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The Circumference of the World (SF) - Lavie Tidhar *****

You know you've discovered something special when immediately after reading a book you start looking for other titles by the same author. I came across Lavie Tidhar in a passing reference on TwitterX (though I had unwittingly read a short story by him recently) from someone whose opinion trusted, took the plunge and bought this book - to be captivated.

Tidhar does here for science fiction what Gene Wolfe did in his fantasy novel peak with the likes of Castleview, Free Live Free, There are Doors, Pandora by Holly Hollander and The Sorceror's House. We get something set in what appears to be our everyday world, but where something is at a slant to that world. Here the 'something' is a book, that some say was never written, but if it does exist is hugely desirable for obscure reasons. This is just one part of multipart novel, each section of which seems to add another layer of complexity and fascination.

Where's the science fiction? In once sense it's a meta-content - because this is also a book about a fictional science fiction writer, Gene Hartley, who is set in the real world of the science fiction authors and editors of the 'golden age' - so we get the likes of Asimov, Heinlein, Campbell and more making appearances. To anyone who is steeped in this period's fiction there is a delight in mentions of characters, concepts and the whole workings of pulp science fiction writing. Hartley is a not particularly brilliant writer, but determined to make his fortune. He takes up Heinlein's suggestion of founding his own religion, with a key involvement of aliens and ends up living mostly at sea. Not, of course, based on any real person.

The other way science fiction is involved is that Hartley (probably) believes that the world as we know it isn't real, in a setting that involved black holes and aliens and more. This aspect reminded me a little of Christopher Priest's The Affirmation where everything involved could simply be due to mental illness on the part of a character.

Throw in settings from Vanuatu to London, letters between SF writers, people going missing mysteriously, a Russian gangster and more and you end up with a fantastic melange of a book. Each section is portrayed from a different viewpoint, which I found a little disorienting to start with - and I wanted to find out more particularly about the character Delia - but again like when reading Wolfe, if you stick with it in a state of 'not quite sure what's going on', eventually most of the puzzle pieces come together to make a magnificent whole.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here

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