Archive for July 2010
“Do I See The Sacred Anywhere?” Roberto Bolaño’s “2666″
Posted by: danhartland on: July 31, 2010
- In: Books
- 3 Comments
Every book that isn’t a masterpiece is cannon fodder, a slogging foot soldier, a piece to be sacrificed, since in multiple ways it mimics the design of the masterpiece. When I came to this realization, I gave up writing. Still, my mind didn’t stop working. In fact, it worked better when I wasn’t writing. I [...]
The Police Don’t Consult Amateurs
Posted by: danhartland on: July 28, 2010
During my long acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes, his communiques were never less than terse and to the point, lacking entirely any concession to the niceties of polite conversation. Constrained not just by their medium, but by their composer’s own natural efficiency of expression, they tended at times even towards the terse. Were it not [...]
“Sometimes Life Really Was a B-Movie.”
Posted by: danhartland on: July 25, 2010
- In: Books | science fiction
- 1 Comment
Every now and again, you write a review you feel a little guilty about. Not only has China Miéville given me hours of pleasure with his previous novels; his latest, Kraken, was given to me as a very thoughtful birthday present by dear friends. So it feels churlish to have to admit I didn’t enjoy [...]
Coalition Whispers
Posted by: danhartland on: July 24, 2010
- In: Politics
- 3 Comments
Nine months from now, we will be asked the following question: “Do you want the United Kingdom to adopt the ‘alternative vote’ system instead of the current ‘first-past-the-post’ system for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons?” Nick Clegg will, in what is becoming his habitual manner, claim this as a great victory [...]
“Ringing In My Ears”: Chatham County Line
Posted by: danhartland on: July 20, 2010
- In: albums | music
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It has been suggested that I may be to country music what Niall Harrison is to science fiction – that is, I am from time to time known to give a free pass to a piece of generic songcraft which is (hem, hem) ‘in dialogue with its genre’. It’s also true that, like Niall and [...]
Ain’t No Cane On The Severn
Posted by: thestoryandthetruth on: July 19, 2010
- In: life
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Who doesn’t like live music? Who doesn’t like pubs? Who doesn’t like big hills? Our weekend – spent at Upton Blues Festival and on top of Malvern’s British Camp – had a lot of what we like. Just what we needed after the last, hectic, week.
Christopher Hitchens, Bill Clinton and Ideology
Posted by: danhartland on: July 15, 2010
- In: Books | Politics
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A piece in the latest New Statesman has a profile by George Eaton of Christopher Hitchens, in which he is quoted as saying: “[Bill] Clinton could change his mind on any issue, but couldn’t change the fact that he was a scumbag.” This, Eaton suggests, is indicative of the change that the Clinton presidency wrought [...]
In A Mist
Posted by: danhartland on: July 13, 2010
- In: music
- 2 Comments
Following a Bix Beiderbecke feature on the most recent 50 Miles of Elbow Room, I’ve been listening to a lot of his records (Primo’s The Art of Bix Beiderbecke is a very handy introduction). One of the things I was sad to miss out of the show on Sunday was Bix’s own compositions, and indeed [...]
Sun, Spas and Spain
Posted by: danhartland on: July 12, 2010
- In: life
- 2 Comments
A memorable weekend for a variety of reasons – new people, new places, and pretty special weather. We spent some of the weekend, including Friday evening, in Cheltenham, and ate at The Beehive – good food, fine bear. Recommended if you ever find yourself hungry whilst in Montpellier. (It might also be the case that [...]
Unambiguous Utopia in “The Dispossessed”
Posted by: danhartland on: July 9, 2010
- In: Books | science fiction
- 2 Comments
On the A line of the RER in Paris last weekend, we spotted a chap wearing a black t-shirt. The design was simple: in all white lines, a man cowered in a battery cage, stretching his arm between the bars to slot a piece of paper into a small box which squatted on the roof [...]
71 is the number of an apartment we return to regularly in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. We like it there.
‘We’ are Anna French and Dan Hartland. The Story and the Truth is a sort of inadequate catch-all term for what goes on here: we tend to talk about novels, history, food and fashion, politics and music, but there may also be photographs of soft toys and musicians. Stick around and see.
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Words We Like
The Weird, ed. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
An astounding work of collecting-as-art, this compendium of 800,000 weird words is easily one of the most consistent genre anthologies I have read. Heterodox yet focused, it is fated to be the canonical text of weird fiction studies for some time to come - and deservedly so. The first-rank stories here - and there are many, not a few - are not excellent weird fiction. They are simply some of the best 20th century writing available in any mode. Not without its faults - but that is, ahem, the nature of the beast. Essential.
Sounds We Like
Sonik Kicks, by Paul Weller
I haven't paid much attention to Weller - an artist who hangs heavy in my musical tutelage - since 2000's Heliocentric, an album of diverse interests which felt like a shot of crisp elegance in that year of Steps and 'N Sync. The records that followed it - particularly Illumination - were enough, however, to make those achievements a distant memory. There have been rumblings of a renaissance - 22 Dreams got great reviews - but only the sounds of Sonik Kicks have brought me back. Energetic, fierce and, best of all, creative, this sounds like a record from a much younger man. Weller has a lesson or two in him yet.
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