Books Read February 2026
Slimer by Harry Adam Knight. In my teens I read several novels and books about SF by the Australian-born John Brosnan. His bios would mention that he also published horror under the name Harry Adam Knight, mostly in collaboration with the UK writer Leroy Kettle. I've picked up a couple of Knight paperbacks in recent years, mainly because of their pleasingly disgusting cover art, and I thought it was high time to actually read one.
Naturally, Slimer is dreadful. Just the hackiest, splatteriest, rapiest shit that makes James Herbert look like M. R. James. But it's hacky shit written by professionals, so there's a certain level of craft evident. It flies along at great speed and there are some impressively gross moments. And while I can in no way recommend it, I am probably going to watch the (probably equally terrible) film adaptation.
Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell. A multi-faceted look at the multi-faceted John Donne that coasts on sheer enthusiasm but can't overcome the essential unknowability of its subject. I mean that literally: Donne's life is known to us via a scattering of documents and a lot of speculation and inference, which rather counts against this book's project. It's well written, and I like when Rundell delves into Donne's poetry and other writing, but the man himself remains elusive, the book unsatisfying.
Vertigo by W. G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse [reread]. The first of Sebald's novels, although they're not really novels in any traditional sense. I almost always enjoy Sebald, even if nothing ever quite matches his third book, Rings of Saturn.