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Friday 5 June 2020

London's burning

W Somerset Maugham said, "There is an impression abroad that everyone has it in him to write one book; but if by this is implied a good book the impression is false." Sixty years later, Christopher Hitchens put it more brutally: "Everyone has a book inside them, which is exactly where it should, I think, in most cases, remain."

In the last few years we've seen both statements proved many times over. Self-publishing and e-books have increased the number of titles being released each year from hundreds of thousands to many millions. It's a tidal wave of tat with just a few treasures in among the deluge, and those swept by so fast you could blink and miss them.

All the more reason, then, to rejoice when a writer of proven talent comes out with a new novel. And that's especially so when the novel is that writer's masterpiece, the one they've been honing for years, the work into which they've poured a lifetime of experience, craft and imagination.

Such a book is John Whitbourn's Babylondon. (Babylon and London, that is, as I'm sure you already realized.) How can I describe it in a way that will do justice to such a unique story? Imagine yourself in London in the summer of 1780. An angry rabble, enraged by laws intended to reduce discrimination, descend on the capital in an orgy of violence. A week of destruction and violence follow. These are the Gordon Riots. As one bystander put it as he watched public buildings go up in flames:
‘London offered on every side the picture of a city sacked and abandoned to a ferocious enemy.’
Yet this is unlike any modern populist howl of prejudice. Behind the scenes, malevolent forces are at work, exploiting the ignorant minds of the mob to bring about an infernal doom even more calamitous than a no-deal Brexit. From elsewhere in the multiverse comes a supernaturally competent, stylish and deliciously eccentric agent known as the Cavaliere. Imagine a refined, swordstick-wielding incarnation of the Doctor impeccably dressed for the century of lights, perhaps played by Tim Roth...



...with a touch of Marius Goring's performance as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death...



The Cavaliere soon gets himself an able companion to serve as his guide to this era, by the simple expedient of acquiring an orphan from the Foundling Hospital. (Since I'm doing the casting, Kate could be played by the young Billie Piper -- or Chloë Grace Moretz if she's up for attempting a Cockney accent.) Our two heroes will need all their wits and wiles, though, because ranged against them are a whole hierarchy of lethally adept opponents from this world and the planes beyond -- some of them armed with quantum weapons that even the Cavaliere has no defence against. ("This stuff shouldn't be here at all," warns the shadowy Guardsman as he equips his locally recruited minions.) And all this against the bloody backdrop of the riots as London is torn apart.

If I haven't piqued your interest by now then that's entirely my fault, because Babylondon is a modern classic that should appeal to every connoisseur of historical SF, multiverse adventure, and parallel worlds. John Whitbourn has been working on this novel since the late '90s and he's brought it to the quintessence of perfection. Grab your periwig and your poignard, and allons-y.

24 comments:

  1. You certainly have got my interest Dave, and Mr Whitbourn will as a result get my dollar ! The premise sounds great, and I think I've told you before how much I've enjoyed his Binscombe Tales (harking back to a land called the late 80s/ early 90s that now seems as lost as Lyonesse).

    I see they've done something with the font to make sure the title isn't misread as Baby- London though, giving the impression of a very different story !

    PS "Babylon" (no relation) is one of my favourite poems by Robert Graves.

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    1. Same here, John. For those who are interested, Graves gives a marvellous look under the hood of the poem here: http://libserv14.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaap192310-01.2.17&

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    2. Typical of me to drift off onto the possible influences on "Babylon" (like Graves, I'm a bit obsessed with the nursery rhyme) when the real jewel is the poem itself. That's here:

      https://poets.org/poem/babylon

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    3. It's wonderful isn't it ?

      My understanding is that RG wrote it, or started writing it, at least, whilst he was stationed at the Litherland army camp here in Liverpool. When he and Siegfried Sassoon caught the train from Litherland out to Formby (to audition for their roles in "Regeneration") they would have passed very close to the house where I live, the railway line being at the end of our road. It is nice to imagine I might still catch some strains of the poem on the wind, composed as RG was on the train, retained and passed by sympathetic magic of place, in defiance of the strictures of time.

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    4. Erato has blessed you more than me, John. My own personal claim to a poem is to Gray's Elegy, written in what was my local churchyard as a very small child. (Gray wrote it a couple of hundred years before my time, naturally.) But Gray is no Graves.

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  2. Prejudiced and ignorant working-class people form an angry mob intent upon bringing about social injustice, only to be foiled by an urbane popinjay brimming with virtue. Sounds like the kind of bog-standard Remainer fantasies so often penned in the pages of the Guardian. The hero even has a pretentious pseudonym and an adopted accessory-orphan like some modern Hollywood Celeb.

    Thanks, but I'll pass.

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    1. As it happens you've jumped to exactly the wrong conclusion about the author's politics on the basis of almost no information, so it's ironic that you began with "prejudiced and ignorant".

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    2. You're so right SanJ. Now, I'm off to Barnard Castle.

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    3. If a blog has to tolerate a troll, I suppose it's fitting that it's one dedicated to Fantasy.

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  3. Would they use the word "stuff" to mean a collection of objects in the 1780's? It's a genuine question - I am impossibly demanding when it comes to historical dialogue. I need to both believe it and understand it (trust me, that's a very narrow path) in order to maintain my 21st century foreshortened attention span.

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    1. You asked the right pedant. Yes, stuff was used in that context at least as early as the 17th century, eg: "You pretend to give the Duke notions of the mathematics and stuff" (J Lewis, 1697) and "Their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff" (Goldsmith, 1774).

      Authors writing historical novels obviously can't stick religiously to the vocabulary and grammar of the day or the dialogue would fail to communicate what characters really felt, or in some cases would be incomprehensible. (Want to try parsing "The hip's the macaroni, old boy"?) But I agree that you don't want glaring anachronisms that sever the suspension of disbelief. You're in safe hands with Mr Whitbourn.

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  4. I’ve not read many of John Whitbourn’s works, but the few I have, most notably The Binscombe Tales and The Age of the Triffids, are two of my all time favourites. Naturally, I therefore snapped up BABYLONdon as soon as I clocked it had been released.

    I completed it in several lengthy sittings, stopping only for those irritations called work, sleep and sustenance (if you’ll allow me to discount comfort breaks) and a false start where I was being repeatedly interrupted by my five year old son, who wanted to know whether a Crocodile and Darth Vader would beat a Hippo and a Submarine in a fight.

    My own grip of the English language is perhaps not adequate to describe the book, but I’ll give it a go. A melting pot of Theology, History, Politics, echelons of power, good versus evil, redemption and the human condition, set across multiple dimensions. However, the difference between this and other books of the ilk, is the dry humour that holds it all together. There are hundreds of nuggets in here, most of them the gentle, chortle through the nose type. Although there are a few belly lengths, as seems to be common with Mr Whitbourn’s books (my favourite here concerning a lollipop).

    That’s not to say the book is easy reading. It took quite a few pages for my brain to slowly creak into first gear and get a handle on the rich and imaginative prose. It also took me twice as long to read the book comparative to others of the same length. I realised afterwards that this was because I was immersed and reading every word. There were also a lot of cases where my eyes were moving on, yet my brain had wandered off, still digesting what had gone before it. Some of the references and prose also went over my head, but that’s fine, so does most things.

    In summary, BABYLONdon is unique, brilliant and highly recommended. But where does it rank against Binscombe and Triffids? I refer you to my old friends, cheese, ice-cream and sticky toffee pudding. All of them delicious, it’s just what you fancy on any given day.

    I’m not going to give a platitude that John Whitbourn is one of the greatest authors of speculative fiction, living or dead, as I’ve not read widely enough to quality the comment. However, I can say that he now permanently resides alongside my favourite authors, which includes Tolkien, R.E.Howard and Wyndham. The only downside to all this, Mr Whitbourn’s other works that I’m going to move onto next, will surely disappoint in comparison to those I’ve already read.

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  5. Okay...sold on that recommendation! Btw what’s the answer? I suspect we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Dark side of the Force... ;-)

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    1. A tricky one, Nigel. I would have marginally gone with Vader, but then again it could be assumed to be a water based fight and I can't remember his swimming or breathing abilities having been tested in the films. With the technology available, you would have thought he's have a specially designed helmet, as minimum.

      That's just reminded me of a favourite film quote from Thunderball. Someone asked whether Bond's minature breathing gadget actually worked, to which the Special FX guy said something like, sure, although it depends how long you can hold your breathe for.

      After the fight question I got asked why do Superman and Batman wear capes, to which I didn't have the answer. I was going to ask Dave, but the internet had the answer. That's the problem with the internet, it's wonderful, but a real conversation killer.

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    2. But remember what happened to Dollar Bill because of his cape. If only he'd got changed.

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    3. Nope, you've lost me there, Dave! The internet no help either! Do go on?

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    4. What, Andy? Not a Watchmen fan?!

      https://watchmen.fandom.com/wiki/William_Brady

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    5. I must have been asleep again, Dave. I don't even remember the film!

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    6. Just to add, Dave. Is that a recommendation of film or series (or neither, or both)?

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    7. Well, Andy, the comic book (original Alan Moore one) is essential. The movie... not so much, though it does give the baddie a better master plan than the giant dead squid.

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    8. Ah! I had completely forgotten about your comic sensibilities. What of your unheralded masterpiece and my brief dalliance in support of the genre? I'm assuming there is less chance of Mirabilis being completely than a JW interview?!

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    9. Sadly :-( Maybe in my next life...

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