The first rule about Book Club...

Following on from last month's call to arms, going on for 20 ladies and gentlemen (slightly more menfolk than women, but that's the way it goes) gathered at Madlab last night to reinvigorate the Sci-fi Book Club for 2011.

This was a most encouraging turn-out and various ideas were knocked about for how to proceed. It was decided that the remainder of the reading list from 2010 would be scrapped, so if you were reading The Book of Dave by Will Self or Feersum Endjinn by Iain M Banks, tough. The six below were offered and agreed instead. They will probably take this order, but for updates follow the all-new Twitter feed: @mcrsf_madlab and use the hashtag #mcrsf in Tweets. Sci-fi Book Club meets at Madlab the third Tuesday of the month at 7pm; the next get-together is Tuesday 15 March. There will be pizza and perhaps beer, so bring your pocket money.


March: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, advocated by Omar
April: Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold, advocated by Trialia
May: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick
June: The Siberiad by Stanislaw Lem, advocated by Naomi
July: Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson, advocated by Simon
August: Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear, advocated by Mark

Photo by Book Club Clothing, who will be touting their wares in the Kestrel Suite at Common, opposite Madlab, on Thursday 24 February 7.30-10.30pm. Be there or don't get a fab book-inspired tee.

ADDENDUM 17/02/11: More on the Madlab website - click here, wontcha?

Nicholas Royle vs Nicholas Royle (like Kramer vs Kramer, but with less crying)

The exposed brickwork of the Engine House at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation is becoming a familiar fixture in my life. Last Thursday, I was once again gazing upon its redness, at the meeting of the two Nicholas Royles.

Both writers, the pair have known each other since first being confused when new writing magazine Sunk Island Review rejected a short story by each but sent the rejection letter for both to just one. (Are you keeping up?) The recipient was Nicholas Royle, Professor of English at the University of Sussex and author of various non-fiction "academic" works including the appropriately entitled The Uncanny, and pictured below on the right. He forwarded the rejection, both stories and a covering note to Nicholas Royle, Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of various fiction "non-academic" works including Counterparts, Saxophone Dreams, The Matter of the Heart, The Director’s Cut and Antwerp, and pictured below on the left.


Royle Manchester (as University Challenge would have it) explained, "Our interest in doubles predated being aware of each other", and it's this shared curiosity along with the shared moniker that led the two to arrange to get together, at a lecture in London some years ago. They have since continued to meet up socially, have toyed with the idea of collaborating on a project called "Double Take" (watch this space - you never know!) and are still intrigued by the coincidences caused by the crossover of name and profession.

Royle Manchester: "[There have been] a number of things where we've been confused one from the other, and from the start we've found that entertaining and interesting..."
Royle Sussex: "And also irritating, weird..."
Royle Manchester: "Uncanny?"
Royle Sussex: "Yes, uncanny."

As well as chatting and fielding questions from the floor, the two Nicholas Royles also read their work. Royle Manchester treated the 50 or so audience members to his number-strewn short story The Maths Tower ("at, where we at MMU like to call, The Place Down The Road") along with the first half of the new weird but wonderful The Other Man. Can't wait for the full version when it's finished. Royle Sussex, meanwhile, gave us two extracts from his richly descriptive first novel Quilt, described by The Guardian as "an intense study of grief and mental disintegration, a lexical celebration and a psychological conundrum". Can't believe either of them would have their work rejected. Just goes to show, eh?

Photo, ahem, "borrowed" from Rob Spence's Topsyturvydom blog, taken by Matthew Frost of Manchester University Press, who whet the whistles with their whiskey (try saying that when you're pished). Hope Rob and Matthew don't mind!

Collection selection

I'm a bit behind on reporting here, but this better-late-than-never news ties in nicely with today's adventures in the Mancunian wonderland, relating, as it does, to Didsbury-based writer Nicholas Royle. Nick, a self-confessed collector, has been busy collecting stories for Salt's new anthology The Best British Short Stories 2011, and the list is in. You can read the contents here and more on the collection, which I hear is out in April, here.


I'm so pleased to see the inclusion of the fabulous Feather Girls by Chorley gal Claire Massey, who won the Oxfam Short Story Competition last summer with the amazing Chorden-under-Water and treated us to this particular number at the launch of The Hidden Gem Press in November (see my post). I'm a bit of a fan.

Anyway, the link to today is that Nicholas Royle is at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation tonight from 6pm, reading a new story (if his Twitterings are anything to go by) and talking to the other Nicholas Royle. More here, and hopefully more from me about it tomorrow.

Alchemical reaction

So yesterday, the word "alchemical" cropped up on Words & Fixtures and today, totally by accident, I learnt more about alchemy. Alchemy, so I'm told, is both a philosophy and an ancient practice that attempts to change base metals into gold.

Upcycling also converts worthless tut into wonderful trinkets, as mentioned in this post here, and earlier I swung by the Royal Exchange to see the Craft Shop's Upcycled exhibition.

Supported by the Crafts Council, the Royal Exchange Craft Shop commissioned students from the MA Design LAB at MMU's Manchester School of Art to transform defunct objects into objets d'art, and these are now on display (and for sale) in the voluminous lobby until Thursday 31 March.


I'm particularly taken by Lorraine Otoo's crocheted creations re-using metal and cotton (necklace pictured above) and Catherine Chester's reworking of old watch components and vintage photos into unique jewellery. Other jewellery includes Sharleen Marius' recycled steel pieces, and work by a number of established makers invited to complement that by the students - I've got my eye on the button brooches and earrings courtesy Lovely Pigeon; the fabric flower corsages by Lucy Smethurst, and Chain Of Daisies' vintage gem earrings and bird necklaces and bracelets (I can't stop buying things with bird motifs at the moment).

There are also plenty of homewares and tablewares. Bethan Jones offers up ceramics, while Hannah Lovett, Emily Jackson and Geoff Hall have all worked with recycled glass.

Geoff has also created a special display using recovered glassware, recycled scrap window panes and flameworked scientific glass tubing, and it's worth the trip for this alone. Called "The Alchemist", this three-tier exhibit makes full use of one of the three-sided cabinets near the bar, so each face reveals one of the three stages in the alchemical process: Nigredo, Albedo and Rubedo. The craftmanship, attention to detail and even historical link to the Royal Exchange demonstrated is amazing: go see!

Altered images

Yesterday evening saw the pretty much packed launch of new art show Reflexive Landscapes & Cutting Machines by Bruce Thompson at the Beggars Bush bar on Beech Road in Chorlton. Before we go any further, I'd better come clean: Bruce is my friend and lodger. He feeds my cats and I don't want to get on the wrong side of him.

Nonetheless, I show no bias when I advise you to check out the exhibition over the next month or so. Treat yourself to a drink while you're there. Go on. Here's the exhibition poster, influenced by Bruce's interest in decorative screens:


The works on display, however, are each an image in themselves and the show encompasses two series Bruce has been working on over the last few years. I was already familiar with Reflexive Landscapes, a colourful, dynamic oeuvre (did I just say "oeuvre"? Ha!), with more than a few sci-fi threads. The pieces from the Cutting Machines series, however, were new to me, and I really enjoyed their pared-down compositions, subtle cream and garlic pink shades, and rich textures.

Bruce has studied both art and architecture, and was working on very fine airbrush automatic abstract paintings when I first met him a number of years ago. In his latest work, he reconsiders these spontaneous pieces by rendering them using a computer-based 3D modelling package, and adding more colour, light and depth. This second stage is then further transformed by manipulating points of view and fragmenting and recombining elements of the original canvas to produce a totally new image.

Says Bruce: "This body of work is concerned with the unconscious mind in relation to space and perception, expressed through art and architecture. The work can be viewed as a departure point from painting and a move towards a cybernetic, pataphysical and alchemical world."

Unsure what pataphysics are, I consulted Wikipedia and discovered that it's a pseudophilosophy that parodies modern science often through the use of nonsensical language. Well, if it's good enough for Bruce and French author Raymond Queneau, it's good enough for me...