Niall Harrison

In Ascension, Martin MacInnes (Atlantic 978-1-83895-624-0, 496pp, £16.99, hc) February 2023. Cover by Carmen R. Balit.

Towards the end of Martin MacInnes’s cerebral third novel, Helena Hasenbosch recalls a moment shared with her older sister Leigh, when they were children. It’s the end of a long summer day, and Helena is sent to call Leigh home for dinner. Leigh doesn’t want to go, and “gently, softly,” she grabs Helena ...Read More

Taty Went West, Nikhil Singh (Jacaranda 978-1-909762-61-9, £9.99, 408pp, pb) October 2017. (Rosarium Publishing 978-0-998705-90-3, $17.95, 400pp, tp) January 2018.

In search of reference points for Nikhil Singh’s energetically transgressive first novel, perhaps cued by the 40-odd black-and-white illustra­tions scattered throughout the text, I find my­self reaching as much for graphic novels as the prose kind. Think of Grant Morrison circa The Invisibles or Alan Moore circa Lost Girls ...Read More