That's just weird (but awesome): Tor.com on Tony Ballantyne's 'Dream London'

“weird, wonderful and a hell of a ride”

– Sci-Fi Now on Dream London

“…one of those unclassifiable gems that crop up from time to time. shares the surreal, absurdist whimsy of Alice in Wonderland and Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday”

” – The Guardian on Dream London

Last week we announced that Tony Ballantyne is to write Dream Paris, which is rather canny timing for Chris Beckett - author of The Turing Test and The Holy Machine to write about how much he loved its predecessor Dream London.

Dream London was the reality-bending science-fiction novel that took place in a magical look at Britain’s capital city, a city that we would recognise but one which changes every single day.

Over at Tor.com, Chris has written a That Was Awesome column about Dream London, waxing lyrical about the ease with which Tony conjured up a London that seems familiar, but is very different and very dangerous because of it...

A piece of writing like this is a lot more difficult to achieve than it might appear. We can all generate weirdness, but it’s a much harder thing to be able to generate weirdness that feels convincing and right.

Do drop by and have a read of Chris' thoughts, with which we - naturally - wholly concur!

There's also a nice little review over at The Qwillery, which concludes that Dream London is "by far the most surreal book I have ever read. The only way I can describe it is if Alice took acid before she jumped down the rabbit hole.  It is strange with a capital 'S'." Which, y'know, is nice.

As for the follow-up, Dream Paris, it's due to be published in September 2015

It continues Ballantyne’s journey into the weird by taking us to the metropolis dubbed ‘the most romantic city on Earth – but its connection to the lost souls of London is anything but idyllic.

Anna is doing her best: there are lots of other seventeen-year-olds who are living alone in the partially rebuilt ruins of London.  She hopes that by keeping things clean and tidy and by studying hard she can keep the dreams away...

But then a tall, dark stranger with eyes like a fly enters her life.  He claims to know where the missing people of London have ended up.  He might even know the location of Anna's missing parents.  Anna can help, but to do that she will have to let go of what little normality she has managed to gather around herself and begin the journey to Dream Paris…

How to read Dream London

You can purchase the DRM-free ebook of Dream London right now from the Rebellion Publishing online store or, if you prefer, it's available in print and for Kindle from Amazon.co.uk, in print and for Kindle from Amazon.com, and it's ALSO on the Nook.

About the author

Tony Ballantyne is the author of the Penrose and Recursion series of novels, as well as many acclaimed short stories. He is currently completing the series Cosmopolitan Predators! for Aethernet magazine.