Reviewing novels, short stories, plays and non fiction.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was a 1968 novel by Philip K Dick. The novel's protagonist is Rick Deckard, a man who hunts sentient androids for profit on a ruined, irradiated earth where the majority of the population have emigrated to Mars. Animals are mostly extinct, and extremely valuable; Rick can only afford an electric … Continue reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick
The Suicide of Rachel Foster, by OneOOne Games and Daedalic Entertainment, is another work of interactive fiction. It centres around a woman called Nicole. She has returned to her family's dilapidated, abandoned hotel to discharge her parents' estate, and becomes trapped by a snowstorm. She is contacted by Irving on an old, modified cell phone. … Continue reading Review: The Suicide of Rachel Foster
Some Distant Memory, by Galvanic Games and Way Down Deep, is an interactive story about a professor who is desperately searching for the Sunken City of Houston. She is accompanied by ARORA, an AI who can rebuilt memories from notes, letters and photographs. Throughout the game you are also in touch with your companion Commander … Continue reading Review: Some Distant Memory, by Galvanic
I've always had a soft spot for the Cadfael books by Ellis Peters (Edith Mary Pargeter OBE BEM). The Rose Rent is a classic. It is a medieval mystery novel set in the summer of 1142, as the battle between King Stephen and Empress Maud rages on. This is the thirteenth novel in The Cadfael Chronicles, first … Continue reading The Rose Rent, by Ellis Peters
Soulless by Gail Carriger introduces Alexia Tarrabotti, a strong willed spinster living in an alternative universe Victorian London. The universe of the Parasol Protectorate is much like ours, except the supernatural are an integral part of society, vampires introduced low necklines, and Alexia herself... is Soulless. Intro For Halloween I wanted to review one of … Continue reading Soulless, by Gail Carriger
An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a beautiful, hazy portrait of life in post war Japan. It explores generational tension, changing social mores, guilt and atonement. It is also another excellent example of the unreliable narrator, a trope of Ishiguro's work. The Unreliable Narrator "Kazuo Ishiguro’s study of guilt, ageing and … Continue reading An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguru
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a tale of beauty, race and social ostracism. It takes place in Lorain, Ohio and centres on the destruction of a vulnerable little girl who believes herself to be ugly. Beauty "What made people look at them and say Awww - but not for me?" - p15 Pecola Breedlove is … Continue reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
