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Babylon
by Richard Calder
Introduction by K J Bishop
(PS Publishing, £25, 248 pages, signed (by Richard Calder), numbered,
limited edition hardback, also available as signed (by Richard Calder
and K J Bishop), numbered, limited edition slipcased hardback priced
£60, published March 2006.)
Review by Nick Jackson
 Babylon
has a lush feel to it. Calder writes erudite and richly detailed prose
which situates the characters first in the Victorian London of Jack
the Ripper and later in the crumbling metropolis of a modern Babylon
existing in a parallel dimension. The book is strong on atmosphere and
there are some marvellously melodramatic set pieces in which major plot
shifts are played out. I get the impression that Calder knows his material
and wants the reader to be able to visualise his world clearly but this
enthusiasm for detail is also one of the novel's drawbacks. The pages
are cluttered with facts and at one point I began to feel some sympathy
with the character who bursts out, in frustration, "I don't know
nuffink!" as she is lectured on some finer point of ancient Babylonian
custom by the precocious Madeleine Fell, the principle character and
first person narrator.
The first person narrative is initially successful in drawing the reader
into the frivolous world of Madeleine and her sidekick Cliticia Lipski
as they fantasise about becoming whores of the Babylonian other-world.
If the concept of sassy Victorian schoolgirls lacing themselves into
seductive outfits appeals, then you'll enjoy the first part of the novel
as Calder dwells enthusiastically on the details of satin corsets and
steel busks cutting into pubescent flesh. However, although convincing
as the voice of an adolescent at sea in a world of predatory men, the
first person narrative hampers the later stages of the novel where a
sinister sub-plot overwhelms the romanticised school-girl adventure.
With the abrupt termination of the first person narrative, the novel's
dénouement comes across as intellectually tricksy rather than
chilling.
Calder has produced some sumptuous settings with tantalising glimpses
of a fantasy world populated by a race of minotaurs and fabulous creatures.
It is disappointing that the effort the author puts into defining the
history of this world is not carried through in describing these inhabitants
who remain shadowy and uncertain presences. Whilst the book jacket promises
blood and gore and there are intimations of ravishment and slaughter
scattered throughout the first part of the novel, the second and third
parts deliver little of either and the melodramatic quality of the set
pieces seems increasingly at odds with the cerebral working out of the
novel's conclusion.
Elsewhere in infinity plus:
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