Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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‘I believe in the fantastic as a crucial part of literature’
Novelist CHRISTOPHER PRIEST talks to Andy Hedgecock about his latest novel, set in an otherworldly archipelago where thousands of islands offer endless climactic, cultural and political possibilities
[Eric Messel/Creative Commons]
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
“I WRITE instinctively, responding to impulses,” says Christopher Priest. “Most of my books since The Affirmation have a double quality — on one level, the main one, they are stories to be told, intended to be enjoyed, and which will probably contain some ideas that intrigue the reader.
“The second level is a sort of invitation to the reader to join in the process, to see and understand the book from another viewpoint, to accept that it is fiction.”
Written in 1981, The Affirmation is set in a region of wonders called the Dream Archipelago. It was my portal into Priest’s witty and philosophical science fiction, which tackles deception, the plasticity of reality and the malleable nature of memory and perception. Subverting genre conventions, it explores the nature of storytelling.
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