also produces consistently innovative and cannin acCurate Visions of the future. His latest novel, overlooked by the Booker Jury, blends the old and the new With a reassurineg traditional page-turning yarn that Juxtaposes the passing world of high sooety leisure on the Cate d'Azure with an encroaching future of business parks and workaholic professionals.
It's in one Such sterile enVironment -- Eden-Olympia, inland from Cannes ~ that the book’s narrator, an elderly pilot called Paul, finds himself With his young Wife Jane, who is short-term contracted as the park's ctoctor But all is not well in this 'perfect’ new Eden, Vice and depraVity share the boardroom with corporate decision- making
'The future is gomg to be bonng,’ Ballard has announced 'The suburbanisation of the planet \VIII continue, anct the suburbanisation of the saul will follow soon after,’ Super- Cannes presents a conVinc;ing argument for his case ttvliles Fielderi
HAIKU COLLECTION
Alan Spence
Seasons Of The Heart (Canongate £6.99)
S EASO N S 'LI)ILI R
ALAN SI‘ENCE
One year told in the seventeen syllable- precise form of the iaiku, Seasons Of The Heart is a pleasing collection of thoughts, observations, metaphors and weather reports ISO stories in miniature, finite but fully formed. It's a world of shivering scarecrows, singing stones, an answer machine carrying news of family bereavement, flower- arranging dogs and smells like teen vomit on the late bus home
The months drift on and as one solstice passes to another, Alan Spence finds the poetry of the seasons in the hills, the Iochs and even the grimy splendour of the city He takes William Blake's directions in finding heaven in a flower, not to mention a row of chimney pots or simply rain falling on the roof It's insightful and lustful with life
My favourite is a mantra probably only a Scot could pull off ‘the sound of the rain/the sound of the rain/the sound of the rain ' (Rodger Evans)
NIHILISTIC NOVELLA Dennis Cooper
Period (Serpent's Tail £8.99)
'lt's black, black, black, black, black, blac k,’ complains one of the characters
on page 102 and this reader certainly shares the feeling But brighten up,
dude, only seven more pages and yOu're out of th.s shabby and shadowy noveHa,
Period is the fifth book from the Los Angelean Dennis Cooper and one can only assume he knocked it out in a fortnight What else could explain a writer described by some critics in the same breath as Baudelaire and de Sade penning such an Incoherent and stiflingly SOIipSistic work?
It’s a story about a book about a website about a band about a book about a _ , well, let's Just say it's hard work. Apparently its themes are loneliness, desire, love and death, though ultimately it registers as the literary equivalent of a lvlarilyn Mansun LP but Without the humour Unless yOu're a toy town nihilist with a thing about serial killers (Rodger EVdTTSI
SOCIAL HISTORY
The Power Of Gold: The History Of An Obsession
Peter L. Bernstein (Wiley £17.99)
T H Ti POW E
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I’IZ'I'izic‘i,. Isl-ZRNS'I‘LIN
\tiiiini: 0| Ac i.\l.\'\“l' II II' t NH“ _
In a feat worthy of the ancient alchemists, Peter L Bernstein has taken base elements 7 history, politics and economics and created a gem Beginning with the ancient Egyptians and movmg right up to the present day, he traces the history of gold and examines the effect its presence (or lack thereof) 'nas had on those it touches
Throughout history, as this exhaustively researched text shows, goch has played a part in the rise anct fall of all the major ciVilisations. It’s a pretty sordid tale as, like King Midas or Gene Hackman in Eureka, all those who chase the shining dream ultimater find themselves being possessed by it, rather than the other way rOund
Bernstein writes with passion and a certain amount of irreverence, the numerous flippant asides keep the tone light and engaging What could so easily have been a dreary tome in less capable hands is fascinating to the end (Kirsty Knaggs‘i
STAR RATINGS
Outstanding Recommended Worth a try So-so
Poor
BOOKS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
7PM THURSDAY 19TH OCTOBER
RENAISSANCE COMPUTER
Neil Rhodes and Jonathan Sawday discuss the information
revolution created by the printing press. 7PM MONDAY 23RD OCTOBER
JAMES PATTERSON
The author of Along Come 0 Spider and Kiss the Girls will be making a rare British appearance in-store to celebrate te publication of the new Alex Cross novel
7PM TUESDAY 24TH OCTOBER
NIGELLA LAWSON
QOrgeous TV superstar chel will be cooking from her new collection
HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS 7PM THURSDAY 26TH OCTOBER
WILLY RUSSELL
The internationally acclaimed writer of Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers will be reading from his first novel
THE WRONG BOY
12 NOON SATURDAY 28TH OCTOBER
TIGER TIM
will be signing copies of his autobiography in-store
TPM SUNDAY 29TH OCTOBER
HOW TO DRAW COMICS -
WITH METAPH ROG
learn the secrets of drawing comics with the team behind the children's graphic novel L0uis.
7PM THURSDAY 2ND NOVEMBER
CHRISTOPHER WHYTE
will be celebratin the launch of his new novel
THE CLOUD MACHINERY
I2.3OPM MONDAY 6TH NOVEMBER
PADDY ASHDOWN
will be signing copies of the first volume of his diaries
7PM MONDAY 6TH NOVEMBER
IAN PATTISON
the creator of Rob C Nesbit will be discussing his nOveI abOut the life of his creation
7PM TUESDAY 7TH NOVEMBER
KEN BUCHANAN
the greatest Scottish b0xer of all time diSCUsses his turbulent career
FORTHCOMING HIGHLIGHTS NOVEMBER - Gay Times Short Stories, Chuck Palahnuk, Rick Stein, Terry Pratchett, Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson)
BORDERS"
98 BUCHANAN STREET, GLASGOW GI 38A TEL: 014] 222 7700 80m to I 1pm, Monday to Saturday, IOam to 9pm Sunday www.bordersstores.com/stores/283
I9 Oct 2 Nov 2000 THE “ST 115