I was very fortunate to have travelled to Europe recently. One thing that caught my eye was the attention being given to There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm, one of (perhaps two of, given the different versions) the speculative fiction books I have enjoyed most in recent years. Copies were piled up in bookshops in London and Vienna (and no doubt elsewhere, but I wasn’t elsewhere). When I was much much younger, I preferred it if the titles and authors I enjoyed were unknown, obscure, etc, like the bands I saw, but that is because I was young and dumb. How good to see good stuff being recognised even if it means my tastes may be more mainstream than I realised, because it means reward and recognition to the writer, perhaps more stuff from the writer, and more weird stuff getting out there.

I did not have enough room in my luggage to buy all of the books I saw and wanted, but as I haunted book shops I took many quick photos on my phone to remember them when they are eventually released months later in Australa (I’m not joking. You’d think they were taking 9 months to send them here by convict hulk). This was among those shots, so please excuse the quality.