There’s a reason why some of the best horror films are those that focus more on unsettling the viewer than shocking them out of their seat. The family dinner scene in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Giger’s alien crawling around the vents of the Nostromo, the glimpses of the twins in The Shining: moments like this get under the viewer’s skin and linger long after the movie is over.
Read MoreIs it really March again? Grant’s hot take that literally everyone has uttered recently: it feels both as though no time has passed since entering the first lockdown on 15 March 2020 and that an eternity has elapsed in the meantime. The one (almost) constant in all of this - like a supporting character returning in a movie sequel to establish continuity - is that here in Germany, we are still in lockdown and there is no end in sight.
One interesting development resulting from this, at least linguistically, has been the decision to use the words “Click & Meet” (in English) as shorthand for the process where a person registers online in advance for an appointment at, for example, a boutique store specialising in alpaca wool products and then goes there at 14:45 on a Tuesday to browse all the comfy socks in store. Maybe it’s not interesting for anyone else, actually; I’m just fascinated by how someone managed to sum up the New Normal in two words and an ampersand, and how quickly everyone accepted it. Specifically, it’s the use of ‘meet’ that’s twisting my melon, man. Why not ‘browse’ or ‘collect’ or ‘pick’ or ‘shop’? ‘Meet’ is so active and personal, especially for a country (and a city) that isn’t particularly renowned for its warmth toward strangers. All I can think is that after being starved of random human interaction for so many months, we’ve all learned how much we need other people, and meeting cashiers is the first step toward a more inclusive, harmonious, mutually beneficial society. Yep.
NB: I do not live near a butcher’s shop (thank fuck), but I hope their signs say ‘Click & Meat’.
Announcement time? I was going to do this separately, but it makes little difference, so here goes:
Reality Testing will be published as a paperback by the Texas-based publishing house Black Rose in January 2022.
Fireworks and balloons and so on. Bagged me that prime January slot, when everybody has disposable income lying around and the energy to struggle their way through 289 pages of dystopian fiction. Oh yeah, New York Times bestseller list, come to daddy.
REVIEWS. As mentioned a few days ago, Kirkus gave Reality Testing a starred review. Life goal: tick. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Book Review gave the novel a 4-star review, in which the reviewer casually talks about RT in the same breath as Blade Runner, Margaret Atwood and Judge Dredd. Consider my ego stroked.
We are the music makers:
Dry Cleaning - Magic of Meghan
we’ll sail to the stars
Once in a while, in this endless sucking quagmire we call existence, something out of the ordinary occurs that lifts the spirits to heights that tend to be experienced exclusively by fortunate children at Christmas time.
Today I am a fortunate child.
Kirkus, in its strange, infinite reviewing wisdom, has seen fit to award my plucky upstart sci fi novel Reality Testing a starred review. They call it….
A bracing blast of neo-cyberpunk with some smart tweaks to the operating system
Other recent books that have received starred reviews include:
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
If It Bleeds by Stephen King
Good company to be in. They’re lucky to have me.
NEONIFY MY LIFE
Three days of sunshine make all the difference to the prevailing mood. Despite the ongoing lockdown, despite the repeated bungling of the vaccine roll-out (in Germany at least), despite the expectation that no cultural, sporting or recreational facilities will be open until May or June, I saw light at the end of the tunnel this month when the temperature reached 14 degrees and grey was superseded by blue and gold. I suppose, when we do finally emerge blinking on the other side, it will be a long time before we start taking simple everyday pleasures for granted again, and even longer before we complain of boredom or dissatisfaction at all the various hues life has to offer. Or perhaps that’s naïve, After all, we are human beings.
I did an interview with the thriller writer Alex Pearle this month, which can be found here. Nice questions, interesting enough answers. In Reality Testing news, the novel has now shipped 900 copies and has received several neon-tinted reviews from writers such as William J. Donahue, Bill Halpin and L.S. Popovich, which is gratifying. In non-novel-related-but-still-cyberpunky news, an article I wrote conflating cyberpunk with the climate crisis (what else?) will be published in the brilliantly named magazine The Abstract Elephant in the near future. Finally, I’ve finished work on my fifth novel, The Distance, and will be spending March focusing on short stories and essays. Kind of a palate cleanser.
February music:
Basically just this whole album by Adrian Younge. Along with the album’s content, the original cover (not on Spotify) is a thing of terrifying significance.
there are doors that lock and doors that don't