The Book Of Elsewhere - Keanu Reeves & China Mieville
HARDBACK £22 Published in the UK 23rd July 2024
In 2016, Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves went live with a crowdfunding project for a comic called BRZRKR. It was subsequently published by BOOM studios and became the highest-selling debut for twenty five years. Following the life of an immortal warrior called Berserker (or ‘B’ for short), we see him in modern times being used as a ‘tool’ for a shadowy government Black Ops department. In this companion novel, Keanu Reeves and China Mieville flesh out the story of ‘B’ (now also called Unute) and continue the story as he finds himself targeted by ancient forces determined to end his immortality.
Full disclosure - I came at this book fully ready to shit all over it. Having similarly dismissed BRSRKR without reading it, I thought this further ‘vanity project’ needed no support or encouragement. By the end of 400 tightly-crafted pages though…I realised I was an idiot. With a mixture of world-building, thoughtful philosophical questions, well-paced action sequences and a more than little humour, The Book Of Elsewhere deserves attention. The central concept of what it would actually be like to ‘live forever’ is explored here with a deft touch, fully rounded out across the life of Unute (who, to be fair, does seem quite like a ‘Keanu Reeves’-like character).
China Mieville (superstar author of speculative fiction such as Un Lun Dun and The City & The City) is an excellent choice of collaborator for such a novel, and his light touch and reassuring style perfectly compliments the strong narrative structure that the original comic series had set up.
Never boring, this excellent novel provides us with an irresistible narrative that has suspense, pathos, wit and even a cliffhanger or two.
THE GREAT WHEN - Alan Moore
HARDBACK £20 Published in the UK on 1st October 2024
1949 London: orphaned bookseller Dennis Knuckleyard unwittingly slips into the other London, a dark, magical place where the reality he knows is bent, blurred and unrecognisable. In possession of a dangerous tome which shouldn’t exist, he encounters friends and enemies along the way, as well as taking a tour of occult London which means mixing with sorcerers, gangsters, and even deadly crocodiles.
Alan Moore’s prose work has in the past received a mixed reception in the commercial world. I must admit that despite being a lifelong fan of his work in comics, I’ve struggled with his fiction. I own both Voice From The Fire and Jerusalem…both of which I failed to finish. Widely regarded as dense, wordy, at times inexplicable, they’ve sat on my shelves reminding me that I might actually need to be more intelligent to understand them. His recent short story collection, Illuminations, was hugely entertaining though, and meant that the announcement of a new five book cycle of ‘fantasy’ novels filled me with excited anticipation.
The Great When is the first in the ‘Long London’ series, and from the outset grabs the reader and takes them on a journey under the surface of everything that they thought possible. We’re treated to a myriad of fantastically realised characters from the sinister to the humorous, all of which have a part to play in our hero Dennis’ life. Much in the way that Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell sucked you into a fully realised 19th century setting, we are instantly and evocatively immersed into a postwar London still reeling from the blitz.
Much like his seminal take on Jack the Ripper - From Hell - the details and background of this novel have been scrupulously researched, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a future weighty concordance that runs alongside to unpick all the minutiae that lies within the pages. Tracing the occult past of London’s historical movers and shakers, Moore puts in so many ‘easter eggs’ that much joy can be found in doing your own research as you discover new figures. In fact, during reading, I found myself pausing to look up characters and stories and finding that they were all factual (or at least, recorded as factual).
Yet despite this meticulous and painstaking attention to the lore of London, the actual plot surges forward unencumbered. Rather than get bogged down, the narrative speeds on as Dennis navigates threats, temptations and betrayals in his path to ultimately…a quiet life. What lies within The Great When is the near perfect combination of a hugely engaging story with sympathetic and believable characters, and the fascinating hidden backstory of one of the most important capital cities in the world.
This is an engaging, entertaining and brilliant book which, although a Fantasy, might actually turn out to be the ‘Definitive’ London novel.
1983 - Tom Cox
HARDBACK £16.99 Published in the UK 8th August 2024
It’s 1983 in Nottinghamshire, UK - 8 year-old Benji is growing up amidst his eccentric family, some distinctly strange neighbours and even more weird goings-on all around him. Charting his next twelve months, 1983 takes the reader back to a time in Britain of Margaret Thatcher, Betamax video, Dennis The Menace badges, the first time Dungeons & Dragons was cool - a time in all our childhoods where the impossibilities of our imaginations were…possible. Benji’s journey may be quirky and unique, but it resonates with everyone who has had a sense of wonder and an open heart.
Coming along after the success of his trippy, musical love letter to not-Dartmoor, Tom Cox could easily have played it safe with his second novel - perhaps some more Devon Psycho Geography? A musical journey through a fictional Laurel Canyon? Swearing cats?
Brought out once more through the crowdfunding publisher Unbound, 1983 is a coming-of-age story with a twist (or two). Instead of a slice of thinly-veiled Autofiction about growing up in the North, 1983 is much more playful and subversive, and all the better for it. Still retaining the author’s trademark wit and deft characterisation, boundaries are well and truly pushed and the reader is challenged to face their own preconceptions of what they thought they were reading. Never dull and always thought-provoking, the novel sits alongside similar works such as Matt Haig’s The Humans as an example of how fiction and humour can sometimes be a sharp tool to dissect the mortal condition.