"The room reeks of old, dead terror—and a brooding malevolence, as if the instruments of torture are merely biding their time. Just you wait, they’re saying." - The Hermetic Library Blog
The room reeks of old, dead terror—and a brooding malevolence, as if the instruments of torture are merely biding their time. Just you wait, they’re saying. Charles Stross, The Atrocity Archives [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] Consider also: “Len Deighton was not an author of spy thrillers but of horror, because all Cold War–era […]
The Woman Between the Worlds - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Woman Between the Worlds [Amazon, Bookshop, Local Library] by F Gwynplaine MacIntyre F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre’s The Woman Between the Worlds is weird horror set in 1898 and featuring luminaries of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as central characters in a tale of invading aliens from another dimension. The portrayals of […]
Titanium Noir - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Titanium Noir [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Nick Harkaway I easily fell into the fun of reading Nick Harkaway’s 2023 novel Titanium Noir–his first to be written for the post-lockdown world. While not “morally disimproving” (his phrase) like the Aiden Truhen books, it has the same rapid […]
Veniss Underground - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Veniss Underground [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Jeff VanderMeer. (n.b. As I post this, there is a bundle on special offer that includes this and 10 other books, with 5 days to go, for you to consider.) Veniss Underground was VanderMeer’s first novel, written after some of […]
Billion-Dollar Brain - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Billion-Dollar Brain [Amazon] by Len Deighton, part of the Harry Palmer series. (n.b. There is apparently a new paperback edition [Amazon, Bookshop, Local Library] due March 2025.) “A good agent should have a fast brain and a slow mouth.” (189) Deighton’s protagonist in his fourth spy story isn’t very […]
"What was and what may be lie, like children whose faces we cannot see, in the arms of silence. All we ever have is here, now." - The Hermetic Library Blog
What was and what may be lie, like children whose faces we cannot see, in the arms of silence. All we ever have is here, now. Ursula K Le Guin, Always Coming Home: A Novel [Amazon, Bookshop, Bandcamp, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] Consider also: “Now you’re freaking me out,” Gary said. “I’m freaking myself out,” […]
Dying Inside - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Dying Inside [Amazon (Alt) (Alt), Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Robert Silverberg Silverberg’s speaker-protagonist David Selig is a freak telepath who has concealed his talent for his whole life and is now losing it, i.e. “dying inside.” The book is framed as a memoir; it includes biographical reflection along […]
Empty Space - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Empty Space: A Haunting [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by M John Harrison, part of the Kefahuchi Tract series. “Deep in explicatory failure, he had no way of placing himself with regard to what he had witnessed” (230). In much of his work, but especially the three innovative space opera novels […]
"Do I even deserve these places any more? They came at the wrong time and they came in the wrong way. Liberation was fucked up." - The Hermetic Library Blog
Do I even deserve these places any more? They came at the wrong time and they came in the wrong way. Liberation was fucked up. China Miéville, The Last Days of New Paris: A Novel [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] Consider also: “‘Why do you think it does work? It’s not as if any […]
John Griogair Bell
