The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
You don't need it but you want it
ANDY HEDGECOCK admires a virtuoso collection of short stories that chronicle 21st century alienation and the cruelties of consumerism
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
New releases from Thorpe and Morrison, Daria Kulesh, and Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
The Universe Delivers the Enemy You Need
Adam Marek
Comma Press, £10.99
ADAM MAREK is a virtuoso of the bizarre short tale. In this collection, his third, he tackles the absurdities and philosophical conundrums of modern life with elegant sentences, bleak wit and experimental flair.
In Poppins, a machine intelligence addresses its owner. Initially presenting itself as a user manual, it veers into a sales pitch before adopting a more sinister role. One of the collection’s most disturbing pieces, and one of its funniest, it challenges our assumptions about agency, empowerment and consumer choice.
Opposing attitudes to AI-based Magic Reality threaten an already fading friendship in It’s a Dinosaurooorph Dumdum. Things get worse when the excruciating small talk of an ill-starred dinner party is interrupted by a shocking revelation. Marek mixes restrained dissection of middle-class manners with speculation about the tension between what is real and what is bearable. It works brilliantly.
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