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Oliver Arditi

Writing all the things.

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Author: Oli

I'm a fool for words.

Have you heard the news?

Since the 1940s, when big bands were last big business, few of them have had any longevity. The orchestras of … More

Ed Palermo, Edgar Winter, I've Got News For You, The Ed Palermo Big Band

Eating the world

Not many of us, I suspect, think of the British Empire much in terms of food. I certainly didn’t, before … More

Lizzie Collingham, The Hungry Empire

What would it be like?

This beautiful and moving short comic by Xulia Vicente (published by Shortbox, natch) is allegorical and speculative in equal measure. … More

I See A Knight, Shortbox Comics, Xulia Vicente

A shotgun blast of flawed brilliance

Seveneves is Neal Stephenson in his pomp. This book combines all his most splendid qualities as a writer: his febrile … More

Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

Simply present

Having taken a total break from playing music at the onset of the pandemic, I’ve been gradually coming back to … More

Bill MacKay, Keys, Nathan Bowles

Plausibly grim

I found my way to the Snowpiercer comics by way of Bong Joon-Ho’s excellent 2013 movie, but they are legendary … More

Benjamin Legrand, Jean-Marc Rochette, Snowpiercer, Snowpiercer 2, The Explorers

Necessary questions

Fifty Degrees Below takes over more or less exactly where Forty Signs Of Rain leaves off, but it shifts focus … More

Fifty Degrees Below, Kim Stanley Robinson, Science In The Capital

True history

This small book, published in 404 Ink’s ‘Inklings’ series, covers a subject close to my heart—since starting to listen heavily … More

Arusa Qureshi, Flip The Script

So bad it’s… bad

We were on holiday in Northumberland, near Hadrian’s Wall, visiting lots of Roman archaeological sites, so we thought we’d watch … More

Centurion, Dominic West, Michael Fassbender

Roman holiday

It’s a long time since I’ve been to a museum or a gallery, what with global pandemics and everything. We … More

Corbridge Roman Town, English Heritage, Hadrian's Wall

Founding a field

Finally, an academic has written a book about what I spend most of my time doing. Well, I say finally… … More

Building Imaginary Worlds, Mark J.P. Wolf, Subcreation

Doubling and singling

This is the second cook-book that I’ve read simply because it happens to be a comic published by Shortbox. Like … More

Bun's Comfort Food Corner, Chu Nap, Shortbox Comics

Deniable plausibility

I’ve been on a mission recently to catch up with the output of two of my favourite writers, Kim Stanley … More

Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock

Party in the temple

I spent a while back there in the early noughties thinking that all the fusions had been tried, and that … More

Emma Jean Thackray, Yellow

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