I have absolutely no idea who is behind the Hard Luxe Living blog, although she’s obviously got some significant form as a writer. I don’t think I know anyone who fits her profile, so I’m going to assume she’s a complete stranger – which, as I’ve said before, is the best sort of person to get a good review from.

First of all, full disclosure. I was sent a copy of this by that lovely bloke, the Bristol Short Story Prize’s Joe Melia, (presumably) after I’d said nice things about Stanley Donwood’s previous collection “Slowly Downwards”. Stanley Donwood, in case you don’t know, is better known as Radiohead’s in-house artist, responsible for all their artwork from “The Bends” onwards.

Being a skilled visual artist of course isn’t necessarily a copper-bottom guarantee of an ability to write, although the two often go hand in hand and in any case the Radiohead connection really ought to pique interest. The good news, however, is that he most definitely can, although this isn’t a remotely conventional collection.

Like “Slowly Downwards”, it isn’t a book that grabs you right from the start. It’s more a case of gradually being sucked into its world. I don’t think that any of these stories would win any prizes on their own, but the cumulative effect is quite remarkable. Most of them are quite short (only a paragraph or two in some cases) and only two extend to any length (the first story, “Wage packet”, and “Sell your house and buy gold”, which plays some effective tricks with white space). Some of them amount to little more than a short lead-up to a punchline (the hilarious “Sky Sports”, for example, in which the protagonist’s suggestion of an alternative form of pub entertainment is met with hostility) whilst others seem to drift by without meaning much, only to hang on in your brain, nagging you. Generally speaking, it’s the short ones that really punch home.

I guess the nearest point of reference would be the stories of David Gaffney, except slightly odder. I’m pretty certain this is a good thing. And the cover’s lovely. Go and buy a copy.

I’m a bit torn when it comes to recommending a single best novel out of the ones I’ve read this year, so I’m going to cheat. The best paperback novel I’ve read this year is undoubtedly John Harding’s Florence and Giles. If you’re looking for an example of the power of a unique narrative voice, look no further. And it’s wondrously creepy too. The best hardback novel I’ve read this year is Vanessa Gebbie’s The Coward’s Tale: a lovely, warm patchwork quilt of a book with one of the most utterly satisfying and perfect endings I’ve read in a long, long time. Best Christmas stocking filler is Scott Pack’s Steve Stack’s 21st Century Dodos – like its progenitor’s blog, witty, entertaining and informative.

Best left-field oddball I’ve come across is probably Stanley Donwood’s Household Worms – as you would expect from Radiohead’s in-house artist, he has a completely unique voice. The best newcomer I’ve comes across this year is fellow Scott Prize winner Cassandra Parkin with her New World Fairy Tales, and I can only repeat what I’m quoted as saying on the cover: “A beguiling collection of present-day fables that effortlessly transcend their folk origins”. (I’m also really looking forward to reading AJ Ashworth’s Scott collection, Somewhere Else, or Even Here.) Finally, for the writer in your life, the best how-to book of the year has to be Nicola Morgan’s Write to be Published. It even has a mention of Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens in it – what more do you want?

So plenty of ideas there if you’re still looking for something. Probably too late for Amazon, but you can still go into a bookshop. There are a few left if you look around.

Also today I found out that my story “How I Became a New Man, and What Good It Did Me” has now been published in translation in the German magazine WortMosaik, alongside Valerie O’Riordan in the Internationale Literatur section. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on a print copy, just so I can see my work in a language that I don’t speak. The original may be found here, by the way.

In other news, I’m really pleased that Camille Gooderham Campbell, head honcho of Every Day Publishing, has chosen to recommend Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens for the Advent Book Blog. Whilst I’m on the subject of Every Day Publishing, I’d also like to draw your attention to their latest project, Every Day Novels, which starts in the new year with K.C.Ball’s “Lifting up Veronica”. K.C. is a superb writer and I’m really looking forward to reading this.

Finally, I really should have been writing Part 2 of the Mrs Darcy Christmas Special today. But instead it struck me that Wickhampedia really should have an article on Regency Christmas. So I wrote one. Wickhampedia is one of the things I’m most proud of this year and I’m slightly sad it hasn’t attracted more of a fanbase outside the people who know me already. Maybe it’s just a bit too odd. Or possibly just not funny enough. You can never tell.

In other news, my good friend Oscar Windsor-Smith has come up with a Christmas present guide which for some reason includes Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens, alongside such other gems as The Archangel and the White Hart. Do you need any more recommendation than that? (He’s also spot on about Vanessa Gebbie’s The Coward’s Tale, which I’ve only just finished and is absolutely wonderful. Make sure you buy that one as well.)

Finally, this year’s Christmas Special for Mrs Darcy has turned into a bit of an epic. The first of two parts may be found here. To make things even more complicated, it’s actually a sequel to last year’s special. Thinking about it, it’s only a matter of time before the word count in the specials outnumbers the original.

Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens is filled to the brim with my sort of humour – lots of in-jokes and obscure TV quotes that I needed to share with anyone who’d listen. I’d like to tell you about all the funny bits but would probably end up reading the book to you.

Not a book I’d recommend to Austen purists but for everyone else it’s a ‘must read’.

Couldn’t really ask for more.

I also received an e-mail from an old chum of mine, with the subject “Critique”. Here is the entire body of the e-mail:

Ek – Ek – Ek – Ek!!

Ek

PS Ek – Ek

Spot on, I’d say. (For more information on kk’Ekk, see here.)

Despite appearances, I think he really would like to be a star – a bit like Maru perhaps. So do please feel free to share this far and wide. I mean, really, do feel free. Please. Do it for Marvin.

Meanwhile, the book has made its first appearance in a national magazine, courtesy of a passing reference in Amanda Craig’s review of the PD James book-that-we-will-not-mention in the New Statesman. It’s a start, I guess, so many thanks to Amanda for slipping that in.

Oh, and one other thing: issue #16 of the now late-lamented Murky Depths just got another review, with a very favourable comment on my story “Teamwork”. Many thanks to Michele Lee for this:

Teamwork by Jonathan Pinnock is one of those fabulous dark SF stories of space exploration and technology where the reader knows from the beginning something is wrong, but doesn’t really appreciate it until the end. This one’s deserving of a Hitchcock episode.

What was I saying about roller-coasters?