Well, this was rather nice to see when I was recently browsing the magazine racks in WH Smith…
The A Year in the Country: Cathode Ray and Celluloid Hinterlands book is the lead review in the December 2022 issue of Fortean Times… and it’s a fine read and cultural exploration that even though I knew I’d written the book it was reviewing made me want to go out and find the book and read it (!)
Alongside being a review of Hinterlands the piece also acts as a both concise and in-depth investigation and backgrounding of wider “wyrd” and hauntological-esque related and interconnected themes, history etc and wanders from television programmes offering portals into other realms, various incarnations of Worzel Gummidge and “scarecrow magic”, the shadows that the Cold War cast across the world and the “Haunted Generation”, the strife and battles of the 1984-1985 UK Miner’s Strike, the “deconstruction” of the British Post-War Consensus, the archival work of Talking Pictures Television, Rob Young’s “re-enchanting” of the cultural landscape via his book Electric Eden and a whole lot more.
The review was written by renowned author and journalist Cathi Unsworth, who over a long career has been a writer and editor for the likes of weekly music magazines Sounds and Melody Maker (remember them, ah the midweek hope, anticipation and excitement about if your favourite band were included when they arrived in the newsagents) alongside The Guardian, Mojo, Uncut etc.
If you should like fiction that intertwines explorations of hidden histories with atmospheric noir then her novels – including amongst others The Not Knowing, Bad Penny Blues, Weirdo and That Old Black Magic – are well worth seeking out. In recent years she has also collaborated on a memoir with punk icon Jordan and can often be found giving talks and taking part in events hosted by the likes of London’s Horse Hospital, The Sohemian Society and The Barbican Centre. More details can be found via the link to her site below.
Thanks to Cathi Unsworth for the review and also to Bob Fischer of The Haunted Generation for his help in bringing it about and the Fortean Times’ Book Reviews Editor David Barrett for commissioning and including it. A tip of the hat to all concerned.
Cheers!
Links at A Year In The Country:
Links elsewhere:
- Fortean Times’ subscription site
- Cathi Unsworth’s site
- Bob Fischer’s The Haunted Generation site
- Order a single issue of Fortean Times at Newsstand
- Fortean Times subscriptions at WH Smith
- Cathi Unsworth’s books at Blackwell’s
- Cathi Unsworth’s books at Amazon UK
- Wiffle Lever to Full! – Bob Fischer’s time capsule exploration of sci-fi conventions book at Blackwell’s
- Wiffle Lever to Full! at Amazon UK (also available at Bob Fischer’s site above)
- Talking Pictures Television’s site
- Rob Young’s Twitter page (which leads on to TV-as-portal explorations of The Magic Box etc…)
