[books 2013] Kim Newman

[inulro]

50 Jago and other Stories by Kim Newman

Massively long novel that Newman first published in 1991, repackaged together with three short stories he's since written using characters from the novel.

There setting is a village called Alder in Somerset, where the old Manor House is now inhabited by a wingnut cult led by an ex priest called Anthony Jago. Except that its leader has major psychic powers. And even before he came along, Weird Shit happened in the area regularly.

The cult host a big festival on their land every summer. This summer it's the middle of a drought and heat wave, and weird and unpleasant things start to happen as soon as the outsiders start to gather for the festival.

While I enjoyed the novel quite a lot, I liked the last two short stories even better - they feature characters from Jago but are set in an alternate England where serfdom persisted up till the 20th century and there has been a recent civil war, Somerset is the Wild West and puritans are in charge. The second, The Man on the Clapham Omnibus also features The Diogenes Club, which is a regular feature in Newman's work. This is an entirely unpleasant alternate reality, but extremely interesting.

Comments

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

I really never got on with Jago. The original just annoyed me, the new edition bored me because it was over-long and pretentious. I'd say it's his weakest novel.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

It's definitely not in the Anno Dracula or Professor Moriarty league, and although it wasn't exactly gripping me, I'd think "I'm not sure if I'm enjoying this" but realising I've just demolished 80 pages since I last looked, I persisted with it. I really did like the two alternate universe stories.