NP: Writer Question

[Joe Allonby]

Thanks. It came recommended by a known Pynchon fan.


On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 7:48 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> Very entertaining writer who does genre fiction very well (mostly
> fantasy and scifi) but brings to the fore the politics underlying each
> form.
>
> The City... is a bit dry. Trying his hand at crime fiction. Does have
> a few astute notions in there, though.
>
> Of what I've read, I'd heartily recommend Un Lun Dun, his rejoinder to
> the Harry Potter style of YA fiction, where (patriarchal) heroism is a
> matter of destiny and genetics.
>
> Also Kraken, which is a wonderful caper of gods and cults and magic in
> contemporary London. Has a few pointed references to Pynchon, and most
> of his books have a vague whiff of P somewhere in there. Lots of
> attention to waste, class, systems of power, collective action, roads
> not taken, seduction of heirarchy, complicity with institutional
> violence etc. Kraken has a wonderful riff where England's "magical
> assistants" (familiars, golems, totems, animated broomsticks) organise
> a union and go on a public strike to protest a wizard's abuse of his
> arcane servants.
>
> On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:32 AM, Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Someone just recommended China Mieville's "The City & the City".
>>
>> Any thoughts from the P-list on this guy?
>>
>