I don’t often review books on this blog. I guess music and films are different because it’s not my paddling pool and I don’t feel bad peeing in it once in a while. But I don’t like to criticise fellow writers nor do I feel that comfortable hailing them from the mountain-top (though I will do a little pimping now and again). But there are some books that I feel driven to promote, especially if it’s a book not many will have heard of.
As I suspect will be the case for Gareth L. Powell’s anthology, The Last Reef (published by Elastic Press). This was a speculative buy when I was down for the BFS Con in September, and from experience some indie press publications have been a little hit and miss, confirming why they weren’t picked up by more mainstream publishers. But in the case of Powell’s collection of stories, this is really a missed opportunity from the big guns, and thank god Elastic Press had the foresight to gather these stories together. It’s a slim book, only 200 pages, but there’s more imagination crammed into these pages than you’ll find in an average sci-fi novel from a mainstream publisher.
And it’s not just his imagination either. Powell is a bloody good writer. His prose is lyrical and drips with vivid description, slipped into the text so it never feels like the rhythm of the writing is bogged down. It does mean that prose is economical but evokes enough in one sentence of description than I’ve seen in a paragraph from more seasoned writers. At times his stories remind me of Asimov, other times they remind me of Jonathan Carroll. The characters are strong for short fiction, and while at times they are little faceless (no bad thing though, it means the reader’s imagination works harder) they’re built outside of the stereotypes that usually blight short fiction.
There’s a refreshing diversity to the storylines too. From multi-national terrorism, to cyberspace anarchy, to redemption at the end of the universe, the collection is a journey into reluctant heroes and damaged relationships, flawed characters one and all. In particular, I loved the story “Arches” which could arguably be turned into a wonderful full-length novel.
All in all, this is recommended reading (by me, anyway), and in the past six months, one of just a handful of books that I’ve been inspired by.
As I suspect will be the case for Gareth L. Powell’s anthology, The Last Reef (published by Elastic Press). This was a speculative buy when I was down for the BFS Con in September, and from experience some indie press publications have been a little hit and miss, confirming why they weren’t picked up by more mainstream publishers. But in the case of Powell’s collection of stories, this is really a missed opportunity from the big guns, and thank god Elastic Press had the foresight to gather these stories together. It’s a slim book, only 200 pages, but there’s more imagination crammed into these pages than you’ll find in an average sci-fi novel from a mainstream publisher.
And it’s not just his imagination either. Powell is a bloody good writer. His prose is lyrical and drips with vivid description, slipped into the text so it never feels like the rhythm of the writing is bogged down. It does mean that prose is economical but evokes enough in one sentence of description than I’ve seen in a paragraph from more seasoned writers. At times his stories remind me of Asimov, other times they remind me of Jonathan Carroll. The characters are strong for short fiction, and while at times they are little faceless (no bad thing though, it means the reader’s imagination works harder) they’re built outside of the stereotypes that usually blight short fiction.
There’s a refreshing diversity to the storylines too. From multi-national terrorism, to cyberspace anarchy, to redemption at the end of the universe, the collection is a journey into reluctant heroes and damaged relationships, flawed characters one and all. In particular, I loved the story “Arches” which could arguably be turned into a wonderful full-length novel.
All in all, this is recommended reading (by me, anyway), and in the past six months, one of just a handful of books that I’ve been inspired by.
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