With thousands of AI‑written, edited or ‘polished’ books being sold, LAURA BEERS hears an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel‑writing machines’
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Science fiction by Mat Coward: August 7, 2019
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, The Girl In Red by Christina Henry, The Bone by Garden Heather Kassner and The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion
[Karen Nadine/Creative Commons]
ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer
New releases from Public Image Ltd, William Basinski, and John Luther Adams
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
NARRATED by ST, a foul-mouthed, snack-obsessed crow who identifies as human, Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (Headline Review, £18-99) takes place in Seattle where a mysterious illness is causing hideous transformations in homo sapiens.
Now robbed of his owner-cum-housemate, and thus in sole charge of a daft dog, ST bravely ventures out in search of still-functioning people. He finds a world which is rapidly erasing all traces of its former masters, as the rest of nature takes over.
If he’s to be of any use to his beloved city, ST must combine his human and crow natures to find his true self.
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