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SUPERVILLAINS MARK MILLAR & LENIL YU Super Crooks: The Heist (Titan) ●●●●● You can see the pitch meeting now: ‘It’s Ocean’s 11 but with superpowers!’ And like so many of Mark Millar’s recent creator-owned series, it would make an absolutely stonking blockbuster. Super Crooks: The Heist is essentially a big heist caper as a gang of lovable rogues pool their disparate resources and head out on one last job. The crew choose Spain as their final target to avoid the plethora of superheroes populating the US: ‘I’ve never
heard of a Captain Spain, have you?’ is one of the best quotes here, perfectly showcasing Millar’s gloriously self-aware line in comedy. It’s an amalgam of tried and tested formulas but Millar writes with such enthusiasm that this is a thrilling ride from the get go, skilfully avoiding total cliché with a couple of great twists, turns and back flips, which all look simply sumptuous in Lenil Yu’s epic detailed art style. You don’t always need deep introspection, sometimes classic action with a dash of intelligence is just as entertaining. Hollywood, get your cheque books at the ready. (Henry Northmore)
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Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to books@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Charlotte Runcie. ✽ Indicates Hitlist entry Thursday 13
Glasgow FREE The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit Scotland Street School Museum, 225 Scotland Street, 287 0500. Tue–Thu & Sat 10am–5pm, Fri & Sun 11am–5pm until Feb 2013; closures over Christmas. It’s been 110 years since Peter Rabbit first burrowed under Mr McGregor’s gate to look for adventures. Now a brand new tale has been written – by none other than Emma Thompson – and this exhibition celebrates Peter Rabbit in all his glory, including some original artwork from old and new books. FREE Unwind with a Book Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library, 15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. Noon–2pm. A women-only reading group offering a friendly environment for sharing stories, books and poems with other readers. Bring a packed lunch if you like. Contact the GWL for details and to sign up. FREE Jim Carruth: Rider at the Crossing The Glasgow Art Club, 185 Bath Street, 248 5210. 7pm. Poet Jim Carruth launches his new collection. All welcome.
✽ FREE Fail Better McChuills, 40 High Street, 552 2135. 7.30pm. Free
but a £3 donation is appreciated to pay performers’ expenses. New monthly performance night of music, poetry, stories, drama, comedy, tragedy, and even the odd short film, named after Samuel Beckett’s famous quotation. This is the launch night, with poetry from William Letford and Calum Rodger, songs from Becci Wallace and comedian Ian MacPherson on hosting duties. FREE Friends of Kilgore Trout Science Fiction Social The Edward Wylie, 107–109 Bothwell Street, 229 5480. 8pm. A social evening for science fiction fans to meet, mingle and discuss all things Cthulhu, Ubik and more.
Edinburgh FREE Travels with Robert Louis Stevenson Central Library, 7-9 George IV Bridge, 242 8100. 10am–8pm until Fri 14 Dec. Last chance to catch this display of the rich and varied life of RLS, featuring images, photographs, drawings and texts from and about Stevenson that focus particularly on his travels across France, and highlight his international reach. Part of Previously . . . Scotland’s History Festival. Nothing But the Poem Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6–7.30pm. £5 (£3). Poetry discussion forum with no preparation or previous knowledge required, focusing on a different poet each month. Two sessions run for each poet (Thu evening and Sat morning) due to popular demand, booking advisable. This session is devoted to Kay Ryan. FREE Christmas Book Quiz Central Library, 7-9 George IV Bridge, 242 8100. 6.30–8pm. Pit your wits against literary quizmasters and see just how book- savvy you really are at this quiz, run in association with Blackwell’s bookshop.
Friday 14
Glasgow FREE Reading Allowed Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. A monthly evening of storytelling and poetry reading. Edinburgh FREE Lesley Harrison: Beyond the Map Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6.30pm. Launch of Lesley Harrison’s second poetry pamphlet for Mariscat.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
It’s a time of year we both love and dread. Naturally, it’s only polite to stuff as much food and drink into your system as humanly possible (and beyond) but there will be an inevitable payback somewhere down the line. Little wonder that publishers pick this time to throw out acres of tomes about health, wellbeing and self-improvement as you attempt to cultivate a brand new you for 2013. Leading the pack is Gok Wan (pictured) with All You Need is Gok (Weidenfeld), a self-help book which proposes some serious tough love to get your mind and body in shape for the months and years ahead. Gastric bands of the psychological kind seem to be big buzz in the diet field this winter with a pair of books suggesting the power of the mind can achieve the same results as an actual gastric band. Paul McKenna hands us The Hypnotic Gastric Band (Bantam) while Martin & Marion Shirran with Fiona Graham offer up The Gastric Mind Band (Hay House). Jeanette Jackson ‘designed the Drop Zone Diet as a scientist’ but wrote The Drop Zone Diet (Michael Joseph) ‘as a woman’. Shedding 14 pounds in as many days is her promise.
Bikram (or ‘hot yoga’) has been endorsed by the likes of Andy Murray and David Beckham, and Benjamin Lorr’s Hell-Bent (Bloomsbury) has the author immersing himself into the very competitive world of California yoga. Health and fitness writer for The Times, Peta Bee, has penned The Food Swap Diet (Piatkus), whose subtitle should give you the full story: ‘Discover the Food Swaps That Will Transform Your Diet and Your Weight: Permanently’. (Brian Donaldson)
FIRST WRITES Melissa Harrison has a go at this issue’s debut author Q&A. Her first book is a portrait of four very different people trying to cope with city life
Can you give us five words to describe Clay? An intensely lyrical urban pastoral.
Name one author who should be more famous than they are now? JA Baker, who wrote The Peregrine. His was an utterly unique voice. What was the first book you read? My mum made and illustrat- ed an alphabet book to teach me and my five siblings to read. I wish I knew where it was now.
What was the last book you read? Holloway by Robert Mac- farlane, Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards. Which book makes you cry?
Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin. The eager, intimate tone is heartbreakingly at odds with the knowledge that he would die so soon after writing them.
Which book makes you laugh? Cloudstreet by Tim Win- ton. Beguilingly warm and funny. Which dead author do you wish was still alive today? I recently read Anna Karenina for the first time. So much modern literature owes a debt to Tolstoy’s almost forensic insight into fleeing psychological states, and ability to set that against a broad historical picture. I’d love to know which of his disciples he’d rate, if any.
What one thing would you change about the publishing world? I like Argentina’s idea of giving writers a pension. It can be a very insecure life to embark on, but nations need their writers and poets just as much as their politicians. What plans do you have for book two? It’s well underway! Somebody once said that each new book is an apology for the sins of the previous one, and it’s true that as you learn you can avoid mistakes more easily. The flipside is you become more critical about what you’re producing. It’s a trip . . . (Interview by Brian Donaldson) ■ Clay is published by Bloomsbury on Thu 3 Jan.
13 Dec 2012–24 Jan 2013 THE LIST 75