re:mote voices

michael marshall - just back from the reading by michael marshall in borders in glasgow tonight, whole thing lasted about an hour as was pretty cool. i've been to a couple of readings in my time, but it tends to be one of those things i have a habit of finding out about after the event (eg. jeanette winterston reading friday there, i found out saturday). he started by reading a chunk from the first chapter, which is perhaps a little arbitrary in terms of giving folk a feel for the book, but it is the starting point and the section in question came across quite well. after that was a question and answer session, which had some good interaction, there was a decent turn out, and most folk seemed to be aware of both sets of work.

the lonely dead - i finished the lonely dead by michael marshall, which turned out to be very much a sequel to the straw men after all, such that i wouldn't recommend reading it without having read the straw men first. personally i found that i enjoyed this one more, though part of me wonders if it is a case of i am more used to the writing style after the change that straw men represented from the previous michael marshall smith material. a full review will be posted properly, but thats the quick version. also of note, the idea that "the upright man" was the same as "the straw man" came up, it is actually that the american publisher didn't like the title "the lonely dead" - so in the uk we have "the straw man" and "the lonely dead", while in the us it is "the straw man" and "the upright man".