Books, Fiction
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Horror author Joe Hill introduces his new novel, NOS4R2
16 May 2013
The writer also touches on working with Daniel Radcliffe and being Stephen King's son
The latest novel from author Joe Hill is a full throttle horror story. In NOS4R2, a serial killer prowls both real and imaginary worlds in his Silver Wraith Rolls Royce, abducting children for a hundred year reign of terror. The killer takes his…
James Robertson - The Professor of Truth
16 May 2013
A contemporary story dealing with the aftermath of a Lockerbie-like attack
Twenty-one years after the death of his wife and child in a plane bombing, Dr Alan Tealing remains unconvinced by the official account of this atrocity. Tealing’s obsession with what he calls The Case defines the novel: this is Lockerbie in everything…
David Gaffney - More Sawn Off Tales
10 May 2013
Small tales of great depth
When reading this collection of very short stories you will forget where you are, what you’re supposed to be doing and where you’re supposed to be going. It is utterly, and wonderfully addictive. Each 150-word story in this follow up to Sawn Off Tales…
George Saunders - Tenth of December
13 Dec 2012
A rather insubstantial short story collection that will no doubt have cult appeal
It might seem like damning with faint praise, but George Saunders is an interesting writer. His tough tales are never going to be everyone’s litbag (even those disposed to his idiosyncratic style of writing) but you can almost smell his cult…
Curtis Sittenfeld - Sisterland
15 May 2013
A tense, gripping narrative let down by hard-to-swallow racist and homophobic tendencies
When Kate’s identical twin sister, professional psychic Vi Shramm, has a premonition that a giant earthquake is about to strike their hometown of St Louis, Kate begins to set in motion a plan to protect her family. As Vi gets carried away by the media…
Jenny Mayhew - A Wolf in Hindelheim
15 May 2013
Former screenwriter Mayhew's debut novel is a strong, atmospheric story set in pre-WWII Germany
War hangs heavy over the small German mountain community of Hindelheim in Jenny Mayhew’s unusual crime novel, set in 1926. WWI has left local constable Hildebrandt crippled and estranged from his adult son, while the war which we know is still to come…
Maggie O'Farrell - Instructions For a Heatwave
22 Feb 2013
A nostalgic novel with vivid characterisation from Costa Book Award winner O'Farrell
An overheated London is the setting for Costa Book Award winner Maggie O’Farrell’s sixth novel, where Gretta Riordan’s retired husband goes out for a paper one morning and never returns. The subsequent search for their father reunites Gretta’s kids…
Dave Eggers - A Hologram for the King
22 Jan 2013
A witty and erudite social satire about America's place in the modern world
You can practically touch the satire oozing from the pages of A Hologram for the King. This parable of America being diluted and threatened in the face of a brutal global economy has Dave Eggers at his default setting of ambitious, amusing and…
Anne Holt, PJ Tracy Quintin Jardine - spring 2013 crime fiction round-up
22 Jan 2013
Shuichi Yoshida, Elly Griffiths and Anna Smith are also among releasing novels in coming months
Anne Holt certainly has an intriguing background for a prominent career in crime writing. A law graduate and anchor woman on a TV news programme, she worked in the Oslo police department before setting up her own legal practice and then taking on the…
Niall Griffiths - A Great Big Shining Star
22 Jan 2013
Griffiths' social drama about youthful obsession with celebrity is a brutal and barbarous pleasure
As some of the architects of the British micro-celebrity explosion come under the scrutiny of the Savile inquiry, Niall Griffiths deconstructs the life of someone who yearns to live her life in the pages of Heat and Nuts. Grace wants to leave her small…
Kate Manning - My Notorious Life by Madame X
16 May 2013
A timely historical drama about abortion and the female body in the Victorian era
After a year of American politicians sounding off about women’s bodies like it was the 19th century, Kate Manning’s novel, inspired by an infamous midwife/abortion provider from that era, comes as a reminder of how grim things used to be. Axie…
Stephen Collins – The Gigantic Beard that was Evil
26 Apr 2013
Collins’ graphic novel inspects the havoc wreaked on a neat community by unruly facial hair
On the bland, egg-shaped island of Here, Dave lives a comfortably dull life: by day he performs a data-processing job; by night he sketches the view from the windows of his suburban home. Like the other inhabitants of Here, Dave is wary of change and…
Alasdair Gray - A Unique Case
13 Nov 2012
A short story from the Scottish author and artist's Every Short Story 1952-2012 collection
The Reverend Dr Phelim MacLeod is a healthy, boyish-looking bachelor who has outlived all his relations except a distant cousin in Canada. Though unsurpassed in his knowledge of Latin, Hebrew and Greek his main reading since retirement has been…
Ian Rankin - Standing in Another Man’s Grave
12 Nov 2012
Rankin's Rebus resurrection is a welcome return
The surprise comeback that everybody expected has finally arrived with the return of John Rebus, the fictional detective most associated with both Ian Rankin and the city of Edinburgh. Five years on from his retirement in 2007’s Exit Music, Rebus is…
Richard T Kelly - The Possessions of Doctor Forrest (review)
26 Mar 2013
Gothic thriller makes for a pleasant departure for the Crusaders author
(Faber) Take three respected Scottish doctors, a paediatric surgeon, psychiatrist and cosmetic surgeon, now all living comfortably in suburban London. Make the hedonist cosmetic surgeon suddenly disappear and you have the beginnings of a very…
Flash Fiction: Heft, by Jane Flett
22 Mar 2013
The newest instalment in our series of ultra-short stories
The only way you’re going to get this is to clamber in and heft it out, this thing, this beast, almost human in weight. Note the squish of sundried tomato between your teeth, throw a sweater across the room, tell your friend that’s the song you love and…
Flash Fiction: Think of Icebergs, by Tania Hershman
22 Feb 2013
The first in our new series of ultra-short stories
‘It’s hot,’ you said. ‘Think of icebergs,’ I said. ‘Melting,’ you said. ‘All melting. What happens?’ ‘When?’ ‘When we run out of ice?’ I put my arm around you, felt your bony shoulders. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘People are clever. Very clever.
C Robert Cargill - Dreams and Shadows
22 Feb 2013
A twisted mix of Grimm horror, fairy folklore and clichéd dialogue from the screenwriter and critic
Opening with a chapter in which a sweetly romantic couple are brutally disposed of mere pages after their introduction, this is a dark fairy tale in the truest sense of the word, and distinctly not for kids. But prod beneath its blackly imaginative…
Carol Rifka Brunt - Tell the Wolves I’m Home
22 Feb 2013
A literary coming-of-age debut that's a cut above other young adult fiction
In this literary coming-of-age debut set against the height of the AIDS epidemic, we follow 14 year-old June, a refreshingly under-self-aware protagonist tasked with discovering her beloved, recently-departed uncle Finn’s past. The once-famous artist’s…
Extract from Bill & Coo by Ronald Frame
23 Jan 2013
The author lets us glimpse an extract of his work ahead of his reading as part of LGBT History Month
Shit awful name. Bill & Coo. But that’s what came with the franchise, in twirly lettering on the shop front. Bill & Coo ™, to be accurate. Kerry, being Australian, had known about the company. She also knew they were looking to expand their…
Christopher Brookmyre - Bedlam
22 Jan 2013
Slightly overcooked but overall enjoyable sci-fi comedy from the erstwhile crime writer
For his 15th book, Glaswegian writer Christopher Brookmyre forsakes crime capers for the first in a trilogy of gaming-based sci-fi novels, tied to future multi-platform games from virtual environment creators RedBedlam. Despite an intentionally…
Melvin Burgess - Hunger
13 Dec 2012
Hammer's first book release fits well with the brand's cheesy horror image
Cult horror brand Hammer continues its multi-media reboot with this grizzly, fast-paced novella from Melvin Burgess, best-known for 1996’s Junk. First-year student Beth wakes up one morning covered in bruises and dirt, with no memory of the night…
Owen Martell - Intermission
13 Dec 2012
A real life inspired jazz novel that's cold and bleak but written with real soul
Celebrated American jazz pianist Bill Evans was haunted by tragedy. Raised by an abusive father, he saw his bassist Scott LaFaro die in a car accident and witnessed the suicides of both his girlfriend and brother before he finally succumbed to decades…
Nicholas Royle - First Novel
13 Dec 2012
A lithe, quirky and occasionally inspired story of academia, dogging and possible murder
‘What’s the difference between a publisher and a terrorist? You can negotiate with terrorists.’ So goes the mantra of many a long out-of-print novelist. Education has been the savour of one-time author Paul Kinder. His one forgotten book lies behind him…
From page to screen: Yann Martel's Life of Pi
13 Nov 2012
We chart the voyage of Pi from little-known novel to blockbuster Ang Lee adaptation
Around the turn of the millennium, French-Canadian author Yann Martel had a story collection and a novel under his belt. Though published by Faber, his early works were little read outside of Canada, and not much buzzed about even there. The Guardian…
