Richard Calder

Simon & Schuster, UK, 2002

Lord Soho
Simon & Schuster, UK, 2002

'This is Dorian Gray with family secrets written direct on the face; a stew of plots and devices borrowed freely from opera, myth and folk tales. Sour and addictive, as well as rather disconcerting.'
The Guardian

'Lovers of Malignos will find much to delight in this sequel. Get ready to canter majestically across the centuries, against a landscape of genetic miscreants (Roach-girls, Insect-girls, down and dirty Fox-girls) as he tells of the grandsons and heirs of Richard Pike and their strange abilities as shapers of history … Calder has mastered a rich narrative style. He paints a vivid picture of the effluent structures from the Netherworld, the fleshy forests gestating the new genetics. It's a saga written with bold intelligence and wit, with some political satire thrown in. Calder still manages to breathe a sense of urgency into his story despite the long time-span. Thought-provoking, with some inspired ideas, Lord Soho is a sensuous feast.'
SFX Magazine

'Lord Soho is an enjoyable combination of SF tropes, dark fantasy themes and very peculiar events … Although the bizarre sex and violence of the Dead trilogy is subdued here and given a more ironic twist, Calder's basic concerns linger on with his use of rich language … Allusions to the class struggle haunt this narrative like the ghosts of Christmas. Yes, as usual with Calder, such things as slavery, uncaring betrayals, infanticide, and general immorality abound! Particularly fascinating is the suggestion that characters in Lord Soho are like "living" fugitives from literature at large in a "real" world that lacks any genuine culture.'
Starburst