Trusted by 500+ fans to find the fun in the funereal, the absurd in the macabre, and delight in the darkness. Join fiction author Morgan Delaney three times a week for genre-bending stories of cozy horror, dark fantasy and a brain with mind of its own...
In Soviet Russia, Cat Kills Curiosity
 Listen to this for an origin story: The cyberpunk himself, William Gibson, was writing a screenplay with a Kazakh director. Then, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, but Gibson needed to finish a novel. So he sent his friend and fellow writer, Jack Womack, to Russia to work on the screenplay in his stead. The film’s star died, and so did the film. But based on the turmoil and chaos he witnessed in Moscow – the entire communist political system disappeared overnight – Womack wrote Let’s Put the Future Behind Us. It’s an absolute belter! Womack is best known for sci-fi, but this is set in 1990s Russia. Clever Max Borodin makes the switch from communist bureaucrat to capitalist entrepreneur. But a get-rich-quick-scam to build Russia’s finest theme park – Sovietland: all the fun of the gulag for wealthy tourists – draws the interest of an up-and-coming far-right politician, and the Georgian mafia. All Max wants to do is sleep with his client’s beautiful wife, but matters quickly careen out of control… It reminded me of The Master and Margarita but as written by Elmore Leonard. A wickedly funny satire, and edge-of-your-seat thriller rolled into one. I’m telling you so you don’t get confused when you read my author interview with the Big Bearded Bookseller. Between his asking me what I was reading and the interview going live, I’d finished the book. It’s that good. Find out what other good stuff is coming up right here! Chat soon, Morgan More Morgan? Get 2 of my books free here: morgandelaney.info/newsletter |
Dark, Strange and Fantastic Fiction
Trusted by 500+ fans to find the fun in the funereal, the absurd in the macabre, and delight in the darkness. Join fiction author Morgan Delaney three times a week for genre-bending stories of cozy horror, dark fantasy and a brain with mind of its own...
Poe did more than just write fiction, you know. He was one of America’s leading literary critics, as well as being interested in physics and cosmology. And he was almost certainly the first man in America to use the CRISPR gene-editing technology. Right? I couldn’t believe it at first either, but it says so on Wikipedia. Look: You see? First he became editor of the Journal, and then he became editor of its owner. I found that while researching Poe again this week. I’d researched him before...
Have you looked at a washing machine recently? We’ll need a new one when we move countries, and the last one we bought was maybe in 2013 in Australia. So, at the weekend I spent an hour tentatively dipping my toe into the shopping pool to see how warm the water is, and HOLY MOLY! You can buy washing machines with AI now! I was so excited. Imagine. A washing machine that’ll wander around the house picking up washing, sorting it into piles, washing it and hanging it up for us! But when I read...
great news! In fact, great newses, because I have two! The first one will come as a relief to everyone who’s been struggling to keep up with the tsunami of nonsense on YouTube, etc. I’ve been posting five videos of nonsense (but top-notch nonsense, if I do say so myself) every week for the last six weeks for a challenge. Now that I’ve won the challenge, I’m dialling it back to three a week, in response to urgent warnings by brain specialists that humanity can’t take it much longer. In future,...