Ian Sales’ SF Mistressworks blog is continuing to use some of my old reviews from Emerald City. Yesterday Ian posted my review of Kathleen Ann Goonan’s Queen City Jazz. This is the first in what I understand Kathy calls the “Nanotech Quartet”, but I prefer to call the “Flower Cities Quartet” because that reminds the reader of the most dramatic imagery from the books.

Re-reading the review, I am reminded that Goonan’s books are just the sort of thing that ought to be winning major awards, and not just in SF&F. Queen City Jazz works on many levels. It is a great story with well realized characters. It is an interesting exploration of the possible implications of futuristic technology. And it is so much more as well. If I was asked to provide a definition of great literature I’d say something along the lines that it isn’t enough to just be great fiction, you want a book where the more you know, the more you think about it, the more you get out of it. That’s absolutely true to Goonan’s work.

As I say in the review, there is an argument about literature being made in the book (and it shouldn’t surprise you to know that Gary Wolfe is also a great fan of Goonan’s work). The books are also deeply steeped in American history and culture. They are full of Mark Twain references, and each one focuses on a different variety of popular music. Sadly this probably got them marked out as “too American” for publishers over here to take a risk on, but if you have any interest in US culture they are well worth a read. I said at the end of the review that the book “had enough literary references in it to leave me feeling as ill-educated as I do after reading a Kim Newman novel”. I can’t put it any better than that, really.

Now that I don’t have Salon Futura to write for, book reviews will appear here every so often. Today I am doing a Sam, and reviewing a mainstream novel with some fantastic elements. The book in question is The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan [buy isbn=”9781847673053″], which is up for the Tähtifantasia Award this year. You can find the review here.

Because if you guys can make fun of where I live, I get to make joke headlines from it.

But I was. The Embassytown book tour hit Bath today, and Mr. Miéville spent the evening with a small, select group of bibliophiles at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights. Thanks to Marjorie, who is good at spotting such opportunities, I was there.

A word first about the bookstore. Earlier this week, Mr. B’s was voted the best independent bookstore in the country, a prize they also won in 2008. (The trophy is chrome and pointy, but it doesn’t have fins.) You might not guess that from looking at the place. It is not stacked floor to ceiling with books, the way other independent bookstores are. It is clean, tidy and elegant. But what they lack in stock they make up for in knowledge and enthusiasm. Having talked to several of their staff this evening, it is clear that they absolutely love books. And there’s not a trace of literary snobbishness about them either.

The event began at 7:00pm with a short performance by The Bookshop Band, which this evening was just Ben on guitar and Poppy on Harmonium. As is their wont, they had written a couple of songs especially for the occasion, based on the book being celebrated. It is a lovely idea, and when this post is online I’m going to poke Neil and Amanda to tell them about it because I think they’d approve.

China did not read from Embassytown. He gave a brief introduction to the book and then invited questions. So we talked. The topic of the evening (why yes, doesn’t every reading have one?) was “corruption”. We talked about Milton, and cosmology, and the process of writing villains, and lots of other things.

At half time dinner was served. It was a buffet of various splendid finger food items provided by one of the many local foodie establishments (I confess that I have forgotten which one, but hopefully someone will enlighten me). There was wine, of course, and conversation. The crowd was small enough to allow people who wanted to get time with China to do so.

Part 2 of the show focused more on the topic of the evening, with various members of the bookstore staff suggested books with themes of corruption. The one that sticks in my mind is Documents Concerning Rubashov the Gambler by Swedish author Carl-Johan Vallgren (tr. Sarah Death). China also contributed some suggestions, including Jane Gaskell’s 1964 Mod vampire story, The Shiny Narrow Grin, which is apparently very rare due to having never been reprinted, but I bet Kim Newman has a copy. They threw it open to the audience as well, which gave me another opportunity to enthuse about The Course of the Heart.

Afterwards, of course, there was signing. And book buying. I have to admit that it wasn’t the cheapest book event I have ever been to, but your £14 (or in my case £12.50 as Marjorie and I did the two for £25 thing) got you the food, the wine and a bonus signed copy of the new paperback edition of The City and The City. There was also 10% off all stock for the evening. I was hoping to find a copy of Memoirs of a Dervish by Robert Irwin, and Mr. B’s had one for me.

Seriously, I can see why these guys win awards.

China was great too, but I’ll be seeing him again tomorrow and Friday at the British Library. I’m sure he won’t mind me talking about a bookshop instead.

Today’s victim featured author on John Scalzi’s Big Idea is Derryl Murphy. He’s plugging his novel, Napier’s Bones, which is all about a world where you can do magic with mathematics. The book is published by the fine Canadian small press, ChiZine, but if you want it now, you can get an ebook edition here.