Alan Clark was only a moderately successful politician, but he ranks with Harold Nicolson as one of the best British political diarists this century. Clark was a wealthy (but not aristocratic) Tory MP under Margaret Thatcher (whose ankles he praises) rising to Minsister of State for Defence Procurement frustatingly short of the Cabinet. His diaries record his hopes, fears, lusts, successes and failures (including memorably the occasion when he addressed Parliament when drunk). His account of Thatcher's fall is gripping. You need a good grasp of British politics in the 80's to understand all the nuances, but anyone can enjoy this candid record. Sadly his recent death may deprive us of volume 2.

Alan Clark comes across as a bastard, but a stylish one at that. There is none of the self-serving drivel that even the best autobiographies normally serve up. Instead, you get raw, mostly unedited thoughts straight from the mind of the author. Of course only an English aristocrat would have the nerve to have diaries of such a nature published and not give a damn about what others think. Therein lies the charm of this enormously entertaining book.

This is funnier than "Yes Minister" and is a memoir of a real minister. Very incisive comments by Clark, critical of many, praising others. Makes a cabinet minister of pedigree and lineage look like a real person, showing the great difficulty of an elected official in changing the course of the "ship of state". It really appears that this is a private memoir now made public - seems totally fresh and honest. A very good read.

Tim Lebbon brings a refreshing new dimension to the horror short story genre. Having read over 700 horror tomes I'm very hard to impress but I was bowled over by this collection. Each story will pluck a string in your heart and mind and start a vibration that will either chill, amaze or simply give you cause to wonder. Tim's writing style can't be compared to other horror authors due to the uniqueness of his phrasing, subject matter and superb characterizations. I'm truly immersed in reading while absorbing the terrible wonderfulness of this treasure trove of tales. If you're a true fan of the horoor genre don't cheat yourself out of reading an author who was born to write horror. I've LOVED all his books.

Having read most of Tim Lebbon's work to date, I have had the pleasure of witnessing his writing develop both in confidence and maturity. With this collection Lebbon clearly demonstrates how he has completely conquered the short story as a medium.

As The Sun Goes Down presents a tableau of stories each very distinct in content and form, yet inextricably linked in disturbing the reader and challenging their accepted values. Not one tale is wasted in Lebbon's determination to subvert our perceptions of love, life, nature, beauty and the innocence of childhood. His use of language and narrative form is unrelenting, each vying to create images from words that incessantly chip away at our confidence in the so-called 'truths' of existence.

Lebbon is a horror writer we are told, but to consider the genre before the work would be to deny that which is most effective in these tales. The genre is used to explore wholly universal themes, a methodology that makes his stories impossible to pigeon-hole and an important reading experience for a much wider audience.

You will miss out if you think this collection is only for the horror reader. If you want to understand the narrative strength of the short story whatever its content, it is clearly exhibited here. Trust me, I rarely read horror myself.

PAIN AND OTHER PETTY PLOTS TO KEP YOU IN STITCHES is an amazing, visually delicious book. The authors and artist have created a wildly eccentric universe where bizarre is normal. Only with creativity freewheeling at its fastest could these images and stories emerge.

In Pain and Other Petty Plots, Alan Clark has created a masterpiece of biological and psychological dysfunction that will leave the reader's relationships with hospitals forever scarred. Through a stunning array of paintings and stories, some written by collaborators, Clark guides the reader on an unforgettable journey through his sly and cruel mythos about a medical facility staff in the service of pain. Surrealistic torment and human folly serve as the foundation for a unique vision that disturbs while it amuses, and ultimately serves as a warning on the limitless possibilities for self-destruction in all of us.

Perfect company for those long waits in doctor's offices or hospital clinics. A must for ER visits.

-Gerard Houarner, author of THE BEAST THAT WAS MAX; ROAD TO HELL; VISIONS THROUGH A SHATTERED LENS

This is a great primer for Marshall Smith. He's out ofBritain, so some of his stuff isn't available on amazom.com so checkamazon.co.uk. It's worth the extra shipping fees. He's probably the best satirical sf writer out today. No dragons or ogres, just almost normal people in a messed up situation.

Sheer unadulterated brilliance is what Marshall Smith deliveres here. In a surreal world where people are cloned for spare parts, one man, down on his luck, comes to the rescue of beings considered less than human. Always enthralling, but at times you are unable to tell if this book is incredibly hilarious or really scary. Prepare for the most enjoyable assault on your imagination.

"The Alchemy of Love" by Elizabeth Engstrom and Alan M. Clark is a fascinating collection of stories accompanied by intriguing art work that together, you can never quite stop thinking about. They blend fantasy and reality is such a way that you are not sure when and where imagination takes over from rational thinking. In this book the written word intertwines with the visual picture so intimately you feel you know one by examining the other. It caused me to revisit and reexamine my definition of love on every level. It is more than an easy joy ride of a read with interesting illustrations. Although it is that, it is also like visiting a work of art that allows you to be swallowed up whole and participate in its essence. And what a trip it is. Definitely not Kansas. Not unless you consider that the wicked witch of the west is within each of us to some degree. And perhaps she is. And perhaps our perception of love and hate, hope and despair, are never further apart than our minds perception of what power these emotions hold over us. Each story and work of art suggests exactly that. I have added depth to my reality of what love is - might be - can do - and all because of these two artists who weave their tales much like a spider spins its web. These stories and works of art are interesting, intricate in design, and sometimes even deadly. In several of them I am left feeling like the fly who is caught, sucked in, left stunned. I like that feeling. It isn't one you are likely to forget. "The Alchemy of Love" isn't a book you are likely to forget either. It will change and transform you as only truly great artistry can.

I've read all of Joe Lansdale's novels, and a significant percentage of his short stories. I believe that "The Bottoms" may be his best book yet. This novel finds Lansdale exploring new narritive and stylistic territory while staying within many of his traditional themes. This may also be his most accesible book to date, and should gain him some new readers whose sensibilities might be too fragile for some of Joe's earlier horror novels.

"The Bottoms" is indeed a horror novel, a genre that Lansdale has not explored for a number of years. Really though, it might be more proper to call this a hybrid of the crime/detective, horror, and traditional literary forms. There are elements of all of these, but no single aspect is overemphasized.

The story is set in 1930's East Texas and centers around a family living in a small town called Marvel Creek. The narration is from the point of view of an old man, near death, telling the story from the point of view of himself as a teenager. The author's narrative execution is truly masterful. Lansdale manages to capture both the point of view of the teenage boy and the elderly man, so that we see everything through both aspects of the same person.

The story itself is also constructed with a master's touch. This is a longish novel (more than 400 pages), and the gradual buildup, climax, and denouement are perfectly paced and executed. Many people are primarily familiar with Lansdale through his Hap and Leonard books, but "The Bottoms" is a much different animal. The pacing is much slower, and there is an innocence and wonder that pervades the whole book. As always, though, the best thing about a Joe Lansdale novel is the characters. I feel like I know these characters. It's the characters that will grab you and keep you there for the whole book.

Lansdale never disappoints. It's amazing to me the variety that I always find in his novels. In recent months, I have read "Freezer Burn", "Waltz of Shadows", "Blood Dance", and "The Bottoms". Each of these books is totally different from the others, yet they all have that Lansdale quality. "The Bottoms" is some of Lansdale's best writing to date. Don't hesitate.

This books is marvelous. In Comics : An Illustrated History, the authors Alan and Laurel Clark, explain the past, the present and the future of comics. It contains: More then 250 photos, it covers all the countries with own comics produce, the history of comics in all its kind, Wonderful rare pictures from Alan and Laurel's collection. There are four parts in the book: English Comics, American Comics, European Comics and Comics in the World. It's a must for any comic's fan.

In Diaries, Alan Clark gives us an entertaining look at his life in politics during the Thatcher era. A politician of fortunate background, Clark is candid and often indiscreet. Happier to be a reckless read rather that an imperious tome, Clark lets us examine his view of politics -disdain of his constituents from Devon and the necessary machinations required to reach higher office. Though Clark never reached the cabinet position he craved, he led an active life in Thatcher's administration most notably in the Defence Department and the DTI, ending up achieving another dream of becoming a Privy Councillor. As a look at the privileged lifestyle of some of Britain's MPs and their reflections on being "servants" of the people who had voted them into Parliament, the Diaries are a gallop through the political history of the period of 1983 to 1991. Spiced with mentions of infidelity (both real and desired), blunders the Duke of Edinburgh would be proud of (calling an emerging African nation Bongo-Bongo land) and Brutus like stabs in the back of colleagues, Clark is highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable. I just wanted a bit more of an explanation about "the coven"

Reading the newly pre-eminent translation of "The Genealogy of Morality" by Maudemarie Clark (a standard-bearer in Nietzsche scholarship) and Alan Swensen, a book regarded by Nietzsche himself as "a touchstone for what belongs to me," one may well wonder if, since its publication in 1887, much has been established in the genres of moral philosophy or moral psychology that is not merely an unwitting (or unacknowledged) footnote to the scintillating propositions, probabilities, and speculations this book.

For further corroborative and complementary work -- by a contemporary academic gifted with a matchless synthesis of eloquence, erudition, and psychological acuity -- see William Ian Miller's "Humiliation," "The Anatomy of Disgust," and his forthcoming "The Mystery of Courage."

Since I enjoyed reading David Clark's "Dialogical Apologetics" and "Apologetics in the New Age," co-authored with Norman Geisler, I had to read "The Pantheism of Alan Watts," especially since it was referenced in the co-authored book above. Although, admittedly, I'm not well read on Alan Watts (which is my weakness in reviewing this book), the fact that he is a popular author provided incentive to my reading, and probably to Clark's writing, of this book. Clark's mastery of the Watts corpus is apparent, and the analysis is intellectually engaging. He is obviously careful in his presentation of Watts' evolving ideas, from his early belief as an Anglican priest that Christianity was compatible with (Zen) Buddhism and "the perennial philosophy" to his later admission of its incompatibility which resulted in his abandonment of Christianity. Clark also shows how Watts can get around some of the intellectual objections of his critics. But he also shows how Watts and other pantheistic mystics face an intellectual dilemma when making claims such as "God is unknowable by intellection". According to Clark, "Not only is Watts unable to explain human existence with its sensations of finite individuality, he has built a system which cannot be meaningfully affirmed." He continues: "It is always logically possible that there is more to 'the universe than normal experience can understand or comprehend,' but if this universe is pantheistic, there remains the thorny problem of how and why human beings came to exist, speak, think and feel as they do. Watts cannot eliminate all experience as false and conventional because his knowledge is based on experience. Neither can he differentiate between valid mystical experience and conventional pseudoexperience (i.e., our experience of finite existence) because that distinction would be a rational one. It seems that a mystical pantheism has difficulty eliminating the overwhelming experience of being a finite ego from the realm of valid experience" (pg. 104).

Clark admits that this argumentation may not convince some mystics and quotes D. T. Suzuki as an example. But he points out that dismissing logical incoherencies out of hand means that any world view becomes impossible to criticize, including the theistic world view of Christianity. Even if admirers of Watts aren't convinced by the analysis or conclusions of this book, I would find it hard to believe that they would walk away from this book without a deeper understanding of both Watts and his critics. I challenge avid readers of Watts to locate and read this book and if, after doing so, they found it lacking in any way, to provide a well thought-out critique ... I look forward to reading your reviews. This book is highly recommended, along with Clark's other two books mentioned above, and requires careful reading and reflection. For those who consider themselves "panentheists" instead of "pantheists," see Norman Geisler's critical analysis of this world view in his book "Christian Apologetics".