At Armadillo Magazine we have made an editorial decision not to include books by independent publishers in the magazine, rather making use of the Blog for their coverage. The reason for this?
Whilst there can be some excellent books which are self-published there can also be others of negligible quality, therefore we feel that reviewing books front he mainstream publishers with all their controls and checks should remain the raisin d'être of the magazine. However some voice needs to be given to Independents and so here, with a review of two titles are the words of Armadillo reviewer Bridget Carrington
Chronosphere: Book 1: Time out of Time; Book 2: Meltdown, written by Alex Woolf, published by
Scribobooks, 2011
22nd century adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, time-travel – what more could you want? Well, quite a lot actually, if these are coming your way via the first two titles in Alex Woolf’s ‘Chronosphere’: Time out of Time, and its sequel Malfunction. Published by Scribobooks, an imprint of the Brighton-based Salariya Book Company (‘Independent Children’s Publisher of the Year’ apparently), these two densely printed paperbacks seem to have evaded the major publishing houses, and as you read you discover why...
Woolf sets his books in a disintegrating society awash with technology (and technospeak), robots, action heroes, nubile young women and unpleasant villains. The action is swift, the use of language predictable and poor, the narrative reading like a third rate description of a computer game.
Characterisation is negligible, and throughout there are worrying scenes of violence and voyeurism, with sexism thrown in for extra measure. We definitely get the impression that every few pages one of our heroes finds himself hidden in a position where he can secretly watch a girl undress, take a bath or get dressed. All this leads me to wonder, is this actually a book for teenagers, or is it for adults with an unhealthily retained teenage appetite for soft porn and sado-masochism?
Not my chosen reading at all, and I couldn’t recommend it to anyone.
The Beowuff Saga: Beowuff and the Horrid Hen by
0 Comments on An Independent look at Independent Publishers as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment