on The Beatles: it really doesn't. The book is a collection of the serialised strips which appeared in Look-In from 1981-1982. There was also a similar strip covering Elvis' rise to fame. I remember them (vaguely) from … Continue reading Meta-nostalgia: “The Beatles Story” by Arthur Ranson & Angus Allan (1981/2018)