Rigg's Cabinet of Curiosities

From Darkest Skies : Sam Peters

… absorbing SF/crime thriller …
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An absorbing SF/crime thriller with strong characterisation surfing above some inventive and intricate world building.

Government Agent Rouse returns to the distant planet of Magenta to continue his duties whilst secretly investigating the murder of fellow agent and wife, Alysha. He has brought with him an illegal AI shell of her, built from her data footprint. Can Rouse find out what really happened on that train whilst tackling corporate crime and the drugs trade on Magenta?

I enjoyed Sam‘s characterisation, Rangesh in particular, and his sure way with dialogue. He uses the contrast between Rouse’s grief and the team banter to great effect; and the novel also explores a human’s personal and intense relationship with AI. It reads as though it was great fun to write and there’s clearly room for a sequel.

Recommended.

Cover design moment: Unfortunately, as this is an ARC, there’s no trace of a designer credit on the copy but – huzzah! – it has a WHITE background and strong, clear image. UPDATE: Thanks to a heads up from Carole Heidi the design company is the brilliant Black Sheep. Their website is here.

Sam’s biog reads: … a mathematician, part-time gentle-person adventurer and occasional screenwriter who has seen faces glaze over at the words ‘science fiction’ once too often. … Has more hopes than regrets, more cats than children, watches a lot of violent contact sport and is an unrepentant closet goth.

This book is the second review in my British Books Challenge 2017.

From Darkest Skies by Sam Peters will be published by Orion on 20 April 2017. Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her review copy. Thanks, Em!

January 27, 2017 2

Traitor to the Throne : Alwyn Hamilton

… brilliant, pacey sequel to Rebel of the Sands …

Amani is back, fighting against the odds amongst the deadly politics of the Sultan’s Harem. Now a respected leader in the Rebel Forces, she is betrayed and ends up a prisoner in the Palace with her powers disabled. This is where Alwyn really hits her stride and the story picks up pace with an intriguing thread about the three brothers: the Sultan, the Rebel Prince and Amani’s lover, Jin; and the overarching question: who exactly is the traitor?

Recommended.

ps. I would like to request a cast list at the front of the next book to navigate my way around all the characters and do recommend new readers start with the first in the series, Rebel of the Sands.

Cover design moment: Unfortunately there isn’t any trace of the designer on the review copy but the strong, vibrant design is as good as Rebel of the Sands. The lettering and patterning are very distinctive and its unusual colour will help the book to stand out on a crowded bookshop table … which is the point, right? (The US cover design on the other hand … hmm …)

As Alwyn lives in London, this book is the first in my British Books Challenge 2017. Huzzah.

Traitor to the Throne will be published 2 February 2017 by Faber and Faber. Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her review copy. Thanks, Em!

January 20, 2017 4

Robinson Crusoe : The Theatre, Chipping Norton

… a Christmas institution …

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A trip to the pantomime in Chippy is a Christmas institution and our visit to Robinson Crusoe and the Pirate Queen was a sheer delight. As always, the volunteer staff are so welcoming and the little Victorian style theatre so delightful, it’s a treat to sit back and watch the nonsense dance across the small stage with superb comic timing, great visual gags, and with an excellent cast really enjoying themselves. (Possibly too much as it’s the end of the season …)

The Theatre at Chipping Norton has been staging pantomimes for the past 40 years and really does know how to involve the audience not just with “It’s behind you!”, thrown sweets and singing competitions, but also with a magical, funny scene played out with puppets above the audience’s heads, a small troupe of young actors and some outstanding sets. As far as I know The Theatre has never employed celebrities to sell the tickets nor do they work pop songs into their scripts, preferring to create outstanding pantomime that has no need of ephemeral support.

It was a particularly strong cast this season with the superb Andrew Pepper back for his second year as the dame, Mrs Camilla Crusoe. Her outrageous dresses, designed by Emily Stuart, could have taken a curtain call all by themselves.

The Theatre‘s delightful home began life as a Salvation Army Citadel and its designers and engineers were those behind many Victorian Music Halls, so it was perfectly proportioned for its new life as a theatre. It was discovered by two RSC actors, Tamara and John Malcolm in 1968 and after much fund raising, The Theatre was opened in 1975. If you haven’t been, you should. For further details of The Theatre and their upcoming season, please click here.

And for video clips of the dazzling Andrew Pepper, click here for his website.

January 3, 2017 0

Best of 2016 : 3 books & an exhibition

Looking back over the 32 book reviews I have posted in 2016, I’ve had a brilliant reading year : so much imagination; so much wit and adventure; scenes and characters that linger long after the books close. If you follow my blog, you will know that I only publish reviews for books I would recommend and so my “Best of 2016” is really ALL my reviews. Obviously.

However, if someone forced me to narrow it down, I would chose (in no particular order):

The Australian Urban Fantasy, Vigil by Angela Slatter, for its dazzlingly inventiveness of plot and character combined with smart as a whip one liners. My original post is here.

The intense, thrilling Nevernight by Fantasy virtuoso, Jay Kristoff, for delving so gloriously into the dark side of the genre. The full review is here.

The fast paced and scary The Call by Peadar O’Guilin for its kiss-ass heroine and seat of the pants race to the end. Here’s a link to my review post.

Although I didn’t plan it this way, they all have strong female leads and dark Fantasy backgrounds. Whether it’s my preference or some 2016 zeitgeist, who knows?

And my very favourite visit of 2016 was to the extraordinarily inspiring Lost Library of John Dee at the Royal College of Physicians, a fascinating exhibition, crammed full of gorgeous exhibits and helpful explanatory notes. I could have camped out there. My full review is here.

I started this blog just over a year ago to share my love of books and to create an aide memoire for myself. It’s great fun to write and I find the quality of my reading (and visiting) has improved with the focus of this blog. I particularly want to say a big THANKS to Emily at Emily’s Bookshop in Campden for giving me so many ARCs and book suggestions.

Wishing you all a productive and creatively filled 2017.

December 27, 2016 2

A Snow Garden & Other Stories : Rachel Joyce

… intricate scenes in luminous detail …

For anyone who finds this format hard work and frustrating (like me), I urge you to try this collection of interlinked stories based very loosely around the theme of Christmas. They remind me of still life paintings: intricate scenes in vivid colour, with luminous details of bittersweet comedy and truth.

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Rachel paints seven turning points in domestic lives with characters and circumstances that linger long after the reading: a couple assembling a bike on Christmas Eve; the unlikely airport Nativity; a Boxing Day dance; a celebrity homecoming; the divorced father with his sons; a search for meaning amongst cleaning products; and tree planting on New Year’s Eve. They are beautifully crafted with a wonderful humanity and very easy to sink into … Highly recommended.

Rachel Joyce is the author of (amongst others) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She is the writer of over 30 afternoon plays and classic adaptations for BBC Radio 4.

The collection was reviewed in the Observer yesterday so click through if you wish to read more and the paperback version was published on 3rd November 2016 by Black Swan, an imprint of Penguin Books. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any details on the cover designer; I thought the snowflake motif works extremely well, better than the hardback design.

I was given this book as part of my Facebook Book Chain whereby I gave a book to a stranger and friends of friends of mine are giving books to me. A brilliant idea. I would never have picked up this book myself.

December 20, 2016 2

A Curious Beginning : Deanna Raybourn

… enthusiastic and charming storytelling …

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Deanna is the creator of the best selling Lady Julia Grey Mysteries series and my local bookseller suggested I give this tongue in cheek Victoria romp a go.

I really enjoyed the set up: Veronica Speedwell, intrepid lady Lepidopterist (cue scientific passages) defying Victorian mores (kiss-ass heroine) with attractive male companion whilst solving murder. It’s a fun proposition. However, after the first third, I felt that Deanna had fallen too far over to the cartoon side of her creation. There was little complexity to Veronica and much repetition of her convention-breaking, no-nonsense approach to the opposite sex. This, and the very broad brush strokes of plot building, broke the illusion that I was reading more than a collection of fictitious characters being moved around a Victorian toy theatre. And yet, I did read to the end because Deanna is an enthusiastic and charming story teller. I hope the sequel, A Perilous Undertaking, due January next year, brings more depth to an enjoyable construct.

Cover design moment: A bold and attractive pastiche of silhouettes and Victoriana by Julia Lloyd makes for a bright and very attractive cover. She also designs the UK covers for VE Schwab‘s A Darker Shade of Magic series, though I can’t find a website for her studio.

A Curious Beginning was published in October 2015 by Titan Books. Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her copy. Thanks, Em!

December 12, 2016 0

The Tempest : RSC Stratford

… stunning effects bring Shakespeare’s masque to life …

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Masques, as Gregory Doran explains in his introduction, ” … were the multimedia events of their day, using innovative technology … to produce astonishing effects, with moving lights, and stage machinery that could make people fly, and descend from the clouds” and with this stunning production, he succeeds in bringing the wondrous spectacle of a C17th masque into the c21st theatre.

The stage is an enormous ribbed carcass of a ship set stark and glowering against a changing backdrop which is used to great effect to complement the action with extraordinary skies and gorgeous apparitions. In the centre, gauzes are dropped and raised showing drowning sailors, tree trunks and ghostly visitations; and amongst it all, Ariel appears as multiple ethereal projections echoing his stage presence. All of this is the result of a two year collaboration between Intel, Imaginarium and the RSC and it is a truly ravishing experience.

Unfortunately, I felt the director’s more unadorned approach to the acting of the play meant that the cast struggled to live up to their grand surroundings. Simon Russell Beale came across more as a truculent and querulous Dad than a magisterial magician, though I must say, other reviewers found him outstanding. Michael Billington in The Guardian, for instance, talks of “his haunting portrait of culpable negligence and comprehensive mercy. ” Read the rest of his comments here for a much more appreciative review of Beale’s performance.

I enjoyed the comedy of Simon Trinder as a clownish Trinculo and Tony Jayawardena as the drunken butler, Stephano; and will certainly remember the opera singers, Samantha Hay and Jennifer Witton, playing the goddesses Ceres and Juno, for their spectacular entrances in the masque within the play.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Tempest and I hope Gregory Doran‘s visionary use of technology will be the start of a new chapter at the RSC. Ticket availability can be found on their website here.

December 8, 2016 0

Black Light Express : Philip Reeve

... high adventure and dazzling inventiveness …

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Philip’s second book in this Railhead series continues to follow Zen Starling and Nova, the almost human Motorvik. His nuanced cast include Chandni Hansa, a “Popsicle Girl” because she was deep frozen in prison; the reluctant empress, Threnody; and the broken hearted Kobi Chen-Tulsi. His individual style of storytelling builds sympathy and curiosity as they perform unexpected heroic acts amidst their bewilderment and wonder travelling across the New Worlds. They encounter terrifying aliens such as the deliciously feline Kraitt whilst all the time riding trains and running through Gates towards the mysterious Black Light Zone.

There’s a continuation of the gentle love story between Zen and Nova and the constant allure of the Rail Network singing out across the galaxies but, perhaps what will stay with me the most, is the dazzlingly inventiveness of his world. He conjures visions of the mysterious Guardians constructed out of virtual code; Uncle Bugs with his smiley face; and, as always, the sentient, singing trains of the Network Empire.

Highly recommended.

Cover design moment: A sequel to the first Rail Head design – again with the fore edge decoration – put together by designer Jo Cameron and her colleagues at OUP, using work by the brilliant Ian McQue. You can see more of his work here.

Black Light Express was published on 6 October 2016 by Oxford University Press. I bought my copy from Emily’s Bookshop. YAY.

December 8, 2016 3

The Coffin Works : Newman Bros.

… a delightful slice of manufacturing history …

newmanbros-025-1-469x1024 When Joyce Green, the last owner, shut the door on “the Coffin Works” in 1998, her dearest wish was for the place to become a museum and, after a 15 year campaign to save it, you can now wander around this virtually untouched factory and imagine what it would have been like to work here.

The enthusiastic and informative guide explained in the Stamp Room that the factory didn’t make actually make coffins at all but the furniture, the metal fittings, which decorated the wooden boxes. He demonstrated how the metal was stamped and cut into shape with bench and drop presses whilst we marvelled at the dust, noise and total lack of any safety guards.

Upstairs in the Shroud Room, the lines of sewing machines were still left waiting for the women who made the “frillings” for the inside of the coffins and samples of the silk shrouds were laid out on display, including a rather natty one in the claret and blue Aston Villa football club.

With their telegraphic address as “Shroud, Birmingham”, Newman Brothers was a leader in its field in the c19th and c20th and provided coffin furniture for famous people such as Winston Churchill; however the business slowly declined due to the increasing use of plastic furniture and changing tastes in funerals.

To me, the most delightful room of all was Joyce Green’s office. This woman started out as an office junior in 1947, methodically bought up all the shares and eventually owned the business – a remarkable achievement for the time. She was obviously a tremendous character and it’s because of her vision, we can stroll around this factory today.

Newman Brothers is in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham and further details of opening times and exhibitions can be found at their website here.

November 28, 2016 2