Speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, thriller – who cares about genres when the writing is as good as in the novels reviewed here, writes Gwen Ansell.
TIGERMAN by Nick Harkaway (William Heinemann)
Puppies are often cute. The Sad and Rabid Puppies, who recently waged their doomed Hugo Award vendetta against “literary and ideological” science fiction and fantasy nominees, were about as cute as some drooling, mangy, potentially rabid mutt attempting to fuck your shin, shred your ass and wee on your carpet.
It’s hard to fathom their objection to “literary” science fiction and fantasy. A frequent antonym for literary is illiterate; to campaign for illiterate writing – on an awards shortlist, nogal – is just slightly (oxy)moronic. But chief rug-stainer Brad Torgersen has saved us the trouble of pondering about “ideological”. He’s explicit; he means “leftist”.
Nick Harkaway’s third speculative novel, Tigerman, wouldn’t please the puppies. It’s unashamedly literary and metaphorical, and has some unkind things to say, obliquely, about industrial, military and political colonisation. It’s also one of the most powerfully moving works you’ll encounter this year in any genre.
GLORIOUS ANGELS by Justina Robson (Gollancz)
Nothing irritates writers more than being confined within a narrow genre box. It’s particularly irritating within science fiction and fantasy where, increasingly, the boundaries between the two categories are fluid, and some of the most interesting work juggles elements from both.
Writer Mary Gentle’s White Crow series – founded on Giordano Bruno’s 17th-century Hermeticism – offered a witty riposte to the split: “These novels and stories are science fiction (…) it just isn’t the science you’re probably used to.”
THE WATER KNIFE by Paolo Bacigalupi (Orbit)
Since his award-winning debut, The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi has published mainly young adult fiction: tough, subtle, tightly wordsmithed dystopian tales such as Ship Breaker, offering far more excitement and ideas than the solipsistic norm.
He is firmly back in adult territory with his sixth book, The Water Knife: a thriller set in an American Southwest just around the corner where recurring drought has tipped into apocalyptic resource collapse. Angel Velasquez is a “water knife”: part legal bulldog, part lethal enforcer. He digs up and implements historic water rights on behalf of the corrupt Southern Nevada Water Authority.
For full reviews by Gwen Ansell see Mail & Guardian
