BARBARA BOSWELL remembers South African poet, storyteller, publisher, editor and activist Diana Ferrus (1953-2026)
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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
Anti-consumerist graffiti ‘Consume yourself’
[EdgarFabiano/CC]
HELEN VASSALLO recommends a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion
New releases from Steve Swallow, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, and Ady Johnson
When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
New releases from Simone White, Brass Funkeys, and Souad Massi
SUE TURNER is compelled by a history that shows how far a country can turn in on itself to collude with abuses of power
RON JACOBS is persuaded by the parallel drawn between Charles Manson and Donald Trump
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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ANDY HEDGECOCK is astonished by a portrait of contemporary Greece, complete with political protest, organised crime and people trafficking, told from the point of view of — wait for it — runaway poultry
GORDON PARSONS is intrigued by a biography of the Marxist intellectual and author, made from the point of view of his son
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes Jeanette Winterson’s brilliant hijack of 1001 Nights to push aside the boundaries set by others
MICHAL BONCZA, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review The Other Way Around, Modi: Three Days On The Wing Of Madness, Watch The Skies, and Superman