Read This: Jack Fish

So I’ve been dipping back into J Milligan’s Jack Fish, in anticipation of his appearance tonight at Coliseum Books, and it’s reminding me all over again why I like it so much. Sure, a lot of it has to do with its New York-specific, and for that matter outer-borough-specific, humor, but saying it’s “just a New York book” would be like saying The Brother From Another Planet is “just a New York movie.” And, yeah, I chose that example quite deliberately. Here’s the thing: I love science fiction that stays true to its central conceits, but doesn’t feel the constant need to take itself so damn seriously. So I dig the Pohl & Kornbluth collaborations, I dig Robert Sheckley and Frederic Brown, and now I’m digging J Milligan.

16 March 2006 | read this |