Review Category: Books

What is mankind’s obsession with war? The children who stand cheering and waving their flags as the trumpets blare and the victorious soldiers march down the street will play war games and cowboys and Indians with each other until, one day, they become soldiers themselves and discover that it’s not victory but death they will almost certainly meet on the battlefield. War isn’t an event that should be revered and celebrated and yet, when the surviving soldiers-who-used-to-be-children return home and march victoriously through the streets with a new generation of youngsters cheering them and waving their flags, the whole cycle is doomed to repeat itself again. And on, and on, probably until the end of time and there is nobody left to kill.

Si Lewen was an artist before he went to war, and when he returned broken and disillusioned from WW2, he created a series of drawings about mankind’s perpetual lust for battle and its ensuing horrors that were published under the title ‘Si Lewen’s Parade’. In a masterful and deeply moving piece of visual storytelling, his pictures form a running narrative that fluctuates from the light of childish innocence to the moment Death lures those young men onto the battlefield and transforms them into nameless cannon fodder, to the suffering of the Prisoners of War behind the wire fences, to severed heads, to the wounded struggling beneath the weight of the dead, little more than corpses themselves. It is a wordless epic that strikes hard at the viewer’s heart, and some of the blackest images are a nightmarish rorschach test that will chill you while forcing you to look harder, daring you to try and make intellectual sense of what it is you are seeing. First published in 1957, and acclaimed as an important humanitarian artwork by Albert Einstein, Si Lewen’s Parade is as relevant now as it has always been. In fact, Lewen’s incredibly affecting, almost cinematic “free-jazz dirge of a book” as editor Art Spiegelman describes it in his introduction, is probably more important than ever.

This new edition of Si Lewen’s Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey, is a piece of art in itself. When the young Si Lewen experienced his very first art gallery, he was bewitched by the pictures on the wall but saddened because they were spaced so far apart from each other. Lewen always believed that pictures should be arranged side-by-side or back to back, so that they can talk with each other, and that is exactly what this gorgeous collection accomplishes. Published in an accordion format, Si Lewen’s Parade is published back to back (literally) with An Artist’s Odyssey, a handsomely compiled celebration of Lewen’s life and work. This has to be one of 2016’s publishing highlights and it is only fitting that Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, should be the curator and editor of this wonderful and incredibly emotional volume.

SI LEWEN’S PARADE: AN ARTIST’S ODYSSEY / AUTHOR: SI LEWEN / EDITOR: ART SPIEGELMAN / PUBLISHER: ABRAMS BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

It’s fair to say that in the pantheon of comic book and Superhero TV shows, CW’s The Flash is arguably one of the best on TV at the moment, somehow making many of the old TV clichés fresh and fun. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for this book. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that it doesn’t do anything special, in many ways it’s a stretch to describe it as a ‘Making Of’ and an even bigger stretch to call it an ‘Art Of’ book. 

The book starts with a nice forward from Greg Berlanti, before dedicating a few pages to The Making Of the series and then looking at each of the characters, how they came to be in series and their casting (which makes up the bulk of the book). The rest of the book is made up with a look at the series locations/sets and the gadgets, weapons and tech used in the series. 

The book is stuffed full of photos (many of which we’ve seen before) and is presented beautifully, but it’s seriously lacking on the “Art Of” front, with just a few concept drawings and computer rendered costume ideas (all of which are so similar to the costumes used in the show, you kind of have to wonder what the point of including them was). But then, the book suffers from a case of having some substance, but no real depth.  There are some nice insights into the series creation and development, but it’s mostly made up of things we’ve all heard or read before in numerous interviews. Admittedly the book seems to be aimed more at the young adult market than the seasoned comic book fans, but that shouldn’t be a reason to skimp on the details.

It’s not that the book is bad, it’s just that – with a character that has as rich a history as The Flash – it seems like a missed opportunity not too dedicate some of the book to the characters comic book history. Hell, given the way the series honours the 1990 series, a section dedicated to that series and how it impacted on the making of the new Flash series would’ve fitted in really well too. 

Overall, it’s a nicely put together book that, although incredibly basic for the most part, is well worth picking up if you’re a superfan or find it reduced to a fiver in The Works!

THE ART AND MAKING OF THE FLASH / AUTHOR: ABBIE BERNSTEIN / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: 21ST OCTOBER 

As every Star Trek fan worth his salt knows, well known and often mentioned as they are – the Vulcans are a stoic and aloof race, and their home planet, barely glimpsed in the fifty run of the franchise is shrouded in mystery and steeped in ritualistic tradition that borders on the mystical to outworlders.

There is now a guide to the elusive planet and its inhabitants, written as a travel guide, with contributions from three notable Vulcans: Spock, Sarek and T’Pol. There is a bluffer’s guide to ancient Vulcan history, including the splintering of a large number of Vulcans who left their home planet to establish a new race on the twin planets of Romulus and Remus.

In the spirit of the traditional travel guidebook, there are a number of useful phrases and their English counterparts – so should you be caught short and need to ask a Vulcan for directions to the nearest bathroom, you will be well prepared. There’s even a reassurance here that if you don’t manage to pronounce the phrases correctly, the Vulcans will appreciate the effort you make in trying.

Travel hints are here in abundance, from the best places to eat and stay in the Vulcan capital of Shikahr to the safest means of navigating Vulcan’s Forge and remaining comfortable and health in the planet’s hot, arid climates. (Basically, wear light clothing and keep yourself hydrated.)

The book is culled, not only from the TV shows including the animated series of 1973 the ensuing films that we’ve all enjoyed for the past half century, but also from several novels and information gleaned from various Trek websites, so it gathers together a wealth of knowledge that is both canonical and from presumably the extended universe. From that point of view, it might well be a handy reference book for the most ardent and serious of Trekkers. But when the text turns to gift shops at Raal, or the best coffee shops in the Kir province, the book seems to lose its value and takes on the relevance of, say Nurse Chapel’s recipe book.

Essentially, though nicely illustrated and well researched, it’s a novelty book branded as Star Trek that will have a very limited appeal overall other than to completists.

Dif-tor heh smusma (Peace, live long and prosper in Vulcan.)

HIDDEN UNIVERSE TRAVEL GUIDES – VULCAN / AUTHOR: DAYTON WARD / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

It’s quite sobering – as well as rather sad – to realise how many artists were ignored while they were alive, only to be feted for their talents many years after their death. As Roger Luckhurst describes in his thought-provoking introduction to this edition, H. P. Lovecraft was mostly overlooked during his lifetime. He was mainly perceived as a pulp writer who, by all accounts, didn’t tend to rate his own abilities very highly. The fact that his work not only defined but pretty much underpins the foundations of the genre ‘weird fiction’, and that Lovecraft almost singlehandedly transformed horror into something metaphysical and quasi-religious, inspiring the likes of Stephen King, Guillermo Del Toro and Stuart Gordon along the way, only makes his contemporaries disregard for him all the more amazing. Still, H. P. was in good company. The same could easily be said of one of Lovecraft’s own major influences, Edgar Allan Poe.

These days, most people – even those who don’t read horror – will know who Lovecraft is and will almost certainly have heard about Cthulhu, the malevolent many-tentacled beast that dominates much of Lovecraft’s oeuvre, even if they can’t pronounce the Great Old One’s name. And if you’re new to Lovecraft, this new Oxford World’s Classics Edition is a fantastic place to get acquainted, since the edition brings together nine of the maestro’s best-known tales including the mighty The Call of Cthulhu, the unnerving The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the genius and quite mind-bending, The Dreams in the Witch-House and the playfully transgressive witchcraft mash-up The Dunwich Horror.

Many people criticise Lovecraft for his overblown prose, the barely suppressed racism within much of his writing (the first story in this collection, The Horror at Red Hook, is a fine example of that) and his seeming disinterest in his human characters, all of whom seem puny and irrelevant when stacked against the writer’s impressively malevolent pantheon of elder Gods. All that’s true, but he was also an absolute virtuoso at creeping under the reader’s skin and scaring them so badly that they couldn’t go to sleep without leaving the lights on. The intervening decades since these stories were published haven’t diluted that effect. This book is a testament to Lovecraft’s enduring ability to thrill us while simultaneously scaring us stupid, and as such it is very highly recommended.

H. P. LOVECRAFT: THE CLASSIC HORROR STORIES / AUTHOR: H. P. LOVECRAFT / PUBLISHER: OUP OXFORD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

You know an anthology is bloody good when Alan Moore’s contribution is not even the best one in it. As the title suggests, Encore is the second in the Dead Funny series. We missed the first one when it came out but you can be assured we’re adding it to our Amazon basket as we speak (other retailers are also available).

If you also missed it, Dead Funny is an anthology of horror stories written by critically-acclaimed comedians. Robin Ince and Johnny Mains have put together a book featuring the best comedy talent. One of the joys of an anthology like this is seeing the different influences at work. You can see what each person finds terrifying. For example, while one or two authors deal with nameless horrors being summoned, another focuses on the entirely adult fear of a missing child, or yet another focuses on the man in the closet.

Josie Long’s story, A Ghost Story, is our personal favourite. The main idea feels like one that should have been done a thousand times before (composers living on as ghosts each time their music is played), but Long brings her voice and wit to it, making it her own. Nobody else could have written this haunting story. James Acaster and Rufus Hound have also contributed staggeringly good stories. Most of the tales are both funny and horrifying, but those that fall short of being comedy stories are still terrifying, though. Hell, most of the authors in here could make a decent living as horror writers if they were willing to put the comedy game to one side.

It’s the kind of book you’ll wish you discovered years ago. Any writer worth their salt will want to become a comedian in order to have a crack at a potential third volume, and any reader worth theirs needs to pick this book up.

DEAD FUNNY – ENCORE / EDITOR: ROBIN INCE, JOHNNY MAINS / PUBLISHER: SALT PUBLISHING / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

For more than two and a half decades and counting, cinema’s so-called master of the macabre Tim Burton has managed to make idiosyncratic movies that are somehow still financially successful (if not always critically acclaimed). Many have tried to nail down quite what it is Burton brings to a film that manages to be very personal and niche and yet appeal to so many – that elusive Burtonesque quality. Film journalist Ian Nathan’s new unofficial guide to the director is the latest attempt.

As well as glossily made (complete with fetching slip case), Tim Burton: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work is an interesting and in-depth read. While unofficial, it pulls together quotes from a variety of sources so that Burton’s own words are still very much present within the book. It also gives every one of Burton’s films (yes, including A Nightmare Before Christmas) the same amount of attention – which means that we don’t get an excessive number of pages on big-hitters like Beetlejuice and often overlooked works like Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure get their due. Each entry comprises an essay on the movie, which combines critique, comments on the production and a general discussion of how the particular film sits in Burton’s ever-growing oeuvre.

As mentioned above, many other volumes have analysed the director’s work and so a lot of the content here could perhaps be familiar material to hardcore enthusiasts. Something more original, however, is the occasional dipping into biography, and how Burton’s own life experiences often feed into his films. It is in this area that the book offers up some fascinating, little-known facts. Fans will no doubt have already heard the story of the teenage doodle that inspired Edward Scissorhands but Nathan’s book also references lesser-told moments. For instance, how Willy Wonka’s relationship with his father in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was inspired by a reunion Burton had with his estranged mother, where he was touched to find she had posters of all his moves on her walls. Obviously, it is his films that we are most interested in but a little more of this material would have helped to really set it apart from other Burton-orientated books.

There is nothing wrong with the book as it is, though. Far from it, Nathan’s work is a worthy companion to your Tim Burton DVD boxset. Does it come to a definitive answer on what it means to be Burtonesque? Not exactly, but that is probably something Burton himself is still continually exploring.

TIM BURTON: THE ICONIC FILMMAKER AND HIS WORK / AUTHOR: IAN NATHAN / PUBLISHER: AURUM PRESS LTD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

In Six of Crows, a follow-up to her Grisha trilogy, Leigh Bardugo delivered a cracking read. A heist caper set in a high fantasy world, it could be neatly publicised as ‘Game of Thrones meets Ocean’s Eleven.’ What really made the book special, however, was its cast of anti-heroes – a bunch of cutthroats and criminals who you nonetheless grew to love. The pressure was on its sequel Crooked Kingdom, then, to match the high bar set by its predecessor. Thankfully, it absolutely manages it.

After pulling off their raid on the (thought to be) impenetrable Ice Court, Kaz Brekker and his gang are determined to get the money they are owed by corrupt merchant Jan Van Eck through any means necessary. With almost the entire city of Ketterdam against them, they will have to use all their wits and wiles to come out of this one on top. But are their dreams of freedom and great riches really achievable?

Firstly, Crooked Kingdom succeeds in the most important aspect – not just keeping Brekker’s crew as likeable and engrossing as in the first book but deepening them even further. Every central character – from runaway grisha Nina to rogue solider Matthais to wallcrawling Inej – has their personalities and backstories probed more than in the first book. In particular, sharpshooting Jesper and newcomer Wylan were somewhat sidelined in Six of Crows but get a lot more to do here and become just as interesting as their cohorts. Nonetheless it is Kaz – a tragic monster of a teenage boy – who still holds the story together. It might be something of a cliché, but these six racially and sexually diverse rascals, with platonic and romantic attachments flying everywhere, really do feel like old friends by the time you are done reading.

On the narrative side of things, you could argue that Crooked Kingdom’s plot – a complicated long con to fool Van Eck out of his money and reputation – doesn’t quite have the snappy hook of Six of Crows. Yet Bardugo still has a strong command of story, as she juggles multiple plot theads over the circa 500 pages that are all satisfyingly weaved together come the end. Her dialogue is spot-on, full of laugh-out-loud zingers, and her prose frequently produces a beautiful turn of phrase. The only – admittedly fairly minor – blemish is the sudden introduction of a new character late in the day that seems at odds with the writer’s deft plotting elsewhere.

On the whole, though, Crooked Kingdom is a thrilling, funny and at times downright emotional read and a must-buy for fans of strong characters and vivid storytelling. In other words, just about everyone really.

CROOKED KINGDOM / AUTHOR: LEIGH BARDUGO / PUBLISHER: ORION CHILDREN’S BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Time travel is possible, and in the 23rd century is largely used to take tourists back to the early 21st to experience the culture of the forgotten past. After a tourist goes missing and it is discovered there is no record of her ever being there, a tangled and convoluted mystery begins to unfold. 

The structure alternates between the first-person POV of the tour rep responsible for the missing tourist, and actions of the missing tourist herself told in the second person. To begin with, the story and the world that The Tourist presents is as intriguing as it is mysterious, with details of the future such as a Near Extinction Event that set back humanity considerably; the average person being about six inches taller and unable to metabolise 21st century food; nano-augmentations that enhance senses and physical capabilities; and cities being designated by nothing more than numbers and compass points.

Unfortunately, all of this meticulous setup doesn’t actually translate to a particularly engaging plot. It’s commented on several occasions that time travel is confusing, but the narrative shortcomings come not from twisting time loops and possible paradoxes, but the book’s failure to adequately convey precisely what’s supposed to be happening in the 21st century where a majority of the story takes place.

Conspiracy thrillers are at their best when driven by a desperate search for hidden answers, but are greatly helped along when it’s also made clear what the questions are. Too much of the reason behind events is kept hidden for too much of the story, and as it continues with little in the way of explanation over exactly what’s happening, patience and engagement with it begins to wane until all that remains is a desire for whatever big revelation awaits to finally unveil itself. When the intended payoff comes, it arrives too late and without enough significance to draw things to any kind of satisfactory conclusion. 

The Tourist sets up a unique take on time travel and a tantalisingly alluded to history of its future world that instils a genuine desire to find out more about it. It’s just a shame about the story.

THE TOURIST / AUTHOR: ROBERT DICKINSON / PUBLISHER: ORBIT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 20TH

 

Let’s be honest – continuity in Doctor Who is an omnishambles. Were the UNIT stories set in the ‘70s or ‘80s? Which Cybermen are from Mondas, and which from the parallel Earth? And how exactly was the universe changed by the Time War?

So enthusiastic is the show to shrug these questions off and run along to the next story that any book aiming to provide a complete history of the Who universe – or the, ahem, Whoniverse – has a monumental task ahead of it. But that’s just what George Mann and Justin Richards have set out to do.

Before we get onto how well it’s managed this, we must enthuse about how bloody gorgeous this book is; a big hardback tome with lushly padded cover, it looks awesome on any coffee table. As the book is set in-universe, it avoids using episode screenshots, which may take away from the immersion, and instead is illustrated by Alex Fort, Richard Hardy, Chris J. Lees, and Shaun Williams, who bring everything from Sontaran scout ships to the Gallifrey Citadel to life in stunning colour. However, there is a blurb going around describing The Whoniverse as containing “full-colour illustrations, maps, charts and photography throughout”, which simply isn’t true – sorry map and chart fans, it’s just the illustrations!

Onto the actual content… Mann and Richards begin with the Big Bang (as created by the spaceship Terminus, of course) and end with the heat death of the universe (with humanity’s final search for Utopia). But they mainly focus on the history of Earth, occasionally going off on tangents to discuss the Cybermen, Daleks, Time Lords and the Time War.

Though the way the authors have assembled all points of human history has clearly had extensive work put into it, the downside is that it often comes across as a chronological list of TV Who stories – for example, summarising the 1651-set The Woman Who Lived followed by the 1666-set The Visitation without adding anything to the stories, making any meaningful link, or justifying why either would be seen as relevant to an in-universe history of Earth. Consequently, large portions of the book do seem a wasted opportunity, particularly in the age of wikis when all this can be looked up anyway.

The book does improve in the final chapter, which details the Time War – as this has never been fully chronicled on screen, Mann and Richards are able to take more creative licence, and provide as coherent and entertaining a history of said conflict as has ever been published, bringing in elements from Mann’s novel Engines of War as well as some original ideas.

While this may be too little too late, particularly for those fans who’ve already seen every story and so won’t learn much new, it is worth restating that the high production quality means everyone will get something out of The Whoniverse. It may not live up to its concept’s full potential, but it’s a worthy addition to any bookshelf or coffee table.

DOCTOR WHO: THE WHONIVERSE – THE UNTOLD STORY OF SPACE AND TIME / AUTHOR: GEORGE MANN, JUSTIN RICHARDS / PUBLISHER: BBC BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 27TH

As Ramsey Campbell states in the foreword to this collection, the ghost stories of M.R. James “are a British institution… he can convey more spectral terror in a single glancing phrase than most authors manage in a paragraph or a book,” but despite being an author whose work relies so heavily upon the eloquence of the writing, James’ tales have frequently been adapted for the visual medium (most successfully by the BBC, in their A Ghost Story for Christmas series) with his short story Casting the Runes proving a particular favourite – not only did it provide the basis for the much-loved 1957 feature film Night of the Demon, it also inspired Sam Raimi’s underrated Drag Me to Hell and Glenn Standring’s woefully overlooked The Irrefutable Truth about Demons.

But how does M.R. James fare in the world of graphic storytelling? The good news is, very well indeed.

Leah Moore and John Reppion have adapted four of the stories from James’ famous collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and have managed to strike a successful balance between retaining M.R. James’ original voice while convincingly reimagining the tales and subtly elaborating upon them for the graphic medium. Admirers of James’ prose have nothing to worry about – Moore and Reppion have treated the source material with considerable understanding and respect – and even if you’re familiar with the original tales, you’ll still be pleasantly surprised and unpleasantly chilled by what Moore, Reppion and their artists have accomplished.

So let’s talk about the artists for a moment: Aneke’s deceptively simple take on Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book subtly ramps up the tension while ending on an effectively hellish final panel; Kit Buss’ shadowy interpretation of Lost Hearts not only underscores the fairy-tale elements of the text, it also presents us with a child-ghost who is as sad as she is ghastly; Fouad Mezher’s blocky sepia-tinted art adds a fascinatingly creepy new aspect to The Mezzotint; and Alisdair Wood brings a brooding and horrendous realism – and some marvellous, mesmerising artwork – to The Ash-Tree. With each story so beautifully retold and rendered, we can only hope that Volume 2 will be on the shelves very soon.

GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY: VOLUME 1 / AUTHOR: M.R. JAMES / ADAPTED: LEAH MOORE, JOHN REPPION / ARTIST: ANEKE, KIT BUSS, FOUAD MEZHER, ALISDAIR WOOD / PUBLISHER: SELFMADEHERO / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 27TH