Thanks largely to my two year phase of reading little but YA, I failed to read it until now. The Secret Files is another selection of mostly previously published stories, featuring members of the Diogenes Club and their associates. I enjoyed the first four stories the best, as they led quite neatly into each other, and I could see the relationship between them, even as the protagonists shifted around. I was frustrated that Vanessa disappeared.
Did she retire after suddenly view spoiler [getting married to some guy that we never met at all hide spoiler ]? What was the thing that Richard couldn't remember?
What the hell was up with his clothes? But still, fun overall. View all 8 comments. Jan 08, Charles Prepolec rated it it was amazing. Whatever the case, whether it's Newman or just my own predilection for his work, I find his writing to be infused with an undeniable sense of fun, no mean feat when it also encompasses a range of ghastly ghoulies, murderous madmen and things that generally go bump, squish and splat in the nighttime!
Of course it isn't all just a question of revisiting childhood influences as Newman also cleverly weaves in delightful strands of, often biting, social and political satire creating a rich texture that elevates what might otherwise appear as simply wearing his influences, in garish bright colours, on his sleeve. Nowhere is Newman's knack for meta-pastichery more apparent than in the ongoing stories built around his version of the Diogenes Club.
While Newman has set Diogenes Club stories in differing eras from the s onwards, the present volume concerns itself with stories mostly set in the late s and early s, not coincidentally a period in which a young Kim Newman b. Vanessa risks brainwashing at Pleasant Green, a psychiatric vetting center for highly placed government employees, only to see the mysterious Mrs.
When an award-winning author is found bludgeoned to death with his own Hugo in the not-so-utopian futuristic experiment of Tomorrow Town, the Diogenes Club is called in to investigate.
The Bunning family crypt seems to be the focus of ghostly manifestations in abandoned Kingstead Cemetery causing the Diogenes Club team to prevent mass murder by a madman with a pharaoh-fetish in Egyptian Avenue. When dirty DI Booth is found squashed flat in the center of the Soho sex-trade, the Diogenes Club comes up against holier-than-thou hypocrites, pimps, mobsters, a legendary burlesque queen and an invisible Soho Golem.
When real deaths mimic those on a popular Northern soap series, Jeperson and co. Finally, it's and an aging Richard Jeperson is called in to visit the hereditary island kingdom of Skerra to stop a power-mad scientist from destroying the world in the James Bond homage Swellhead. Rounding out the book is an after word from Newman, explaining the evolution and development of the Jeperson series, and a good-sized glossary to help non-Brits understand some of the specific cultural and slang references.
All enveloped in a suitably stylish day glow cover by John Picacio. While some stories are certainly better than others, The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train alone being worth the cover price, there is always plenty of humour, lots of strange goings-on, vast pop culture, literary and television references to strain the brain and even a bit of political and social commentary in the inimitable Kim Newman style, all of which makes for a thoroughly engaging collection.
Now all we need is a similar collection featuring the exploits of previous Diogenes Club members from the 's Charles Beauregard and Kate Reed and s Edwin Winthrop and Catriona Kaye. Jun 25, James rated it really liked it. I don't know whether it's the anthology nature of the book or just the obvious fact that Richard Jeperson is the Jason King post-Thatcherite England needs and not the Jason King it deserves, but I spent most of the book thinking "this should have been an awesome TV show.
But that's a distracting thought to entertain when one's not trying to watch TV. I'm coming to the Diogenes Club after reading the first two Anno Dracula books, and the contrast is disarming. I'd gotten used I don't know whether it's the anthology nature of the book or just the obvious fact that Richard Jeperson is the Jason King post-Thatcherite England needs and not the Jason King it deserves, but I spent most of the book thinking "this should have been an awesome TV show.
I'd gotten used to studying details in background characters, looking for the clue that would let me identify another obscure historical or literary figure in a crowd scene, and so the relative lightness of the prose took some adjustment; there's nothing metatextual to sink your teeth into here, which pushes the story and original characters into a more central role.
But, given that, the intertextuality with the Anno Dracula books is frustrating to a literal-minded reader like me. Or: at another moment, Jeperson hints that the Diogenes Club knows who Jack the Ripper was, but it can't be the same culprit as in Anno Dracula , again because of that 20th-century-history-hasn't-been-rewritten-with-vampires-at-center-stage thing.
It's all very clever and well-handled, with the nods to Newman's other works working well where I recognize them, but apparently-inconsistent backstory gets to me on that grating "it was all a dream" level.
I found all but one of the stories satisfying, and with several standouts "The Man Who Got Off The Ghost Train" and "Tomorrowtown" were both tremendously fun, and in entirely different genres.
And it was satisfying now to read a book in which Margaret Thatcher is treated with the contempt she deserves, at this moment when British culture is moving into a whole "but now she's demented literally and not just metaphorically-as-an-apt-description-of-her-moral-character and therefore let's pretend she wasn't a reptilian monster" phase of pseudoreverence. Jun 11, Tony rated it it was ok. I had a lot of trouble with this, both in terms of style and content.
It didn't sit right with me right from the start, and at one point I thought I might have picked up a kids book by mistake. The plot was ragged, there was always an easy-out So it goes. May 27, Bernard rated it really liked it Shelves: public-library.
A collection of short stories about Britain's top paranormal investigator, Richard Jeperson, an agent of the Diogenes club—the "least-known branch of the United Kingdom's intelligence and investigative services. Apr 11, Tim Hicks rated it really liked it Shelves: fantasy , science-fiction. What an odd book. It's a big volume, but I felt after reading that I'd read several books.
So, think back to all the supernatural detectives you've already read. Now mentally review some TV and movies from several decades, including the ones Newman admits were influences: the Avengers, Doctor Who, Austin Powers, etc.
If you know pop culture since the 60s you'll do even better. Ten stories take us through the career of Richard Jeperson, with each story maki What an odd book. Ten stories take us through the career of Richard Jeperson, with each story making sure to provide a detailed description of RJ's outrageous outfits.
The action in each story is well developed, even if the supernatural structure is rather casual, by which I mean that things seem to become possible because the author requires them, not because the things already posited make them inevitable. If that sounds like I think he was making it up as he went along, well, draw your own conclusions. But the overall plots were well laid out. And quite a few of the characters are ones you just want to follow and see how they do. The book mentions just about everyone who's ever been anyone in supernatural fiction, and may gove you some ideas for future reading.
Enjoyable, if not quite a lit'ry triumph. Oct 31, Dan rated it it was amazing. Aug 05, Ari rated it did not like it Shelves: abandoned. I thought this was fundamentally unreadable. None of the characters were interesting or believable. None of them seem to think or have any interiority; they just do things like authorial puppets. There are a few clever turns of phrase, but t I thought this was fundamentally unreadable. There are a few clever turns of phrase, but the authorial voice wasn't interesting enough to carry the book.
The word-building lacks any particular charm. A Dr Who for the occult and like that series the hero solves each mystery with a pompous wave and non-sequitur which is very annoying. It feels very insubstantial and fake. Mar 25, Carolyn Fitzpatrick rated it did not like it Shelves: fantasy.
Austin Powers meets X-files. The main characters conveniently both have significant amnesia, possibly the author's attempt to justify their complete lack of depth. Half of the content was about the exact size, shape, and opacity of the clothes of female characters. All of which are hot, while the men are uniformly shlubby. The book itself is a collection of short stories featuring the same investigators, rather than a single story with an actual story arc. The individual stories are so bizarre a Austin Powers meets X-files.
The individual stories are so bizarre as to be completely unpredictable, but with plenty of violence and torture. The result is disorienting - you are thrown into one scenario and have no time to get your bearings before being launched into a completely new setting.
I'm not sure how this ended up on my to-read list, but it gives pulp a bad name. Cracking stuff. Like getting all new episodes of your favourite British telefantasy show from the 60's or 70's Classic Who, Department S, The Avengers Glorious, glorious fun stuff. Jul 15, Chris rated it liked it Shelves: did-not-finish. Apr 17, Chuk rated it really liked it. I am a fan of Newman's Anno Dracula books and this has a lot of the same sensibilities, but it's mostly short episodic adventures.
A lot of it almost feels like if the Lord Darcy stories happened in the swinging 70s. It seemed a bit long though, if I was reading it again I'd do one story at a time. There is a continuity between them all and some characters from some of his other books , but it's not like a long novel.
That said, his characters are really only vehicles to tell his kooky ideas, without having especially deep relationships with them, so perhaps this is more like going to a friends party and seeing who shows up.
You catch up on what they are up to, you are glad that you see them but you don't know their number to call them. But, clearly he loves these characters, so much that he uses alternative versions of them in the different worlds that he creates Anno Dracula and Warhammer ala Michael Moorcock. This book has absolutely made me a fan, and I'll be looking to follow these characters from this timeline in his other fiction.
Dec 13, Riju Ganguly rated it it was amazing. In this collection we get the opprtunity to read total seven stories, which are: 1. Lovecraft and Raymond Chandler. All in all, a fabulous collection to be grabbed and relished over a long pderiod of time. Enjoy your reading.
Oct 01, Tarl rated it really liked it Shelves: steampunk. There is one thing I love about Kim's work, it's that he always adds in little easter eggs into it. Be it references to other works or his own though in a different timeline, etc , it always is interesting to see the connection. In this series of stories he added a character from the Warhammer series about a vampire, which I thought was too cool.
Anyway, onto the book itself. Much like the book before this, this one collects a rather entertaining series of stories together. I enjoyed them all to There is one thing I love about Kim's work, it's that he always adds in little easter eggs into it. I enjoyed them all to be frank, even the ones about the boy detective which normally I wouldn't be all for. Kim's writing style is engaging, his subject matter interesting, and as mentioned, his media tie ins are fun and entertaining.
All in all, I highly recommend this book to my friends. It's a fun and enjoyable read, and you won't be left down by it. Jun 17, Chris Cangiano rated it really liked it Shelves: fantasy , horror , comedic , weird-fiction. Set in an alternative Earth different from our own and from Newman's Anno Dracula world, Newman crates a world where Lovecraftian horrors, egomaniacal super-powered individuals, and invaders from the world of the Fae seek to conquer or destroy the humanity, and only one group stands in the way of this cosmic jiggery-pokery, the Diogenes Club.
Once led by the inimitable Mycroft Holmes, the Club, reputed to be filled with the most unclubbable men in all of England, stands ready to fight the good f Set in an alternative Earth different from our own and from Newman's Anno Dracula world, Newman crates a world where Lovecraftian horrors, egomaniacal super-powered individuals, and invaders from the world of the Fae seek to conquer or destroy the humanity, and only one group stands in the way of this cosmic jiggery-pokery, the Diogenes Club.
Once led by the inimitable Mycroft Holmes, the Club, reputed to be filled with the most unclubbable men in all of England, stands ready to fight the good fight for humanity. The Secret Files is a series of interrelated short stories setting forth various adventures of the Club and its members on behalf of the human race from the 's to the 's.
Newman is in fine form with his usual mix of action, horror and madcap humor. I can't say enough about Newman's stuff, especially the Diogenes Club stories. Wonderful Wold Newton style use of historical and literary characters in some really fun pastiches. Definitely hits me where I live. Dec 04, James Debruicker rated it really liked it. See my other Diogenes Club review. This collection spans a greater period of time, and he has a Dramatis Personae and glossary in the back to make Spot The Reference easier.
Still great, though. Mar 30, Karlo rated it really liked it Shelves: alt-history , fantasy , horror , espionage-spy , mystery-detective , masonic-occult. Loved this book and the series it falls into from Kim Newman. I will happily buy any book Newman puts out because it always turns out to be worth my time. Nov 03, Jeremiah Genest rated it really liked it Shelves: occultespionage , shortstories , specfic. I have a fond spot in my heart for the stories of the Diogenes club, which I think is amongst Newman's best work.
Mar 13, Fil rated it liked it. This book only gets better as you get into it though the first story was a tough read to get through. Chris Siddall rated it really liked it Apr 22, Zoe rated it liked it Oct 07, Zackman rated it really liked it Sep 20, Brandan Hamer rated it it was ok Jul 20, Natalia Corres rated it liked it Nov 02, Justin Lynn rated it it was amazing Jul 22, Ed Williams rated it it was amazing Feb 15, Jeremy rated it really liked it Mar 08, Tim Schneider rated it really liked it Mar 12, Richard Hayden rated it really liked it Feb 06, Kevin rated it really liked it Nov 28, IxMx rated it liked it Dec 15, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed. Short Stories. Science Fiction Fantasy. About Kim Newman. Kim Newman. Note: This author also writes under the pseudonym of Jack Yeovil.
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