The highly regarded libertarian columnist, and all-round good egg, Ilana Mercer, who provided a brilliant endorsement for Sea Changes, has just given it another helpful boost on her blog. Thanks, Ilana! http://barelyablog.com/derek-turners-morally-correct-immigration-novel/
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Testing for humanity – revisiting The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams
TESTING FOR HUMANITY The Plague Dogs (book 1977, film 1982) I came across by chance recently a DVD of The Plague Dogs, a 1982 animation of Richard Adams’ bestselling 1977 novel. I was catapulted immediately back to childhood, when I had read the book shortly after publication, with a sense of distress and anger I… Continue reading
Radnorshire article for Chronicles
My Radnorshire travelogue for Chronicles is now on-line here – http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2015/August/39/8/magazine/article/10827433/
First review of Displacement, and an interview with Barney Campbell
The first review of Displacement has just been published by Quadrapheme, written by the inestimable Barney Campbell. http://www.quadrapheme.com/fiction-review-displacement/ My thanks to Barney Campbell for his insight and generosity, both in his review and in this interview, which appeared the previous day. http://www.quadrapheme.com/displacement-21st-century-alienation/
Star Wars, star wares – review of How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor
Star Wars, star wares How Star Wars Conquered the Universe Chris Taylor, London: Head of Zeus, 2015 In 1977, like millions of other prepubescents, I trooped excitedly along to a cinema to see the first instalment of Star Wars. I was twelve, anxious about acne, fond of sci-fi comics, and sick with ruthless fantasies about remaking… Continue reading
The world-island of England – review of The Island by Stephen Walter
THE WORLD-ISLAND OF ENGLAND The Island: London Mapped Stephen Walter, foreword by Peter Barber, London: Prestel, 2015, hb., 143 pps., £15.30 It is a cliché to say London is unlike the rest of England. It is original to take this trite conceit one stage further, and depict the Great Wen as an actual island, set… Continue reading
New light on the magical realist – review of Dimitris Yeros Photographing Gabriel Garcia Marquez
NEW LIGHTS ON THE MAGICAL REALIST Dimitris Yeros photographing Gabriel García Márquez Dimitris Yeros, foreword by Edward Lucie-Smith, Bielefeld: Kerber, 2015, 136pps., 36 Euros, www.yeros.com Dimitris Yeros is a justly celebrated photographer and artist based in Athens. Edward Lucie-Smith is a highly-regarded poet and the author of authoritative art histories. And Gabriel García Márquez… Continue reading
Determinism by sea-area – review of The Edge of the World by Michael Pye
DETERMINISM BY SEA-AREA The Edge of the World – How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are Michael Pye, London: Viking, 2015, hb., 394 pps., £25 I see the North Sea every day, and am used to its humours. In summer, I wade its frisping margins or swim surrounded by seals and terns. In the… Continue reading
Highway maintenance – review of The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor
HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mouth Athos Patrick Leigh Fermor, London: John Murray, 162pp, hb In 2011, Patrick Leigh Fermor became Patrick Leigh Former, and hundreds of thousands of devotees became doubly bereft. The first loss was the man himself, at 96 an antique in his own right, one of… Continue reading
The glossarian as moralist – review of Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
THE GLOSSARIAN AS MORALIST Landmarks, Robert Macfarlane, London: Hamish Hamilton, 2015, 387pps, hb, £20 Robert Macfarlane is one of the most lionized of contemporary British writers, somehow combining a Cambridge career with producing a celebrated sequence of unusually literate explorations of landscape. First was 2003’s Mountains of the Mind, about Occidental attitudes towards high places… Continue reading