Recommended Reading List

Cityscapes

Some fiction treats cities as a living breathing entity, as much a part of the story as any of the other characters. These urban visions give a fresh look at the city, pearing beyond the exterior and exposing the strange secrets beneath.

The city you as you know it is given life by its inhabitants, and the soul of the city might well be contained within the grasp of a secret underclass living beneath our feet. Or even above our heads. These groups understand the urban landscape and make it their own.

These are about the myths of the city, the urban versions of the fairy tales handed down by our rural ancestors. An attempt to give the city an identity of its own, distinct from the other landscapes in which we might live. What makes the city, the ultimate collection of individuals tick and who owns it?

• Christopher Fowler - Darkest Day A series of strange murders and a family with a secret. The first novel featurimg Fowler's detectives Bryant and May is an urban thriller featuring a series of bizarre mechanical killings, with a plot that makes it anything but the run of the mill murder mystery. [out of print - UK]
• Christopher Fowler - Roofworld A gang war takes place in the rooftops of London. Two inhabitants of London are drawn up into this strange world, where a hidden subculture exists alongside the more mundane existance of those below. [out of print - UK | US]
• China Mieville - King Rat A young man finds himself the lead suspect after his father falls to his death from the window of his flat. His origins are not what they seem though and he finds himself drawn into a strange underground world. A wonderful modern urban retelling of a favourite old fairy tale set in the town of Hamlyn.[in print - UK | US]
• Michael Moorcock - Mother London A novel which shows a view of post-Blitz London from an insiders point of view. It shows London as a living, breathing city which fills the lives of its inhabitants. The main characters are a group of slightly disturbed individuals and the novel builds upon their histories and relationships with each other and the city; whilst being filled with the babble of outside voices heard by the mind-reading Joseph Kiss which shows the life of the city outside their small group. Wonderful, colourful and powerful stuff. [in print - UK]

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