Monthly Archives: January 2009

A poem

2009-01-30 – 00:03:06

So on my OU Creative Writing course, we’re currently on the poetry module. After reading the chapter on imagery last night, I formed following in my head while cycling to work this morning. Crossing at Islington We swarm Fluourescent honeybees on wheels Waiting For electric flower’s red stamen to turn green. Some go too soon [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in poems, writing | Comments (0)

Adverbs, by Daniel Handler (Books 2008, 16)

2009-01-14 – 22:03:37

Mr Handler operating under his own name, here, rather than his Snicket nom de plume. As such, this is a novel for adults, rather than children. Though in fact, is it even a novel at all? It is in fact more of series of short stories, or even vignettes. They are linked, or at least [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, books 2008 | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

American Flagg episodes 1-30 (and special 1), by Howard Chaykin and others (Books 2008, 15)

2009-01-07 – 23:23:03

I came upon these when I was digging out some old comics for my son. These are not for eleven-year-olds, but I realised I hadn’t read them in years, and I thought I’d see how they had aged (plus, I remembered next to nothing about the story). The story is not bad, but not that [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, books 2008, comics, sf | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Halting State, by Charles Stross (Books 2008, 13)

2009-01-07 – 22:58:22

Posted out of sequence, for reasons unknown even to me. Writing about this novel is kind of embarassing for me, because I had the chance to make it better than it is, and I, er, blew it because I read too slowly. See, I was on quite a large list of people who saw a [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, books 2008, sf | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Lazarus Churchyard: The Final Cut, by Warren Ellis and D’Israeli (Books 2008, 14)

2009-01-04 – 01:35:39

Hmmm, once again I try a Warren Ellis, and find that it’s not as good as I expected, or hoped. ‘Good’, that is, in the sense of ‘exciting, dramatic, interesting’. I didn’t dislike it, and the story was OK; but it never really caught fire, you know? Still, it was his debut, so maybe the [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, books 2008, sf | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Veniss Underground, by Jeff Vandermeer (Books 2008, 12)

2009-01-04 – 01:24:55

I bought this in a second-hand bookshop, and tucked into the back there was a cutting from The Guardian of this review by Michael Moorcock. So go and look there if you want a plot summary: he does it much better then I could. It’s an interesting, dark story, and I’m not totally sure how [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, books 2008, sf | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)