Here’s a really great review of my new haikyo book, Ruins of the Rising Sun, on Seba Rashii culture zine. Thanks Seba Rashii! Quick quotes- “The stunning image of an abandoned, devoid-of-any-purpose roller coaster is a powerful metaphor for the clear ups and downs described along the way by the author. Any reader already acquainted with Japan will know it is place that doesn’t leave any impression other than the permanent on a person and the haikyo featured in this book are perhaps uniquely Japanese. With everything from abandoned theme parks to love hotels, soap lands and leftovers from the … Read More
Into the Ruins – Adventures in Abandoned Japan
Ruins of the Rising Sun – Adventures in Abandoned Japan is a hybrid Japan travelogue/ photo-book written by author / photographer Michael John Grist, crammed with explorations of abandoned ruins. Best-selling thriller writer Barry Eisler has said- “Gorgeous, haunting, stunning memento mori photos… fascinating text commentary… I guarantee you will start fantasizing about exploring haikyo yourself.” It’s currently available as an e-book through Amazon: – Amazon US – Amazon UK Story: For five years writer and photographer Michael John Grist explored over 100 of the most beautiful and haunting modern ruins in Japan (called ‘haikyo’), from abandoned theme parks and … Read More
story craft #18 Steeping (or China Mieville’s Teapot Brain)
I have figured out how China Mieville writes. I did this by watching several interviews he was in, and noticing one thing- China Mieville uses the word ‘steep’ quite a lot. In this video interview he used it, and in this article, and this one, and this one. In this single word lies what I believe to be the secret to being China Mieville. In a word, it is preparation. In another word, it is teabags. Ever since I read Mieville’s book The Scar 10 years ago I was kind of awed by the world he put together, the way … Read More
Horns fit for a King – book review
★★★★★ Horns by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) is a work of pure creative genius, and I loved (almost) every minute of it. Its high-concept ‘sympathy for the devil’ premise is totally fresh, intricate, and delightfully surprising, with the unexpected bonus that its climax shatters the King weak ending curse, with not a hint of deus ex machina anywhere to be seen. Highly recommended. From the moment 26-year old sex-murder-suspect / layabout slacker Ig Perrish wakes up with horns sprouting from his head, and enters the first of many startling, bizarre, and disturbing confrontations with the people he knows … Read More
The Serialist murders Mystery Girl – book review
★★★★★ The Serialist and ★★ Mystery Girl are the first two books by David Gordon, and I read them back to back after randomly coming across the tasty, fresh quirkiness of The Serialist and digging it right down to the bone. What bright and confrontational dialogue, I thought,
Why Redshirts should be first to die – book review
★ Redshirts completely sucks. I cannot say it any more plainly than that. Though it has a neat conceit (right there in the title), it is lazily, utterly derivative, ridiculously boring, and every character within it is not only infuriatingly sarcastic and crassly sexual, but they are also completely the same, indistinguishable from each other. I quit reading after about 100 pages, because it just so monumentally uninteresting. I cannot for one moment fathom how author John Scalzi won the Hugo Award, unless the voters were so eager to suck up to Scalzi, now head of the SFWA (Science Fiction … Read More
Why Wool weaves rings around LOST – book review
★★★★★ If you liked Desmond in LOST, stuck in a hatch while some mysterious disease ravaged the land outside, eating an endless supply of canned food, finding strange maps hidden in secret places, then you’ll love Wool, Shift and Dust by Hugh Howey, collectively known as the Silo Saga. It is full of mystery, and it handles that mystery far better than LOST ever did. Where LOST side-stepped every weighty question about the purpose of the hatch or the island itself with a cop-out ‘feel-good’ final season, the Silo Saga does not. It delivers on its mystery, every bit of … Read More
Death of East – 9 Weird Tales
Death of East is a collection of 9 weird tales that strain against the borders of reality, filled with sky-painting giants, gods of the mud, and a world where the direction East can die. Readers have called it- “magical … poetic … out-of-the-box … a little gem.“ It’s currently available as an e-book through Amazon: – Amazon US – Amazon UK – Goodreads Story: The direction East is dead. When the direction East, a giant living atop an island at the far Eastern ‘pole’, is murdered, the Empire falls into disarray. The compass can no longer be trusted, and trade … Read More
Cullsman #9 – 9 Science Fiction Stories
Cullsman #9 is a collection of 9 science fiction stories that chart the untamed outer fringe of existence, filled with ruined intergalactic civilizations, lonely globe-roaming robots, and a memetic virus that could destroy all things. Readers have called it- “Intriguing … atmospheric … other-worldly … excellent.” It’s currently available as an e-book through Amazon: – Amazon US – Amazon UK – Goodreads Story: Would you kill a world to save your family? In the depths of space, the cannibal planet the Host hunts. With its own resources depleted, it ‘hooks’ other living worlds through an immensely complex process called … Read More
Why Constellation Games fails at the final level – book review
★★★ The premise of ‘Constellation Games’ is a playful and wholly original take on an alien invasion, as told through the eyes of a slacker My-Little-Pony game developer called Ariel Blum. When the Aliens come, with a friendly armada of every race in their ‘Constellation’, Ariel is only interested in their old video games, so he can mine through the millennia and port out a hit game of his own. It’s brilliant. Ariel is a cocky, snarky dick, but like any true ‘otaku’ he suspends his sarcasm for good content, and ‘Constellation Games’ delivers that content in spades. As I … Read More