alternatehistory

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

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PREMISE: In an alternate 1985 America, costumed superheroes are part of everyday life. When one of his former comrades is murdered, masked vigilante Rorschach uncovers a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his retired associates, only one of which has true powers, Rorschach glimpses a far-reaching conspiracy involving their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the world’s future.

I’d imagine I don’t have to say too much about this by way of an introduction but just in case you haven’t heard of it, it’s essentially the greatest graphic novel ever written and even if you’re not into graphic novels, comics, superheroes, you should just forget all about that and read this. The story is top notch, the ‘superheroes’ are all great and well thought out (Rorschach is one of the best and most intriguing characters I’ve read in ANY book and Doctor Manhattan’s powers are beyond anything you’ll read in the rest of DC or Marvel) and even the story-within-the-story Tales of the Black Freighter is awesome and just adds to the overall package.

Without doubt one of the best novels I’ve read. I’d heartily recommend reading the hardback deluxe edition which features sketches and bonus material.

Just as an aside…contrary to most Watchmen fanboys (and Alan Moore himself) I personally thought Zack Snyder’s film adaptation of this was amazing and really faithful to the look and feel of the novel. And the TV series of the same name, albeit with a different story but set in the Watchmen ‘world’ is also brilliant and well worth checking out.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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PREMISE: Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Man, this one is a lingerer. I’m reading an old Carl Hiaasen novel at the moment (always fantastic) but this baby keeps popping into my head. Another book where you can’t help wondering whether something like it will eventually happen. Let’s hope not. A great read.

Under The Eye Of The Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami

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PREMISE: In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of “Mothers.” Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings–but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction, and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world.

If I was being tortured and my life depended upon me being able to elucidate the type of book I like best, I’d just refer to this one. And hope that that would be sufficient enough explanation for my torturers to then let me go so that I can hunt out more books like this. Intelligent, thought-provoking, ‘man-this-shit-could-actually-happen’ type books. Fantastic.

How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

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PREMISE: Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. The story follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world.

On Goodreads, some bellend called Henk writes a review of this book that says something like ‘Great ideas but lacking execution’. Well, fuck off Henk. Sorry, I must have missed your Booker Prize-winning novel. You judgemental twat. Anyway, this is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time with a heart and emotional punch that is pretty breathtaking. Absolutely loved it, which is reflected in the fact that it’s the 2024 Portland Award winner.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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PREMISE: Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.

You ever read a book and think “Shit, I wish I’d written that”, only to realise that you don’t have the talent, imagination or intelligence to do it? That’s me with this book. The 2nd-best book I read in 2023…

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

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PREMISE: Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

My most recently read book (well, it was when I wrote this…one of the many downsides of ‘time’). Not that that has anything to do with anything. In fact, I’m not entirely sure why I said it and now I’m running out of (admittedly self-imposed) space to explain how fantastic this book is. It just is. Loved it. ESJM is such a beautiful writer.

The Deluge by Stephen Markley

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PREMISE: In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.

From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future?

This is probably up there in my top 5 favourite books of all time. Scarily, eerily, worryingly-as-fuck accurate in terms of (a) what’s likely to happen with climate change and the planet and (b) what can happen when people as stupid and as stupidly dangerous as Trump continue to get into power. An absolute must-read.

2023 Portland Award winner.