Philip Palmer (1) (1960–)

This enjoyed this book immensely. Don't have time for a full review (as usual), but here are some 'review notes'.
-This book is filled with a hyperbolic amount of sex, drugs, violence, and death. If this kind of stuff bothers you, I heartily recommend not reading this book. Or even leaving it in a room with small children. However, I should point out that all this material is presented in such an Over-The-Top (OTT) fashion that I don't think it's gratuitous. Some authors might present such show more material in elaborate detail and with profound seriousness. This is appealing if you are a 12-year old boy or an adult with developmental problems. Palmer presents it as All! Totally! Awesome!--that is, as a joke. Of course, you may not find it funny, but I think the difference of intent matters here. As always, context is key.
-The prose is a little stiff. I don't know if this is typical of Palmer's work, or specific to this novel (since I've only read the one). Regardless, there are two elements that make it work anyway: 1) the narrator is a cyborg who is frequently characterized as being cold and robotic (so it's consistent, at least) and 2) Palmer has great comedic timing (or pacing) which makes the stiffness of the prose work as a kind of deadpan delivery, making an already funny book even funnier.
-The (I think deliberately) cheesy hyperbole of the violence etc. conceals a lot of clever bits. For me personally, my favorite bits were the academic satire of the 'Principles of Quantum Teleportation' section and a throwaway joke from page 407 where Palmer refers to 'husserls of consciousness'-where a 'husserl' is a unit of measurement of consciousness. That's hysterically funny 1) if you ever studied phenomenology or 2) appreciate the sort of 'authorial personality' that would drop an obscure-for-almost-everybody philosophy joke into a book superficially about an intergalactic police robot, just because. There's lots of physics jokes too, and I'm sure there's more I missed.
-Palmer uses a lot of interesting stylistic devices that would be, by themselves, worth the price of admission. I already mentioned the fake academic article (which I think is a Borges reference). There's also sections of the book written as a flowchart, another as song lyrics. In one passage, he seems to invent a kind of Dadaist rap. The book is also full of dramatic irony. In short, Palmer presents his ostensibly silly material ('Galactic Cop Fights Crime!') in numerous complex and interesting ways. The contrast creates a neat sort of 'stylistic irony', where the content is opposed to the form. Imagine if someone wrote, say, a profound theological argument into a series of dirty limericks, and you'd have some idea of the kind of stylistic contrasts that Palmer is working with. If you've got a strong stomach, then working it all out with him is both interesting and fun--a combination that is, in my experience, exceedingly rare.
-Recommended if you like Philip K. Dick or Rudy Rucker. show less

"Keeping the Wolf Out" is an audio-drama set in '60s Hungary, centred on idealistic police detective, Bertalan Lázár, and his devoted, and underestimated, wife, Franciska. As Berti fights to maintain his moral centre in a corrupt police state, Franciska begins to rise up the hierarchy of "The Ministry", from lowly archivist to ruthless and feared spymaster.
There's a good balance between the crime and espionage plot and character development.
The voice acting is exceptional, both Leo Bill show more and Clare Corbett invest their roles with depth and emotion, though I thought Andy Linden stole every scene in which he appeared as the terrifyingly demented Chief of Police, Tibor Farkas. I'd love to see this made as a TV show.
Available as an audiobook from Penguin and Audible, and free to stream from the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jysdn show less

Palmer's 4th book tells the intertwined stories of Jak, Sharrock and Sai-ias, and the titular (love that word) Hell Ship. Sharrock and Sai-ias are prisoners of a truly evil, technologically superior foe that toys with the hopes of all of their thousands of prisoners - one for each race they have utterly destroyed. Jak is seeking revenge for the death of his love, the extinction of his race and the destruction of his entire universe.
The book contrasts space opera themes with truly laugh out show more loud prison-type, black humor. I felt that the theme of comrades in arms in a truly impossible situation was the better part of the novel. While there are imaginative technologies galore, inter-universe pursuits over incredible spans of time and a couple of great space battles; I think that what will remain with me from this book are the wonderfully realized relationships between the captured sentients. show less

A note to the reader of this review: its intent is to warn of the dangers of reading reviews, so proceed with caution. I bought this novel on the positive recommendation of a (now lost) review, since I had not seen any short fiction from this author, and this novel is his first. That review was badly wrong.

This novel is awful on every front. I managed to read up up to 'Book 2' (page 63) before giving up. It purports to be science fiction but its tale of a tough band of space pirates seizing show more the daughter of the all-powerful Cheon for ransom, uses a hoary set of timeworn generic cliches (the wiley pirate captain, the secret weapon, the incompetence of the military and the skill of the rogue pilot) to defeat the Cheon's entire fleet. The writing is primitive in the extreme, with off the shelf stereotyped characters engaging in supposedly 'witty banter', over-stuffed with expletives. There are some strange typographic effects, which add nothing but do pad out the page count.

Of course, this novel could be a very clever parody of bad science fiction. Or it could be a failed attempt to emulate the style of writers like Neal Asher or Richard Morgan, Unfortunately, it feels more like it was dashed off as fast as possible by someone with very limited knowledge of, and interest in, science fiction.

Be warned. And trust this review. show less