Regular readers of the Ramblings will be well aware of my love of the writing of M. John Harrison – goodness knows, I’ve covered it often enough here! Having encountered his Viriconium stories back when I was in my early twenties, I’ve followed his work with interest (and great joy) ever since. His books are impossible to categorise, which I love; ranging from fantasy and sci fi to more realistic novels and short stories, the consistent thing I find with MJH’s work is that nothing is what it seems…

I was therefore inordinately excited when I found out that MJH’s first novel for seven years was coming out, and completely delighted to be able to review it for Shiny New Books!

M. John Harrison – (c) Hugo Glendinning

I covered Harrison’s collection of short stories “You Should Come With Me Now” (released by Comma Press, who are about to issue a selection of short works from over many decades) back in 2017, and “Sunken” seems to me to share the same elements of strangeness, portraying characters living out their lives in a nebulous world.

Every field, she discovered, had its pylons; every field had its pool. The pylons made a curious muted ringing clatter, like a bottling plant heard on the wind from three miles away. As for the water, some of it looked shallow, some looked deep. Some pools were graced with a pylon of their own, or with a couple of willows or cows; some featured a single moorhen stalking about. When you got close, they all had a recent quality; they were as beachless as if water had been poured into a grassy hollow the night before. They glittered in the glassy light.

“Sunken” is a magnificent read, and as you might guess from the title and cover, water plays a strong part in the narrative… It’s a book I can’t recommend highly enough, a real triumph; so do hop over to Shiny and read my full review here! 😀