Devastating reportage that will have you raging at what our rulers are doing to people and planet. Neoliberalism is exposed as a system of pillage and exploitation on a planetary scale, cashing in on disaster and misery. It goes without saying that the book now has more relevance to the UK then it did when it was published in 2007, as the Coalition applies The Shock Doctrine to this country. Read it, arm yourself with knowledge and prepare to fight back.
A beautifully written & structured novel combining literary detection, campus comedy and tragic Victorian romantic drama. Deeply engrossing and an emotionally satisfying read for all those who love supurb literature. Read the review here from The New York Times by Jay Parini.
Even if you have only a passing interest in early 70's British folk-rock, you will still find Rob Young's beautifully written book a fascinating read. It encompasses in its 600 pages, British social history, paganism and witchcraft, folklore, Utopian visions of Arcadia, 60's English Psychedelia and the free festival movement of the 70's. If you love as I do 'Acid Folk', Pentangle, early Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, The Wicker Man soundtrack, etc, this tome is a must.
Ramsey Campbell is the greatest contemporary writer of horror fiction but is completely unknown to the public & ignored by the mainstream. Creatures of the Pool one of his most recent novels is an updating of & homage to Lovecraft's aquatic tale of terror The Shadow Over Innsmouth, set in Campbell's home town of Liverpool. He is going over old ground here in comparison to his previous masterpiece The Grin Of The Dark but has all the disturbing atmosphere of classic Campbell. Read a short review here from Skulls In The Stars Blog.
The cold mid winter is the best season for 19th century ghost and horror stories and so I read over the Xmas period Rudyard Kipling's Strange Tales, a collection of his horror and supernatural stories containing such classics as 'They,' The Phantom Rickshaw and The Mark of the Beast. Also the Sherlock Holmes gothic crime novella The Hound of the Baskervilles by of course Arthur Conan Doyle. Read Mat Brewster's review from blogcritics here.
