The Early Days of a Better Nation

Thursday, February 14, 2008



A few good books

The Night Sessions has just gone to copyedit and is still on schedule for autumn publication. My editor and my agent both think it's ace, and I'm not one to argue. It's been an absolute bummer to write (and to revise). I had the brilliant idea of plotting it all out in detail beforehand, ending up with rows and columns of Post-It notes sticking to (and, every so often, falling from) two stuck-together A3 sheets. This, you understand, was after making two confident false starts on two completely different novels and only coming up with the idea for this one less than a year ago. Somehow all this planning didn't make writing it any quicker.

It's basically a police procedural set largely in Edinburgh a few decades in the future, after the Faith Wars (current and foreseeable disasters) have been followed by the Great Rejection, aka the Second Enlightenment (not remotely on the horizon but devoutly, if that's the word, wished for).

I had to do a fair bit of reading around the subject of secularism and religion while writing it - hence posts on these subjects over the past few months. Along the way I read a few good books, some of which I'd like to mention.

One of them had nothing to do with atheism. Peter Dorward's Nightingale (US)has been aptly called a 'literary thriller'. The complex plot revolves around the 1980 Bologna Station bombing. Its author is a friend of mine but that's not why I recommend it: it's a gripping read and a deep, dark exploration of political violence in Italy's years of lead.

Richard Carrier's Sense and Goodness Without God is an exposition of naturalism that's worth all the New Atheist books put together.

The website of Robert M. Price has given me a lot to think about. I've just read his The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, and am about to re-read it. I'm not exactly convinced by it, but as a demonstration of just how far beyond the standard view the standard methods of biblical criticism can take you, it's quite a ride.

4 Comments:

Interesting post. Thanks for the pointers at things that seem worth exploring.

It's basically a police procedural set largely in Edinburgh a few decades in the future, after the Faith Wars (current and foreseeable disasters) have been followed by the Great Rejection, aka the Second Enlightenment (not remotely on the horizon but devoutly, if that's the word, wished for).

That's a grim future history—it reminds me of Heinlein's vision of Nehemiah Scudder, which has seemed disturbingly relevant to American politics lately—but I certainly hope you are right about the Second Enlightenment. You quite make me look forward to your next book, not that I wasn't already.

William H. Stoddard (sorry, no URL, so I can't use Name/URL)

Thanks William - the future history in this one isn't quite as grim as 'If This Goes On --' because (in the backstory) the theocratic forces have been defeated in a terrible civil war ...

Interesting and informative article. If you not against I on the blog will make record about your article for the readers.

Post a Comment


Home