Books of May: The Fifth Miracle, by Paul Davies (1998)

The Fifth Miracle is a wonderfully engaging popular science book by Paul Davies, that runs through the theory, evidence and arguments for how life on Earth actually began. It's one of the best science books that I've read because it's very readable, and Davies has a very concise and entertaining manner of writing. It's also more than 15 years old, which led me to ponder the fate of old science books.

Science is constantly changing. New theories are developed and hypotheses tested. Information gets superceded, or contradicted, or replaced.

There is a half-life to scientific writing that simply doesn't exist for fiction. A work of art remains valid no matter how old it becomes, or how many other works of fiction are printed or performed after it's released. This simply isn't true for scientific writing - once the science is out of date the book is arguably worthless.

Books of May: Salamander, by Thomas Wharton (2001)

An 18th century London book printer, Nicholas Flood, is drawn to a castle on the Transylvanian-Hungarian border. There he is tasked with creating an eternal book for the grief-stricken Count Ostrov. As the story unfolds, Flood's adventure incorporates clockwork automata, imprisonment, escape, and an epic journey around the world in search of the finest components with which to manufacture the perfect book.

The whole adventure is told in lyrical, dream-like fashion by its author, Canadian Thomas Wharton. I'm not certain what drew me to pick this book up about a decade ago. I suppose the blurb on the inside of the dust jacket sounded interesting. What I do know is that Salamander knocked me sideways: it's a stunning work of fantasy, and one that the traditional fantasy crowd seemed to ignore entirely because of how it was packaged and marketed.

It's genre fiction by stealth: in books they call it 'literature', and in cinema it's called 'arthouse', but in both cases it's the same thing.

Books of May: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by Alan Garner (1960)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. I aimed to review 31 books in May 2013, and managed to get through nine. Hopefully we'll go better this year. Today, book #10: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by British author Alan Garner.

Is it just me, or has the science fiction and fantasy establishment completely forgotten about Alan Garner. To my mind he's one of the giants of children's fantasy. While I'm highlighting his 1960 debut novel here, I could just have easily picked its sequel The Moon of Gomrath, or Elidor, or The Owl Service, or even Red Shift. He tells such beautifully constructed stories that are generally immersed in the folklore and culture of his native Cheshire. He's been writing them for more than 50 years: eight novels, a bunch of short story collections, all demonstrating the same strength of narrative and a beautiful turn of phrase.

Go to the average science fiction convention, however, and it's like you can hear crickets. People still go on and on ad nauseum about J.R.R. Tolkien, and the likes of Ursula LeGuin and Diana Wynne Jones both get a healthy amount of discussion. Garner, however, seems like a shadow: a major figure in British fantasy who's all but ignored by the fans. More educated fans can probably say better than I can, but I'm pretty sure he's never been a Guest of Honour at a Worldcon or a World Fantasy Convention, or even a British natcon (Eastercon). He's already 79 years old - if fans plan to give Garner the respect he's due, they're probably running out of time.

Books of May: Them!: Adventures with Extremists, by Jon Ronson (2001)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #9: Them!: Adventures with Extremists, by English journalist Jon Ronson.

Jon Ronson is a fantastic English journalist whose radio and television documentaries combine both fascinating reporting with a remarkable sense of humour and absurd. His most famous book is probably The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was adapted into a popular feature film starring George Clooney, but I still think his best book is Them! which was published in 2001 as a tie-in to his documentary series The Secret Rulers of the World.

The book basically recounts Ronson's encounters with a string of extremists and conspiracy theorists around the world. As he goes he begins to actively follow the mysterious Bilderberg Group, as several conspiracy enthusiasts have cited that group as the one that secretly rules the world.

Books of May: Archer's Goon, by Diana Wynne Jones (1984)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #8: Archer's Goon, by English author Diana Wynne Jones.

 Diana Wynne Jones cast a long shadow over the landscape of children's fiction, and is rightfully held up as one of the giants of English language fantasy. I wasn't certain which of her books I wanted to mention in this series, but in the end I went for Archer's Goon. I don't think it's as well known as some of her more famous novels - Howl's Moving Castle being a key example - but for whatever reason it's a book that stuck in my head, and one that immediately came to mind.

The novel follows thirteen year-old Howard Sykes, whose father is an author. One day a huge thug arrives at the house to collect two thousand words that Howard's father apparently promised to write for somebody named Archer. Hijinks ensue, as they say, and before long Howard is off on an adventure involving town secrets, magic, time travel and more. It's a wonderfully off-the-wall sort of a book.

Books of May: All Tomorrow's Parties, by William Gibson (1999)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #7: All Tomorrow's Parties, by Canadian author William Gibson.

 William Gibson is probably the most famous science fiction author of the 1980s. His debut novel Neuromancer crystallized the cyberpunk genre and helped influence an entire generation of science fiction writers and filmmakers. His novel The Difference Engine, co-authored with Bruce Sterling, helped to prefigure the current craze for steampunk. Pretty much all of his other books have been hailed as classics of their genre: Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Spook County and others.

All Tomorrow's Parties (the title is lifted from a Velvet Underground song) is the third part of a trilogy, and was preceded by Virtual Light and Idoru. While all three novels are incredibly good, for some reason it is this third novel that has made the greatest impact on me. It may not be the best William Gibson novel - that's probably wide open to extensive debate - but it's definitely my favourite.

Books of May: The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin (1969)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #6: The Left Hand of Darkness, by American author Ursula K. LeGuin.

On the distant planet of Gethen, a diplomat named Genly Ai negotiates with the Gethenians in an attempt to convince them to join the galaxy-wide civilization known as the Ekumen. When the political situation on Gethen suddenly shifts, Genly finds himself displaced in the freezing tundra with a betrayed prime minister and little hope of survival.


I was highly fortunate to be teaching a university course on science fiction when I first came to The Left Hand of Darkness, which meant that not only did I get to read an amazing science fiction but I was able to effectively get paid to read it too. Let's be honest, though, I would have read this for free. I always intended to get around to reading it, and when I did I discovered an eye-opening masterpiece of science fiction.

Books of May: The Sword of Shannara, by Terry Brooks (1977)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #5: The Sword of Shannara, by American author Terry Brooks.

 People generally cite J.R.R. Tolkien as the father of modern fantasy, thanks to his epic three-volume novel The Lord of the Rings. I've always figured this to be rather inaccurate. Tolkien always struck me as an author on the bridge between two styles. While he certainly prefigures many of the tropes we consider to be modern fantasy he also harks back to lots of pre-medieval and Scandinavian epics. There's a very old-fashioned sensibility to The Lord of the Rings. It feels old, as if Tolkien not so much wrote it as discovered it in a vault.

I contend that if you want to find the real father of modern fantasy (certainly late 20th century fantasy) look no further than American author Terry Brooks and his debut novel The Sword of Shannara. It is a very derivative work. Some may accuse it of being somewhat plagiaristic. What it does do, however, is take Tolkien's slow, ponderous and highly literary three-book epic, streamline it, and strip it down to its most engaging and populist elements.

Whereas The Lord of the Rings saw Frodo Baggins leave the village of Hobbiton at the behest of the wizard Gandalf and embark on an epic adventure to the dark land of Mordor, The Sword of Shannara saw farmboy Shea Ohmsford leave the village of Shady Vale at the behest of the druid Allanon and embark on an epic adventure to the dark land of the Skull Kingdom. Frodo fought to destroy the spectral Sauron, whereas Shea fought to destroy the spectral Warlock Lord.

Books of May: The Wasp Factory, by Iain Banks (1984)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #4: The Wasp Factory, by Scottish author Iain Banks.

Frank Cauldhame is a deeply troubled sixteen year-old boy who lives on a small Scottish island with his father. He tortures small animals. He may be a murderer. When Frank's older brother escapes from a mental institution and plans a return to his family, he sets Frank onto a collision course with the truth about his family.

The Wasp Factory was the debut novel for acclaimed Scottish novelist Iain Banks, and it is a rough, scabby and quite unpleasant book. It's also distinctive, strikingly original and gripping from beginning to end. Banks has certainly written better novels than this, but like many first novels I think it retains an extraordinary amount of energy. It's a relatively short novel, and it rockets along like nobody's business. Ever since reading it the first time, I've never quite managed to get it out of my head.

Books of May: Orlando, by Virginia Woolf (1928)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #3: Orlando, by English author Virginia Woolf.

 Orlando, a young man in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, lives for more than 400 years and changes sex along the way. That's pretty much the one-sentence premise of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, and it's pretty much my favourite fantasy novel.

Not that you'll find it in the fantasy section of your local bookshop, of course. Since it was written by one of the great authors of 20th century literature, you'll have to go find a copy in either the classics or the literature section. It's both a classic and literature, of course, but first and foremost for me it's also a profoundly effective fantasy.

Books of May: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams (1987)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #2: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by English author Douglas Adams.

The late Douglas Adams was many things, but to be brutally honest a good author was probably not one of them. He started his career as a sketch writer, and his first major work - the BBC radio comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was pretty much just a loose series of comedy sketches that simply happened to feature the same characters in each scene. He was a remarkable humourist, and a very perceptive social commentator, but if there was one thing he seemed relatively incapable of doing it was developing a proper plot.

His Hitchhiker's novels (five in all) either meandered, road-trip style, from one event to another, or they simply felt very woolly. They were slackly drawn, mainly because he generally hated writing so much that when forced by his publisher to deliver a manuscript he'd simply lock himself in a hotel room for a fortnight and bang the whole book out in one draft.

So why am I recommending one of his books? Because Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is simply brilliant. It's possibly my all-time favourite novel.

Books of May: Underground, by Haruki Murakami (1997)

Books of May highlights books - both fiction and non-fiction - that have engaged, entertained or otherwise made a significant impact on me over the years. The goal is to highlight one book a day for the entire month. Today, book #1: Underground, by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

Haruki Murakami is one of Japan's most respected and acclaimed authors, and certainly one of the few to break out via translation to English-speaking readers around the world. His books have a marvellous sense of unreality to them, combined with a large amount of wit and charm. He's very often described as one of the world's best postmodernist authors - I like to think of him as one of the world's best authors.

The book I wanted to highlight today, however, is not actually one of his novels. It is Underground, a collection of interviews that Murakami undertook between 1997 and 1998 that focuses on the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo cult.