The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

After reading a Raymond Chandler novel I wanted more noir. Grabbed this graphic novel and was pleasantly surprised. I liked the art. There are no spectacular or breath taking panels, but I enjoyed their fluidity. It's perfect. I guess that's called graphic narrative (?). Well, it was great. I loved character design!! I also enjoyed the overall feeling of the story. The art is really atmospheric, in a realistic rather than supernatural way. It submerges you into darkness. Into the minds of, perhaps stereotypical, noir characters. People with secrets and trauma. People with no ethics who do whatever they need to do to achieve their objectives. 

The highlight for me, though, was the writing. Loved it. It isn't Chandler, mind you, but it has its own charm and doesn't disappoint. A nice narrative, a gripping story, and some awesome literary references, including a cameo by a famous crime noir author. 

The story has a murder. Yes. But the crime isn't necessarily the focus of the story. I'd say the protagonist's downfall (partly because of the crime) was centre stage.

The High Window by Raymond Chandler

This is the third and last novel in this compilation by Everymans Library. After three novels of his I have to say that Chandler is my favourite writer out of the three crime noir authors published by Everyman’s: Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler. 

The High Window is gripping. Not only with an excellent plot and an astonishing protagonist, but with a great atmosphere (noir is all about atmosphere). I loved the descriptions of people and places. The kind of descriptions you never get tired of. That submerge you into the detective’s world and make you think you are in the 1940’s. So vivid are the descriptions that I could smell the tobacco the characters smoke. Great characters also. After Marlowe, the protagonist, I liked Mrs Murdock, an old woman, rich and annoying manipulator. The kind of person you’d want to strangle but someone who you also kind of like because of how well she is written.

Contact by Carl Sagan

First read of 2023! 

A science fiction classic about a female physicist who devotes her life to searching for extraterrestrial life. I loved the story. Particularly, religious and philosophical discussions on the implications of first contact. On knowing that we are not alone in the universe. This is a novel of scientific and philosophical concepts, not strong on character development though the protagonist grabbed my attention because of her genius, strength and spirit to keep seeking for extraterrestrial life. She isn't an empty lifeform though but we get glimpses of the relationship with her family, especially her mother and of how a female physicist was treated in the 1980s.

The Paradoxes of Time Travel by David Lewis. The Quantum Physics of Time Travel by David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood. Science Fiction as Epistemology by Richard Hanley. Appendix Philosophers recommend Science Fiction by Eric Schwitzgebel.

These are the last 3 essays (+appendix) in this anthology edited by Susan Schneider which I have enjoyed reading since May 2021. The 3 essays on time are interesting but with some difficult concepts. The first essay discusses external time vs personal time, comparing how a time traveler’s time is different from time in the outside world when he/she time travels. In the quantum physics of time Deutsch and Lockwood explain how time works in the quantum realm as opposed to what we can see in what we call the real world which is governed by classical physics, which the authors describe as false. In science fiction of epistemology Hanley discusses the concept of miracle or the supernatural, and explains how they might not make sense using three examples: time travel, other dimensions and simulations. Miracles cease to be when we find an explanation for them.  The appendix is basically an amazing list of science fiction literature recommendations.

Heaven's Door by Keiichi Koike. Heaven's Door Extra Works

Usually, I'm not good with short stories, but this anthology blew my mind. A mixture of #scifi and #psychodelic themes. Dreams, alternative realities, absurdities, weirdness all with amazing artwork.

Loved all the stories, except probably Lenbo's Diary which I didn't understand much but enjoyed. Maybe too weird but crazy panels. My favourite: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Lazarus Franco's 4a.m., Sponge Generation and Airway.

The synopsis reads:

"A sci-fi manga collection of psychedelic short stories by Keiichi Koike.

A drug in paper form!"

El Arte del Crimen (The Art of Crime) by Marc Omeyer and Olivier Berlion.

El Arte del Crimen (The Art of Crime). Five stories about crime. All written by Marc Omeyer and Olivier Berlion. Each story is drawn and coloured by different artists. French comic. This is the Spanish edition. (I hope they published more French comics like this in English.)

I really enjoyed this book. The first story is about a man obsessed with an unfinished comic book. And people who had something to do with the comic are dying. The other stories are written by this man and are about crimes committed in the name of different sorts of art:

1. Comic - 1970s about the comic obsessed man.

2. Painting - Paris 1860 - a novel painter who gets inspiration in strange ways.

3. Architecture - this is a pirate story

4. Sculpture - takes place in roman times

5. Film - early 20 century

There are 9 stories in total. The other 4 stories should be published soon (hopefully).

Light Chaser by Peter F Hamilton and Gareth Powell

A fun, quick read. Lots of things packed in just over 170 pages. Themes I enjoyed: immortality, reincarnation and

Evil AI as well as that sense of immensity of space-time that makes us seem insignificant.