Johnny,
where's that soapbox? Get it out. We've got an important message needs repeating. Seems it's not getting through. Little to the left... Ok
there, good. <umph>
Listen up, readers out there. Style matters! Where so much
fantastika these days gets filtered through Clarion workshops or MFA
writing programs before arriving at our eyeball-tips, we're losing
sight of how voice, tone, style, mood, verve and other aspects of
technique matter to story. Like a fingerprint, a reader used to be
able to pick out a writer by their style. These days it's rice
vanilla soup. Style matters! Thank you, that's all. Time to get
down now, back to my hearth and quilt...
Speculiction
does indeed harp on about the importance of style. As we get closer
to AI novels on bookshelves, style is the one thing that humans can
cling to as their own. Dear ChapGPT: please write a book in the
style of David Mitchell. I'm not sure that (today) it could.
But it could 100% write a book in the style of Martha Wells, Adrian
Tchaikovsky, and many, many others. I don't discredit these writers'
imaginations or success, only that their writing lacks a certain
spark, an intimation the writer knows that you know that they know
this word is being used because... This is all a long winded way of
saying, Jeff Noon and Steve Beard's 2024 novel Gogmagog will
likely not show up on bestseller lists, but if mood and style are as
important to you as imagination and story, read on.
Gogmagog
is the cantankerous tale of cantankerous Cady Mead. A tough old bat,
she is an irascible, foul-mouthed, pipe-smoking sloop captain with a
mysterious past. Though retired and in her cups, she is one day
convinced to help transport two strangers downriver to the city of
Ludwich. The river alive with creatures both real and ethereal, Cady
knows it's only her knowledge and experience which can get the boat
through the toughest spots and avoid the most dangerous hazards.
What she doesn't count on, however, is the unexpected appearance of
one of her oldest enemies haunting the river.