the m john harrison blog

Kit and Lara live in a remote village in the deep rainforest. She works for a small, undependably financed NGO. He’s a stay-at-home husband, living for their baby daughter Helen. While Lara presents as impulsive yet practical and barely able to contain her own energy, Kit is dreamy, internalised, exhibiting a calmness that falls easily into dissociation. “This is your life,” she shouts at him shortly before they leave the UK, “a day of your life, and it requires your presence.” He’s struggling with the local language. His wife has neglected to tell him that he’s speaking it in the female register, which is why the villagers are so amused by him. Beneath the trees, the light is “filtered to a soupy dimness”. —Read the rest of my Guardian review of Richard Lloyd Parry’s In the Green Heart.

It was a furious & elegant 80th in the room above The Bull’s Head Barnes on the 24th. I was overwhelmed, especially by this birthday volume of fragments, excerpts, meditations and at least one perfect classic cut-up. Thanks to everyone who contributed. You know who you are. But for those who aren’t you, here’s the full, destabilising contents list. Salient Details, Jennifer Hodgson. In This User’s Guide…, Tim Etchells. Manhattan Gneiss, Jack Womack. The Dream Factory, Olivia Laing. Bonus Scene, Julia Armfield. Despot Close to Death…, Tony White. Goya’s Madrelenos and The Alternative, Will Eaves. Outside History, James Meek. The Trap, Chris Power. On Midway, Helen Macdonald. Place(s), Vlatka Horvat. Hummingbirds, Nicholas Royle. War Crybabies, Isabel Waidner. Ghosts, Nina Allen. Post Production, Seth Etchells. Actual Outer Margins, Ian Patterson. Under Review, Lara Pawson.

No Title Yet, 2025, edited by Tim Etchells & Lara Pawson, proofread by Jennifer Hodgson, Julian Richards & Lara Pawson. Designed by David Caines, set in Sabon. Printed by Mixam in a numbered edition of 20.