Penguin Worlds Science Fiction
I have written new introductions to classic Science Fiction work by Joanna Russ, John Christopher and Vernor Vinge, to…
The Moonstone - Sjón (2016)
The subtitle of the Icelandic writer Sjón's jewel-like novella is 'the boy who never was'. Known to English-speaking readers…
The Wake (2015)
What happens after the end? Since the portrayals of world-destroying deluges in early writings (“Gilgamesh,” the Matsya Purana, Genesis,…
Dune 50 Years on (2015)
It’s 50 years since the publication of Frank Herbert’s Dune. To celebrate the anniversary of one of…
The Beautiful Reward is Freedom: Ursula Le Guin (2014)
Last night (November 19th) Ursula Le Guin accepted the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.…
The novel after Sebald: Ben Lerner's 10:04 (2014)
'Formally “10:04” belongs to an emerging genre, the novel after Sebald, its 19th-century furniture of plot and character…
Rootless Cosmopolitan: Teju Cole's Every Day Is For The Thief (2014)
'For this displaced member of the Nigerian elite, Lagos is the opposite of an open city. His decision to…
Karl Ove Knausgaard: Shame and Authenticity (2014)
*This is not boring in the way bad narrative is boring; it is boring in the way life is…
