TIH 012: The Best British Fantasy 2013 and House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill Book Reviews

You might want to check out Tyler Keevil’s ‘Hibakusha’ from Interzone 226 as well, if you liked ‘Fearful Symmetry’, I remember liking that one as well. That said, I’ve rather liked Tidhar too, though John raised some good points about that opening to Osama (which I haven’t read).

I think the points you make about friendships and criticism are interesting, though I haven’t belonged to the ‘group’ long enough to know if it’s valid. I’ve certainly seen good things said about work I thought poor, but then I simply assume different strokes for different folks – one author, for example, recieves a lot of praise and I just don’t understand it but then others really like their work so good for them, it’s just me it doesn’t reach. Another gets praise for a recent work I think over-rated, but again I seem to be in a minority.

I’m not a reviewer, so I don’t feel a need to name and shame, and I’d never volunteer a poor opinion, but I am careful to only praise when I genuinely enjoyed a piece – I reccommend rather than review, I suppose. If the story’s good I can forgive slips in the writing (if the story’s not good, I don’t give a shit about the writing at all no matter how good it might be, which is why some ‘Literature’ with a capital L bothers me). Luckily I haven’t yet been asked for an opinion by a friend regarding a piece I didn’t like, but most of the people I know would respond well, I think, to criticism. Actually, come to think of it, I have looked at one writer’s work a few times and criticised – I hope constructively – and they’re still talking to me! Likewise, I’ve collobarated and negative feedback has always been received well by both parties. If there really IS a lack of honesty in the genre, I think it could change without too many feelings getting hurt, to be honest. It’s important, though, to note the difference between subjective taste and an objective criticism of technique.

For me, as long as a bad review comes with a reason as to why the reviewer felt that way, I’m ok with it. It’s when there’s an evaluative comment without any supporting evidence that it irks me. And any writer friend is free to not like my work. I wouldn’t understand a need to tell the world rather than just me, though – unless they’re a reviewer. Likewise, I’d rather not get insincere praise.

Anyway, that’s my tuppence worth. And I was able to use the word irks, which is a bonus. Next time, vex…

Yeah, The Last Osama was one of my Interzone Readers’ Poll recomendations in 2011. The pulpiness worked for me in the short story, not sure about the novel. He wrote an interesting Carver-esque with ‘What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Z…’, for Black Static, if I remember rightly. Or maybe he was just playing with the title? I’ll have to remind myself wit ha reread.