The Blog of Lone

The Steep Approach to Garbadale

Author Iain Banks;
Publication date 05 October, 2007
Genre Fiction





Rating 3 Badgers Nick Cockayne November 30, 2007

‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ is Iain Banks latest fiction, and a book I’ve been looking forward to for some time.  The novel centres around the fate of Alban, a reluctant member of the Wopulds, a family whose riches are built upon the board game Empire!  As a crucial event in the future of the family business approaches so does the culmination of Alban’s personal growth and the revelation of some shocking family secrets. 
The book flits skilfully between action in the present and remembered scenes in the past which serve to put both characters and events in context without disorientating the reader.  Like all of Banks’ books the characters are wonderfully written, warmly imagined, and gifted with convincing personalities that make them inevitably likable.  Likewise Banks’ style of writing is humorous, humanitarian and uplifting; breathing energy into his subject matter and bringing both landscapes and scenes to life deftly.
All in all this should be an engaging and exciting novel, but somehow it never quite manages to hit the mark. 
The problem lies in the fact that, like Bank’s last novel ‘Dead Air’, the story lacks some of the imaginative edginess and twisted perspective that mark Banks’ earlier novels as a step above the rest of the market.  ‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ is entertaining in its own right, but for anyone familiar with Banks’ other fiction it strays perilously close to the much better ‘The Crow Road’ in both style and plot.  Whereas ‘The Crow Road’ shocks with its wit and vibrancy this latest novel feels a little flat in comparison and not quite up to Iain Banks’ normally brilliant standard.

A book well worth reading, but not quite up to Iain Banks’ usual standard of greatness.

Shamanspace

Author Steve Aylett;
Publication date 01 March, 2002
Genre CyberPunk





Rating 4 1/2 Badgers

Lost Souls

Author Poppy Z. Brite;
Publication date 10 September, 1993
Genre Gothic
Rating 5 Badgers Nick Cockayne November 30, 2007

Those browsing the horror shelves in their local book store might be surprised to find a single Poppy Z. Brite book nestled among the acres of Stephen King and Anne Rice. This is a shame and demonstrates how fickle book stores (especially big chains) can be about giving an ‘alternative’ author a chance.

What makes ‘Lost Souls’ stand out (for stockists at least), from the run of the mill blood sucking and shrieking maiden vampire genre is that most of Brite’s male characters are gay. In an age that boasts social freedoms this shouldn’t be a problem, and for the open minded reader, it isn’t. Once the unaccustomed reader penetrates past this, they experience a book rich in descriptions of an American South that few tourists will ever touch. It is Brite’s lush idiosyncratic descriptions of the settings for her story that make it truly haunting; more so than the vampires themselves.

As for the vampires, they’re a far cry from the castle dwelling, cape swishing, staple of horror fiction. Brite’s vampires are characters first and foremost, rather than a quick means to produce horror, and get afforded the same rich treatment as any of the others.

The story centres around the young Nothing as he searches for his heritage among the back roadways and small towns of America; and when he finds it it will change his life forever. The lives of band members Steve and the ethereal Ghost become tangled with that of Nothing when he and his new family roll through town. This simplistic overview hardly does justice to the plot, but then I don’t want to ruin it for the prospective reader.

This is a perfect book for the open minded reader willing to be led by Brite’s fantastic writing down a road they would never have found by themselves. Brite shows us a whole new America populated by ghosts and outcasts that never fails to fascinate.
If you’re looking for a horror book with a difference, read ‘Lost Souls’.