October 25 round-up

Well, this month saw the publication of my first novel – The Recluse Rules. Whilst I can probably hold off buying the yacht for a little while, it was a significant moment to have it out there in the world. Having published academic books before I was accustomed to a vague sense of anti-climax around publication day – it seems a long time since you wrote the book, and there have been several moments of completion already, plus I’m about a third of the way through writing my next book. But it felt like a moment still.

Books

As I’ve been enjoying the TV series of Slow Horses, I’ve been working my way through the books also. Mick Herron is a fine writer with an adept way with analogies, which so few writers get right. Also, Jackson Lamb could so easily be a cliche – the anti-woke, monstrous, sarcastic, embittered old hand – but instead in Herron’s hands becomes a grotesque comic hero. Just don’t take him as a role model.

A slice of Cold-War history that Jackson Lamb would appreciate was the CIA’s funding of the distribution of Western novel behind the iron curtain as a means to undermine the Soviet empire. This is detailed by the appropriately named Charles English in The CIA Book Club. What I found interesting was both the testament to the power of literature, but also another example of the weird projects that cold war logic ended up in – the Soviets had often ludicrous justifications for books being on the banned list (books portraying people growing their own vegetables as it undermined the principle of the collective, for example), and so just getting these distributed became a practical approach to destabilisation. The right-wing, not exactly touchy feely, CIA then end up being one of the main supporters of a trendy Paris bookshop, distributing copies of 1984. It was especially sad to read now, as the US becomes one of the major banner of books for ideological reasons.

Vinyl

Hellen Balantine, aka Skullcrusher, released her best album yet, And Your Song is Like a Circle, mixing ambience, delicate vocals and evocative lyrics. I maintain that Skullcrusher is a ridiculous name for such an ethereal, wistful artist, a bit like calling a vegan restaurant “Big Juicy Steaks”, but don’t let that put you off.

Wilco front man, Jeff Tweedy, released a triple album, Twilight Override, inspired in part by The Clash’s Sandinista (in scope, not sound). I read an interview where Tweedy said he had been struggling with ennui and depression at the state of the world, and felt overwhelmed. So this album was an attempt to overwhelm it right back, by fiunding joy and hope in small things. I like that idea of “overwhelming it right back” and wondered what my version would look like.

Best album of the month was from North Carolina indie noise rockers Wednesday. Their new album Bleeds carries on where 2023’s Rat Saw God left off with wry, desperate and grimy vignettes of scuzzy Americana with lyrics like “We watched a Phish concert and Human Centipede/ Two things I now wish I had never seen”.

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