Frydmania

Space operas deliver a hyper-synaptic buzz

June 2nd, 2007

Alison has mentioned that there’s been something of a switch in our reading habits. This has been a while in the telling.

When I was at school I hardly read a thing that wasn’t to do with cars (up to 13) or architecture (quite a bit beyond leaving school). It just didn’t interest me. It was too much like work - like having to read something that you didn’t like at school. I remembered reading only about two books at school that I enjoyed and the rest of it was verging on cruel and unusual torture. That’s perhaps too harsh, but it was a distraction from drawing and reading about interesting things.

Just after A-levels I started reading some political thrillers and got hooked. Not that it was much of a change for the next few years. The only real variety came in the type of thriller - historical, sci-fi and adventure (not so good).

In the last couple of years I’ve been able to delve into proper fiction (sorry Tom*). There have been some great novels I’ve read in the last couple of years and not just Life of Pi or Curious Incident of Dog in the Night-time.

But more often than not I’m drawn back to Alastair Reynolds. And a bit of history (reading Tom Holland’s Persian Fire at the moment).

But back to Alastair. He writes an amazing universe that is, after all, total escapism. Light huggers, Conjoiners, nano-machinery, imprisoned slugs, hyper-pigs and more. I love it. I can’t get enough of it. I’d happily read him all day. However I have to ration myself or it will end all too soon and I’ll have to wait until October before I get my hands on the next one.

Alastair, if you happen to read posts about people reviewing your work, I’d like to receive advance copies!

Entry Filed under: Imagination