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From Our Own Fire
This prose and poetry tour de force of storytelling has the narrative punch of a novel. It is a new departure for the poet, and for poetry itself. It takes the reader into the not-too-distant an artificial intelligence rules the world, and a working-class family use their wits to live off the land. William Letford blends prose and his inimitable sci-fi and hunter-gatherer are merged into a coherent story in the pages of a stonemason's journal. 'You won't see the best of a Macallum until you put something in their fist,' says Letford, introducing the family. 'Joiner, nurse, stonemason, hairdresser, plumber, gardener. Lorna even repairs vintage watches. That's the quantum mechanics of manual labour.' We join the Macallum family as they combine their skills to reconnect with the land in a world where the empowered are hell-bent on creating a new utopia. Joe, the stonemason, records in his journal the struggles and successes of a carnival of characters. They hurl grace and humour at a future that is being shaped by a single, powerful entity. Letford's storytelling is gritty and beautiful. 'A Macallum, it seems to me now, is made to move, to think on the run. The sofas in our houses were sinkholes. The actors on a fifty-two-inch flat screen – shadows on a cave wall.'
- GenresPoetry
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 2, 2024
I need to revisit my rating: I usually give a five to anything that gets a reaction out of me, good or bad. This is a good read. So good that I haven't finished it yet and it still, at only a third of the way through, when the searing efficient effective sparseness of poetry flames the explanation of the title and I sigh, bow, shiver. A brilliant complement of short narrative journal entries and a companion of a poem that mirrors, illustrates, elaborates images, nuances, feelings that the prose can not, does not, will not. Lovely, sad, funny, intriguing, inspiring.
August 8, 2024
We saw the author at a book festival event, and it's easy to imagine him as the narrator of this unusual little book. The format of poems on one side and prose on the facing page definitely helped with tying the story together, but I might also have sped through the poems too much to find out what happened next. It's written in an accessible but perhaps deceptively simple style, and I can imagine going back to it and spending more time with the poems. If there's ever a sequel, I'd definitely be interested to read it; would also make a great graphic novel with the right illustrator!
September 25, 2023
Mixing prose and poetry this is a fabulously imaginative book, and tells the story of a family escaping to the countryside from the march of artificial intelligence. Taps into the humanity, empathy and interactions between the various characters with a few deft brushstrokes.
March 14, 2024
I read this in one sitting. What a unique idea: the writing sets up the poems that set up the writing. AI takes over the world and leaves a family group in the wilderness.
March 17, 2024
Full review published here: https://dura-dundee.org.uk/2024/03/07...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews