Guardian Review - Best Science Fiction Books for June

Eric Brown Reviews the best of this months Science Fiction. This months varied themes are reincarnation, visitors from the Stars, manmade Gods versus secular high tech forces, an island city, conspiracy theories and paranoia. includes reviews of Claire North's The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon, James Lovegrove's Shiva, Neil Williamson's The Moonking and Sarah Lotz'sThree.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A novel set in an alternative version in Boston at the time of the American Civil War. This is from Cherie Priest's series of books called Clockwork Century. It had all the things I like: Steampunk, sky pirates and Zombies. The other thing I liked was that it was in America rather than an alternative Victorian England.

Briar Wilkes and her son Ezekiel are great characters as well as the mysterious and dangerous inventor Leviticus Blue. I loved the portrayal of a walled city with its community living underground in toxic conditions. This was the first book I have read by Cherie Priest and I want to read more.

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Underneath The Arches - Streetart by The Deptford Railway Arches Creekside

The Railway arches by Deptford Creekside are always a great place for a quiet scenic walk by the Deptford Railway line, Deptford Creek Centre and river. The Railway arches have many spaces for Graffiti artists. Sometimes the quality of graffiti is not so good but at the moment there are some great examples of new Street art. Here are a few examples by an unknown artist (or artists). Not sure what the strange numbers mean at the side of these? If anyone knows who these are by then it would be good to know.

Book Review > Wool - Hugh Howey

Wool by Hugh Howey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

** Warning Contains Spoilers ** After initially seeing this book advertised as the next Hunger Games and seeing that it was part of a trilogy, I decided to read it as it sounded intriguing. This was a really good book and I wasn’t disappointed. I thought it would take a while to get into this book as most of the action takes place underground in a silo but once the main protagonists were established then I soon got into it. The main character Juliette works in mechanical and has a knack of fixing things. She soon rises to Sheriff but soon finds out things are not as they seem as she learns about the secrets of the silo. She is promoted thanks to Mayor Jahns and against the advice of Bernard who runs the silo and IT. She meets Lukas who works in IT and has a hobby of star gazing through the screens outside. During her time up top she meets Scottie who points out that the views outside are doctored and he dies in a suspected suicide. Bernard soon becomes her nemesis when she starts to delve into the secrets of IT and is demoted back to mechanical. Eventually she goes too far and shares the fate of previous cleaners and has to go outside the silo. But she has help from Walker in mechanical so that she can survive a bit longer.

Juliette finds another silo and its sole occupant, a frightened boy who calls himself Silo. He has been on his own too long and has no real knowledge of how things working taking it for granted that there is power and water of a kind. She finds a way of communicating with Lukas and then another uprising starts when people learn that she has survived. Lukas has meanwhile been encouraged to read the book of orders that govern the organization of the people who live in the silo. He is being prepared to be a leader by Bernard but he wants to know what happened before the air was toxic outside and the people had to live underground in the silo. He soon becomes disillusioned when he finds out the truth and it looks as though he may share the same fate as Juliette.

I enjoyed the theme of the book about people living below ground and viewing the world through screens but is what they are seeing the truth? As the author says “it asks whether we can know he world by staring at a single screen or if we’re better off going for a look see”. There is a kind of class system here with the people in IT having knowledge that they don’t or cannot share with the people below in mechanical as that would lead to social breakdown. It’s partly science fiction and a thriller. The version I had had the first chapter from the next book ‘Shift’ so hope to read that soon.



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Enjoy Yourself Its Later Than You Think, Punk and Ska Flyposters in Soho

Soho is a bit of a building site at the moment with Crossrail cutting through Tottenham Court Road and underneath Soho Square on the one side and restaurants being refurbished on the other. Amongst all this chaos there are some great fly posters that have appeared. In Soho Square there is a series of images celebrating the history of music in Soho. The image below shows Adam Ant playing at the Marquee.

Across the other side of Soho in Berwick Street Market outside what was once the King of Corsica, is this  iconic image of Siouxsie Sioux (and now my new mobile wallpaper).

Finally this last image is of Terry Hall and Lynvall Goulding of The Specials. Both of these fly posters are outside the Alan Yau restaurant. Can't wait to see what appears next...

PRS 100 Years of Music Centenary Exhibition Getty Images Gallery

This month the Getty Images Gallery plays host to the Performing Rights Society Centenary. Its a 100 years since the PRS was formed on 6 March 1914 to ensure music creators were paid for live performances and sheet music. This exhibition has the best music creators, composers and songwriters including Noel Coward and Benjamin Britten. Artists such as the Arctic Monkeys are displayed next to the Beatles. The Rolling Stones are pictured in the sixties. There is an iconic picture of Ian Curtis from Joy Division, Paul Weller and the Jam as well as a great photograph of The Clash posing next to a Railway line. Eighties and Nineties artists are represented by Morrisey and Marr, Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, Radiohead, Blur and PJ Harvey. Photographer Lucy Sewill contributes the Photographs. For more information go to www.prsformusic.com/100years

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A funny and often sad account of the band, covering the history of one of the most influential bands in alternative music. The whole history of how the band met to the tragic events of Ian Curtis's death is covered. There are early signs here too of the breakdown in the relationship between Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner, years before the break up of New Order. There are funny accounts of Hook always being the van driver and having to load the gear away at the end of gigs whilst the other band members sloped off. There are also stories of the pranks they used to play on each other as well as bands like the Buzzcock's who they supported in their early years.

Those who have read Hooks other book about the Hacienda will be pleased to see the chapters interspersed with a diary of events and he does a track by track review of Unknown Pleasures and Closer. I particularly enjoyed the details of how they recorded their songs in the studio. Martin Hannett had an often mad genius approach, making Stephen Morris take his drum kit apart and record each part individually. Or he would put in digital delays, keyboards and other effects. On one track Sumner had a sulk and wouldn't play guitar so he suggested to Sumner to record it and then play the tape backwards (Candidate). He would tell them to fuck off whilst he totally rearranged the tracks in their absence, and the other band members told Hook to go in to see what he was doing to their songs. They were not particularly happy with the finished recordings of Unknown Pleasures but eventually saw that he had helped produce a classic album.

Hook is honest about how Curtis suffered through the heavy touring they did that contributed to his more frequent epileptic attacks towards the end of Joy Division and his death. However, Curtis did not want to rest and at one point turned up to sing even though he had been given the night off. Hook describes how Curtis had two separate lives with his troubled marriage with Deborah and his relationship with the Belgian Annik Honore when touring with the band. One minute he would be joking with the band, the next minute being 'arty' with his girlfriend and friends like Genesis P Orridge from Throbbing Gristle. Hook argues that no-one really knew the real Ian Curtis so his death was a shock to everyone. The bands reaction was to continue to go into the studio and not really discuss it until years after his death.

Joy Division have always been a huge influence on me so I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As well as being a story about Joy Division it also covers some of the later years of New Order. The story of Joy Division has been written and it looks like the story of New Order will be next. Bring it on.

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