Escape From Yokai Land

Escape From Yokai Land by Charles Stross (2021 TOR.com hardcover 82pp)

 

I’ve found Charles Stross one of the most consistently reliable writers I’ve read over the last couple of decades. He mixes a sharp view of the current zeitgeist with abundant speculation, wit and humour.

His “Laundry Files” series has been entertaining me more or less for most of that time. The Laundry is the unofficial name for a (initially) secret UK agency that guards the nation from Lovecraftian eldritch horrors from beyond the stars and other dimensions. Magic in this universe is just an advanced application of mathematics and with the proliferation of computational devices since the late 20^th century the threat of invasion by or the summoning of nameless terrors is becoming near crisis level.

The original main viewpoint character in the series is Bob Howard, a self-effacing, mild mannered Laundry agent who frequently gets in way over his head. The original few books in the series are partially pastiches of popular espionage works albeit with original plots. Things then started to get more complicated, Stross ended up writing himself into something of a corner. Bob’s abilities and powers increased massively and things like vampires, superheroes and an invasion of fantasy-style elves started to be added to the mix. Bob soon was sidelined from his own series as other characters took over as our main viewpoints. Stross has now written 3 novels in a sub-series which adds even more characters in the “New Management” era which follows the failure of the Laundry to prevent an ancient evil taking control of the nation.

So, it was with some relief when I read this slim but expensive volume, I found it to be a stripped-down, simple old Bob Howard adventure, yay!

Not entirely unlike the Fleming James Bond tale “You Only Live Twice” this book finds a poorly-briefed Bob arriving in Japan and being assigned locally handlers who seem to dislike him and what he represents. He finds himself doing what seems to be menial work banishing Yokai (the weird and wonderful spirit beings from Japanese folklore) from temples, convenience stores and broom-closets.

Soon he’s wondering what they really want and he discovers something big and unwelcome is happening at Puroland, the Disney-style theme park populated by the creations of the Sanrio corporation – most famously Hello Kitty (called Princess Kitty in the text for some reason). All hell breaks loose and Bob must use his skills and a bit of luck to reverse the evil incursion and save himself.

It’s a lot of fun, a return to what this series used to be but at 81 pages way too short.

I understand that the author wanted to publish all the Laundry-related short fiction in one volume but his publisher refused and wants him to finish the series first. So, we have to buy these over-priced hardcover books instead, at least for another few years.

If you’re fan of the Laundry books, you’ll want to read this, you might feel ripped off but you’ll enjoy yourself.

 

 

 

Are Numbers Real?

 

Are Numbers Real? by Brian Clegg (2016 St Martin’s Press hardcover 288pp)

 

With the title and in the opening chapter prolific science writer Brian Clegg asks an intriguing philosophical and existential question – do the numbers and the mathematical systems invented by mankind actually represent something that really exists out there in the universe independent of our minds?

Then he spends the next 260 pages ignoring the question and ends the book with a weak statement that basically says ‘’Mathematics is a sometimes-imprecise model of reality and perhaps we shouldn’t think otherwise”

The bulk of this book is actually a history of mathematics, mathematical concepts and potted histories of the major players in the field throughout history.

Clegg is an engaging writer with a chatty, frequently humorous style and does his best to bring the ideas and personalities alive but I felt something was lacking and half-hearted. Its interesting in parts but not very compelling overall.

I think never really got over the author ignoring the question and very title of the book that motivated me to pick it up in the first place. 

A bit of a missed opportunity.

Love and Let Die

 Love and Let Die by John Higgs (2022 Weidenfeld & Nicolson hardcover 515pp)

 

First of all, because of pesky real life getting in the way it’s been almost a month since I finished reading this book. Some of the certain spell it cast on me at the time has dissipated, so this review really is of the parts of the text that have remained with me.

John Higgs has made a career of writing amazing non-fiction works that map the conjunction of high-art, popular culture and history. I have several of his previous books and when this one came available, I got hold of a copy without hesitation. I was not disappointed.

Higgs sets the scene with a fantastic introduction that recounts the particular day in 1962 (5^th of October) that both the first Beatles record was released and the first James Bond film started screening. From there we go back and time and get histories of the early lives of each of the Beatles – more eventful than you might expect, and then the life of Bond’s creator the author Ian Fleming.

Higgs doesn’t waste much time getting to his general thesis: The Beatles represent (at least initially) the ordinary Briton and a broad idea of “Love” while the character of James Bond represents a certain part of the UK establishment and mostly deals with Death.

So, from there on we follow the career of the Beatles and the many book and film incarnations of Bond with the thesis in mind. Sounds dull but I found it most fascinating as Higgs followed the many varied tangents of both stories. For the Beatles we meet the many diverse people who came into their orbit and how they altered the trajectory of the “Fab Four” and the UK itself. With Bond we learn the many behind the scenes stories of the books and films and how they became massively popular and led to many imitators.

Half way through the book The Beatles break-up and Ian Fleming dies, leading to a long section titled “Aftermath”. The Bond films go on with assorted new actors and tenuous connection to the books while the Beatles start bad-mouthing each other and launch solo careers of varying success.

Much is made of what each show about the British psyche and masculinity etc. Higgs draws a long bow with some of his points but whatever he speculates is always interesting and thought-provoking.

At certain points in the text, the James Bond material recedes and we are pretty much in just a well-research history of The Beatles for several chapters. Bond reappears towards the end as Higgs speculates on what [SPOILERS] Bond’s death in “No Time to Die” (2021) really means for the character and all of us.

Its clear that Higgs has more respect for some of the people he writes about than others. He doesn’t find Fleming a particularly worthy human being and John Lennon doesn’t look good from his late Beatles period onward, although there’s a very sympathetic chapter on his death.

I found this book most enjoyable. Even though I’ve always enjoyed a lot of The Beatles music I’ve only really absorbed a broad idea of their story from popular culture during my lifetime. So, it was great to read such a concise and incisive history of their lives before, during and after the height of their fame. The Bond story I was more familiar with but there’s still a lot in here that I didn’t know or hadn’t thought much about before.

While reading this book I found myself playing Beatles playlists from streaming services and my own collection, I didn’t feel the urge to watch any Bond movies.