The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

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Before Susan begins her first semester at a prestigious art school, she heads to London early to earn some extra money and search for information about her father. Although her mother could certainly provide details, she’s inexplicably vague (there’s a hand-wavy “drugs in the 60s” line, which is a surprising line to find). This brief interaction sets the tone of the entire book: it follows fantasy convention in the general absence of supervising adults (adults can be present, but from a distance), bills (rent? meals?), and legal implications while setting it in a modern age with guns, helicopters and listening devices. The setting is a slightly alternate London in the 1980's. Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister but she is Britain's second woman PM. The first was Clementina Attlee. Nix has a lot of fun with gender throughout the book which will bring a smile to anyone old enough to have watched the TV shows of the day (for example Denise Waterman in The Sweeney).

He also wasn’t supposed to be able to be surprised by someone like the young woman who had burst into the room, an X-Acto craft knife in her trembling hands. She was neither tall nor short, and moved with a muscular grace that suggested she might be a martial artist or a dancer, though her Clash T-shirt under dark blue overalls, oxblood Doc Martens, and her buzzed-short dyed blond hair suggested more of a punk musician or the like. Who are you? I mean, sure, go ahead and call the police. But we’ve probably only got about five minutes before… or less, actually—”A different practical yet magical Susan (Terry Pratchett’s creation) whom “our” Susan sometimes brought to mind. Bubbling and streaming clear, cold water, the creature sloshed a dozen yards across the grass and then stone paving to the house and, raising one long limb, lashed green willow ends upon window glass, once, twice, three times. You’ll pay for this, you little f—” the older man swore, swiping with the cut-throat razor that he’d just pulled out from under one of the embroidered cushions on the couch. The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life. Oh. Well. It’s natural, I suppose. But you must be careful. He told me… no, that was about something else.…”

All eight stories plus a new ninth story The Field of Fallen Foe are collected in Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer (2023). Hmm? Oh, I forget. London. Yes, of course you must go. When I was eighteen I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. But I insist on postcards. You must send me postcards. Trafalgar Square…”

Merlin is comfortable in both male and female clothes – why did you decide to include this element to the character?

There are a great many inspirations driving this book, more than I even know myself, I suspect. One of the things I wanted to do was to marry two kinds of books that I love: thrillers and fantasy. I wanted to get some of the sensibility of Sixties and Seventies thrillers by Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, Hammond Innes and others; with the kind of fantasy where the mythical world underpins the contemporary world, and they occasionally mix, but it all feels very real, as is superbly done in the children’s fantasies by Susan Cooper and Alan Garner, among others. Why did you decide to set the book in the Eighties? In addition to his work as a fantasy novelist, Nix has written a number of scenarios and articles for the role playing field, including those for Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller. These have appeared in related publications such as White Dwarf, Multiverse and Breakout!. He has also written case studies, articles and news items in the information technology field, his work appearing in publications such as Computerworld and PCWorld. [4]

Susan looked at the phone, and thought about calling the police. But after a single second more of careful but lightning-fast thought, she followed him. The world Nix has imagined, though intriguing, never moves beyond the entirely predictable. I suppose I wasn't the intended audience for the story, but I believe a great book entertains all ages. a b Collins, Paul; Steven Paulsen; Sean McMullen (1998). The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. p.134. ISBN 0-522-84771-4.Nix, Garth. "Something about Garth Nix". Garth Nix. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008 . Retrieved 14 March 2008. The Nine Gates of Death: An Extract of the Journal of Idrach the Lesser Necromancer" – first published on oldkingdom.com.au [6] A complex ethical substrate that leaves the reader with relatively few fully bad or fully good characters (though there are some) and that poses open-ended questions. stars. A very different type of fantasy (more of a British urban fantasy) from Garth Nix than the last one of his that I read, Angel Mage. Review first posted on FantasyLiterature.com: Strange Fishing in the Western Highlands" (from Hellboy: Oddest Jobs, edited by Christopher Golden_