Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

Dividing a world into mysterious zones is an inspired storytelling concept. The conditions in each zone dictate the type of technology that can be employed, and anyone crossing a zone boundary will suffer from physical distress. It all leads to considerable intrigue and tension as the main characters, Quillon and Meroka, undertake their long journey.

The zonal constraints impart a distinctly steampunk feel, with horses, airships and various steam power contraptions making regular appearances. Each zone tends to have its own collection of inhabitants. Although largely humanoid they often exhibit divergent evolutionary traits, including enigmatic Angels and dark-souled Skullboys. The grotesquely memorable Carnivorgs are an exception.

I found the book both entertaining and easy to read, but it might not appeal to everyone. Some may be unhappy that many certain key aspects are never fully explained. For example the source, number and extent of the zones, or the origins, capabilities and evolutionary map of its humanoid inhabitants. Plot lines are sometimes left hanging in a wait-for-the-sequel type fashion - especially the ending. Yet, as there is no sequel, some readers may feel shortchanged with this approach.

Of course, just as in real life, a fictional book doesn't have to provide all the answers. As a writer, hanging story lines simply stir my imagination. And, in the end, I found this book had a distinctly different feel to other SF books I've read. A good thing in my opinion.

Home Truths (Novella) by David Lodge

Create a stage play script. Develop it during the rehearsal stage. Watch it being performed. Then turn it into a prose fiction novella.

Certainly not your typical fiction book journey, however, in the skilful hands of Lodge the result is a delightful little book.

Throughout the narrative I was constantly aware of a stage-like influence. In my mind's eye I could easily visualise how the set would appear to the audience, 'watch' a new character take to the stage and 'see' the dialogue performed. I could even anticipate the audience laughter.

How much of this was down to prior knowledge of how the book was conceived, the image on the cover, or the actual content was difficult to ascertain.

David Lodge isn't afraid to experiment with composition, style and voice. It's one of the primary reason I enjoy reading his novels so much. In the 'Afterword' section of the Home Truths novella Lodge asks the reader to judge if process 'works'. This reader say it does, brilliantly.

The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom

Ian Sansom's 'The Case of the Missing Books' is the first in his 'The Mobile Library' series, which includes 'Mr Dixon Disappears', 'The Book Stops Here', 'The Bad Book Affair' and 'The Delegates' Choice'.

The early pages are largely dedicated to introducing the central character, Israel Armstrong. This resoundingly individual, richly eccentric librarian is the source for most of the narrative's social interplay, zany adventures and bizarre incidents. Indeed, while this is in essence a detective story, Israel is one of the most unconvincing sleuths you're ever likely to encounter. Hence all the fun.

Israel's new job in Northern Ireland is a far cry from his normal London stomping ground, lifestyle and routine. This alienation from the familiar and comfortable only accentuates his highly individual character traits.

The levels of intrigue and secrecy run deep in the close-knit Tumdrum and District community. It's colourful characters - no doubt drawn from Sansom's astute observations of the County Antrim area's real life inhabitants - are vividly brought to life by the author's considerable writing talent and deft style.

My only niggles are a rather slow beginning and that certain comic dialogue passages, written in a halting, leading-nowhere conversational form, might be easier to listen to rather than to read. Nevertheless, I found it a highly entertaining book. I'll certainly be seeking out the rest of the series.

Gardens Of The Sun by Paul McAuley

This book is the sequel to The Quiet War. Having thoroughly enjoyed that book I expected great things from this novel. And I wasn't disappointed.

There's a smooth transition from the first book to the second. In fact, there are so many references to Quiet War characters, events and story lines, I can only encourage everyone to read that novel first. After all, it's an excellent book.

Once again, I found my imagination stimulated by the richly described gene-engineered gardens. Spectacular habitats created by gene wizard Avernus and Sri Hong-Owen (Sri is Avernus's biggest admirer and would-be successor). These passages endow a convincing sense of realism, no doubt greatly helped by McAuley's Botany Ph.D, research activities and lecturing experience.

Yet I'm also impressed by McAuley's ability to craft a rich collection of three-dimensional characters, high-quality dialogue and any number of fully believable scenes - whether they be on Earth, the Moon or within the gas giant systems of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. When combined with its great sense of pace and fast moving plot, I found the 439 pages simply whizz by.

The only low point for me was the weak penultimate chapter. It exhibited such a different voice, style and pace, I had to wonder if it was written by the same person. But it couldn't spoil my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

There are more of Paul McAuley's words at his unlikely worlds blog site.

Ted Hughes

The airwaves have been full of tributes to the larger than life poet Ted Hughes, after a memorial was unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner. Numerous poets, writers and celebrities offered their thoughts on the man and his work. Some performed readings of the poem fragments that touched them the most.

However, nothing can match a reading by the man himself. His voice has an immense and immediate effect. He spoke directly from the soul. Words hung in the air, visualisations whirled around the mind. The poem breathes; it exists. It's a feat that can only be approximated by others, with varying degrees of effectiveness.

Many say Hughes had such an immense presence he could hush a room simply by walking in. Nevertheless, it's his powerful, highly original voice that's burned into our consciousness; words that resonate inside our soul.

But, that notion brings both joy and sadness.

Hearing someone else read a poem I find there's something missing. It's the same if I read a passage myself. An extra dimension has been lost. It doesn't have the gravitas, authority and pure force of energy it needs and demands. Hughes lived those words; the delight, the pleasure, the heartache and the suffering.

Sadly, Ted Hughes cannot read to us any more. His words will always have the capacity to unleash a torrent of emotions and imagery. But I for one will seek out a reading by the man himself.

Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande

An unexpectedly intriguing and captivating book!

Unexpected, due to the unique content. Certainly not another 'this is how you write' book. In fact, her dismissal of prescriptive books and writing instruction in general is particularly vehement. This despite having read as many books about writing technique as she could find, attending numerous creative writing seminars and exploring life in a literary colony. And she's equally vocal in her disapproval of discouraging and dismissive messages often given to keen students by tutors and successful writers.

Intriguing, as she had no desire to produce a book on writing. Until that is, she accepted a teaching position herself. A role which drove her to encourage self-development, as opposed to a rigid, one-size-fits-all programme. To shine a light on the psyche of a writer. And ultimately to write this book.
Ms. Brande's clarity of thinking is supplemented by practical advice, aimed at helping a writer discover, nurture and exploit their inner genius. Considerable space is devoted to establishing regular writing patterns and balancing the writer's creative side with the requisite self-critical aspect of writing.
Yet, she's also sympathetic to the writer's magic, and those unpredictable flashes of inspiration - flashes that occur almost exclusively when the mind is occupied with tasks far removed from the literary domain.

And personally very captivating. From start to finish I invariably found myself in agreement with the author's views. Page after page of strangely familiar messages, purposeful advice, and genuine value.
All in all thoroughly encouraging read, full of positive thoughts and stimulating passages, from an author far ahead of her time.

John (Richard Thomas) Sullivan

John Richard Thomas Sullivan failed his 11-plus exam and left school at 15 without any qualifications. The result was a succession of uninspiring jobs until one day a friend showed him a newspaper article about the TV scriptwriter Johnny Speight. He read that Speight earned £1000 for each of his Till Death Us Do Part episodes; equivalent to Sullivan's annual salary. It made a seminal impression.

He bought a second-hand typewriter, self-help books, studied English, and started work on a upmarket sitcom called Gentlemen. However, his self-motivated endeavours provided little in the way of success. At the age of 30 he took a job as a BBC scene-shifter, in an attempt to make useful writing contacts.

After encouragement from Ronnie Barker he started writing comedy sketches for The Two Ronnies and Dave Allen. Subsequently legendary producer producer Dennis Main Wilson accepted his story idea about a suburban social revolutionary, and Sullivan immediately took time off work to write a pilot episode. His Citizen Smith sitcom proved to be a great success, and was ultimately extended to four series.

He continued by writing the incredibly successful Only Fools and Horses, set in his childhood South London stomping ground and full of its colourful, down-to-earth characters. In the process he also penned many other notable series, including Just Good Friends, Dear John, Roger Roger and Heartbreak Hotel.

A fall out with the BBC led to the ITV Dickens-influenced comedy drama Micawber, followed later by the Fools and Horses spinoff Green Green Grass. In 2011 his final series Rock & Chips was aired; a Fools and Horses prequel set in the 1960s. A fitting tribute following Sullivan's untimely death, at the age of 64 on 23rd April 2011.

It's a remarkable story. A source of inspiration and encouragement for any writer.

Talking About Detective Fiction by P. D. James

Written by one of our present day detective fiction masters, this slim volume contains a plethora of historical background, author analysis and exploration of writing methods. A book conceived following a request by the Bodleian Library's Publishing Department, located in her native Oxford.

From start to finish it's intelligent, insightful and informative. And she doesn't sit on the fence when expressing her views on fellow authors' techniques and proficiencies - for example Agatha Christie's reliance on 'pasteboard characters' and occasional less-than-credible narrative scenarios. But, for myself, this only adds to the book's readability.

Many pages are devoted to Arthur Conan Doyle's famous 221B Baker Street tenant, the literary richness of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, the graphic realism of Dorothy L. Sayers and the story telling brilliance of Agatha Christie with her talent to deceive. And there's similar thoughtful discussion on Richard Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, Georges Simenon, and many others.

It's always interesting to hear an author articulate her approach to novel writing. In particular, there's her rational, clearly presented argument for preferring a setting-based starting point, a notion which differs from many other authors in this genre.

In the forward P. D. James declares her intention to 'interest and entertain'. Regardless of whether you're a fan of detective fiction, I believe she achieves this aim. A particularly illuminating book in so many ways, and a fascinating read.

The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge

This highly individual book, from the much loved and missed Beryl Bainbridge, is the antithesis to a dry, historical tale of Scott's fateful Antarctic expedition.

With amazingly inventive imagination and striking clarity, she digs deep into the makeup of these familiar characters. The arresting result is they burst into life; convincingly real, alluringly complex lives, complete with loves, aspirations, fears, regrets and inner conflicts.

Few other writers are likely to achieve such rich character renditions. Totally credible and identifiable renditions.  Renditions that exhibit all the strength, fragility, confidence, vulnerability and emotional complexity you'd expect from men destined for such an expedition and ultimate fate. Men described in the book as, "misfits, victims of a changing world."

Interestingly each of these five main characters - Petty Officer Edgar (Taf) Evans, Dr Edward (Uncle Bill) Wilson, Capt. Robert Falcon (Con) Scott, Lt. Henry Robertson (Birdie) Bowers and Capt. Lawrence Edward (Titus) Oates - are given their own chapter, written from the first-person narrative viewpoint.

These chapters are full of engaging dialogue; intimate conversation and drinking stories revealing past experiences, warmly remembered comrades and shared adventures. The story begins just before embarking on the long voyage south. Each subsequent chapter progresses through the 21 month timeline, guiding the reader inexorability towards its finale.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Rarely does a book induce me to say, 'an absolute delight', but this one did.

A sumptuously appointed narrative revolves around the Queen's abruptly acquired, all consuming passion for reading, and the ensuing miscellany of court antics, equerry interactions and other deliciously humorous situations.

The clever, understated, sure-footed prose and dialogue is so believable, so real, you feel as if you are actually there; observing silently, unnoticed in the corner of the room.

His bold, seemingly nerveless decision to choose and emphatically capture our monarch as the lead character, is matched by an ability to carry it off so effortlessly. 

Personally, I thought it had the feel of a classic. A classic in conception, originality and execution. And definitely classic Alan Bennett - a master of his craft.

Being a rather slim, 121 page volume its easily devoured in a session or two; time simply whizzing by. And yes, I wanted more, much more, more of the same. Please.

What does the Queen herself think of the book I wonder? One can only guess, but I'm sure this author knows the real answer.

Fishing in Utopia by Andrew Brown

Part memoir, part nostalgic reminisce of a lost Sweden, part insight into a life of thoughts and words.

It's an entangled journey. Andrew Brown's very English childhood in Oxford, interjected by two years in Stockholm. A chance meeting with his future Swedish wife in a North Wales care home. A seminal period near Gothenburg, metamorphosing into a Swedish family man, while trying to discover himself. Followed by a self-launched writing career, bouncing between London and Scandinavia.

A journey threaded by a literary trail of fishing stories and experiences. A passion for angling that pumps like a main arterial vein. A passion that demands visits to silently desolate, engagingly surreal, forest bound lakes and rivers - described in poetic-like prose.

The time-travelling chapters and reflective nature of the first-person narrative, induce an awareness of a life passing by. Never really feeling at home in England or Sweden, this conflict adds a distinct objectiveness and sense of detachment when musing on the world around him. Yet he's undoubtedly in touch with the Swedish mindset, culture and deep rooted history.

Unsurprisingly, I found the writing references particularly interesting. His tentative and rather inauspicious start being transformed by some highly newsworthy stories, leading to a new life as a freelance journalist, columnist and author.
 
Sweden's enviable global status in the 1960s and 70s disappeared during the 1980s - suddenly and seemingly irreversibly. In the end he seems torn between a love for the country and the people and a despair for the future of them both.

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

After Dark is a novel set within a seven hour period, commencing a few minutes before the strike of midnight. With scenes set amongst the backstreets of downtown Tokyo, its pace beautifully captures the slow, stretched out feel of the nighttime.

Highly detailed characters are, ultimately, richly exposed to the reader through a trickle of vividly naturalistic observations, expressive behaviour, meaningful interplay and effective dialogue.

In fact, it takes most of the narrative to discover who the reclusive, bookish, thoughtful main character Mari really is; her background, her fears, her dreams and the depth of connection to her sister Eri.

When combined with Haruki's skilful prose, clear voice, scrupulously crafted atmospheric scenes and volumes of unspoken mystery, it's a technique that ensures we're always immersed, always keen to turn the page.

There are many writing devices and traits at work. Chapters entitled with an ever-increasing time - to denote the advancement of the night. Pronounced shortening of chapter length as the story concludes - to enact rapid scene change and raising the tension. Using a narrator voice when visiting a scene with mystical, dreamlike viewpoints - to endow a movie director like quality. An inconclusive ending - resolution

Its a novel immediately identifiable, albeit in a fascinatingly illusive manner, as a Haruki Murakami story, and a highly recommended read.

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

Paul Chowder is in love with poetry and is determined to show us why. In a delightfully rambling story we're taken through a challenging period of his life. It's a story shared with Roz, various neighbours and friends, his dog Smacko, and the mouse.

Throughout the first-person narrative he conveys his thoughts on poetry and poets, rhyming and free verse, and in particular, rhythm. Having little regard for the iambic pentameter or the trochaic octameter, he maintains all good poetry is based around an underlying four beat or three beat rhythm - occasionally adorned with strategically positioned rests.

There are obvious parallels with western music and lyrical poetry. Especially with regard to the ballad stanza, which he describes as, "Four lines, four beats in each line, and the third line drives towards the fourth."

It's certainly an interesting and entertaining point of view. One argued by multiple examples from some of the greats: Edward Lear, Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Mary Louise Ritter, Alice Carey, Vachel Lindsay, Sara Teasdale, T.S. Eliot plus many others - and liberal use of his sharpie.

Yet despite all this poetry knowledge and his previous successes he reveals, in a dryly comic manner, his lack of confidence and loss of motivation for creating the introduction to his poetry anthology.

Ultimately, this highly readable book is able to both entertain and inform. The way the prose subtly, almost subconsciously, imbibes gems of poetry knowledge and understanding upon the reader, is the mark of highly creative and skilled writer.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

An open, honest, and thoughtful book, full of biographical reflections on running, writing and life in general. There's a peppering of poetic flourishes too - the special New England fall is my particular favourite. It all goes to make for a very enjoyable and interesting read.

Haruki's extensive running experiences and personal insights provide a rich resource for delving into the motivations of a long distance runner. His highly descriptive accounts of marathons, triathlons and other endurance events, will be of interest to anyone who runs, is thinking about running, or wonders why anyone would ever decide to run. He conveys the intimate link between the physicality of running and the associative state of mind, with phrases such as “All I do is keep running in my cosy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence”.

From a personal viewpoint, I found his insights into the mindset of a novelist, and a writer's life in general, just as interesting. Indeed, I can only feel a sense of poignant affinity with someone who's decision to become a writer was born out of a single thought, on one particular day. Like most writers he initially wrote in short, snatched periods, whenever his time-absorbing bar and Jazz club business allowed. But, after attracting significant attention with his early 'Hear the Wind Sing' and 'Pinball, 1973' novels he then, “hung out my sign as a novelist and set out to make a living writing” admitting to himself, “I'm the kind of person that has to totally commit to whatever I do”.

Wandering through the chapters it's impossible to miss the many connections between the solitary world of a long-distance runner and the solitary life of a creative novelist - something he explores, confirms and strengthens throughout the book. Both endeavours he maintains suit him, as someone who, “likes to be by himself” and, “doesn't find it painful to be alone”.

Finishing a long race in a personally acceptable time involves a hard, regular training regime to acquire not only the muscle tone and physique necessary, but also to train and strengthen the mind. Improvements are made daily, albeit at an almost imperceptible pace.

Tackling a book project requires an equally steely undertaking, sitting every day in focussed concentration. As he points out, even if no words are penned this process is necessary to build physical stamina and willpower - essential when completing a sizeable writing project, to a standard with which the writer can be proud. For him, being creative isn't a natural process, but a hard, physical one which requires lengthy toil, dredging out deep holes to find the sources of creativity.

In writing and running you need self motivation and inner drive; dedication and routine; confidence and optimism; willpower to keep going to the finish; and a desire to explore what's possible. The rewards are a heady sense of release, contentment and inner-calm that occur as you settle into a steady-paced running rhythm or find yourself amidst an outpouring of free-flowing prose.

Ultimately, in writing as in running, there is really only a single opponent to achieving your goals - yourself.

Just Kids by Patti Smith

Biographical books rarely start better than this: intimate and honest; moving and involving; poetic in rhythm and content.

Chapter one, Monday's Children, whisks the reader off to a childhood environment, studded with meaningful observations and subtle, tantalising indications of what destiny may have in store. The second chapter, Just Kids, proudly and successfully forms the core of the book, centred around that accidental - yet in so many ways unavoidably inevitable - meeting of two artistic minds and souls. Amidst the affection, tenderness and natural coupling is a deep seated respect for each other's talents and ambitions.

However, after diving expectantly into the Hotel Chelsea chapter, I noticed the narrative style had changed, the magic lost. As they gradually drift apart due to work, friends, relationships and circumstances, the book also seems to lose its way, even its sense of purpose. There are glimpses of the earlier magic, but small and fleeting in comparison, little reward in a huge 120 page chapter. There are, of course, many interesting tales to be told and many interesting characters to meet, and it's an important element in understanding the overall story. Yet the altered style and modified voice is more mundane and matter-of-fact, losing its previous beauty and energy. In my imagination it's written at a different time, in a different place and in a different state of mind to the rest of the book.

Happily, the magic reappears in the penultimate chapter, Separate Ways Together, then sparkles magnificently in Holding Hands With God - the final sweet, lyrical chapter awash with tenderness, affection and love. Conclusively demonstrating, when focussed on Patti and Robert, how exceptionally well the prose captures this intensely intimate relationship.

But it's also a book to discover Patti the artist - her drawings, photographs, silk-screens, installations and, of course, poetry - a delightful bonus. Overall this is a simply wonderful book - and an immensely engaging story.