Climbers

By M. John Harrison,

Book cover of Climbers

Book description

'No one alive can write sentences like he can. He's the missing evolutionary link between William Burroughs and Virginia Woolf' Olivia Laing

'Among the most brilliant novelists writing today' Robert Macfarlane

'Truly gets to the heart of that strange, indefinable otherness of the wild northern landscape' Benjamin Myers

Retreating from…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Climbers as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

After reading M. John Harrison's brilliant genre-bending, The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again, I was eager for more. I came across Climbers during a drawn-out respiratory illness, when I became obsessed with watching climbing films and documentaries. You don't have to be a climber yourself to love this book: my fear of heights prevents me from scaling even a low rock face.

Although an ostensibly realist book, Harrison nonetheless weaves a strangeness into his writing at the sentence level. His descriptions of tarnished landscapes are second to none, and his eccentric characters have sunken permanently into my psyche,…

Conditions are Different After Dark

By Owen W. Knight,

Book cover of Conditions are Different After Dark

Owen W. Knight Author Of The Visitors

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Visionary Compassionate Imaginative Conspiracist Apophenia (or apophenic)

Owen's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.

Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They discover their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? They fear their choice of new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave. They become convinced the village remains cursed despite their friends’ denials. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?

Conditions are Different After Dark

By Owen W. Knight,

What is this book about?

In 1660, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected?
Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is…


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