Quentin S. Crisp's Blue on Blue was published by Snuggly Books in December 2015.
Information about Quentin S. Crisp:
Quentin S. Crisp was born in 1972, in North Devon, U.K. He studied Japanese at Durham University and graduated in 2000. He has had fiction published by Tartarus Press, PS Publishing, Eibonvale Press and others. He currently resides in Bexleyheath, and is editor for Chômu Press.
Information about Blue on Blue:
In an artificially engineered loop of parallel time called the Alternative States of the American Fifties, Victor Winton, a talented but unfulfilled cartoonist, struggles with the contradictory forces held in precarious stasis by the loop. While trying to create the perfect pin-up girl for his new comic-strip series, he becomes intrigued with an ‘ordinary girl’ by the name of Jenny Mills. As he struggles to harness the fascinations at work in his life, they expand beyond the range of his control and threaten a fulfilment for which he might not be ready.
Blue on Blue - a cosy novel in which anything might happen.
A REVIEW OF QUENTIN S. CRISP'S BLUE ON BLUE
Quentin S. Crisp's Blue on Blue was an unexpected reading pleasure of the most pleasant kind. It was an enjoyable and beautifully written literary science fiction novel that impressed me.
Before I write more about this novel and my thoughts about it, I'll say a few words about Quentin S. Crisp, because he may be an unknown author to many readers. Quentin S. Crisp's fiction has been published by several small presses and he is editor for Chômu Press. He is a talented author whose works range from literary fiction to speculative fiction. I urge you to read his works.
I'm familiar with some of Quentin S. Crisp's works, because I've read Defeated Dogs (Eibonvale Press, 2013) and The Cutest Girl in Class (co-written with Brendan Connell and Justin Isis / Snuggly Books, 2013). Because I enjoyed reading both of them and considered them to be excellent, I was pleased to have the opportunity to take a look at this novel.
Blue on Blue is one of the most unique science fiction novels of the year. It's a relatively short novel with plenty of depth and style that sets it apart from mainstream science fiction. It's not your normal kind of a science fiction novel, because it defies easy classification - it's something totally different, but it's utterly charming.
In my opinion, Blue on Blue is a novel that each reader must experience personally, because it has plenty of thoughtfulness. It's not an easy novel, but it will reward its reader with thoughtful and wistful scenes. In this review, I'll concentrate on writing about how I felt about this novel, its contents and the author's prose.
One of the best things about this novel is that it can be analysed in several ways and read many times. When you re-read it, you may suddenly find yourself mesmerised by something that you totally missed during the previous reading (to me, this is one of the signs of a good story). It requires quite a lot of attention and concentration from the reader.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Victor Winton lives in the ASAF (the Alternative States of the American Fifties). He's a cartoonist and animator who struggles with a few issues. His favourite colour used to be green, but it changed to blue. A book called Universal Symbolism in Art (by Aadharsh Ratnasingham) and his visits to the museum led him to become fascinated by the colour blue. He is trying to create a perfect pin-up girl, Lara Lovelily, but becomes fascinated by a woman called Jenny Mills...
The concept of the ASAF is interesting and will be of interest to science fiction readers, because it's an artificial history zone reclaimed from sunken parallel time. It's a sanctuary loop for those who wish to reject certain ontologial time switches by which the original American Fifties receded into the relative past of mainstream history. There are a number of different settings in the ASAF that differ from the mainstream American Fifties.
In this novel, art and colours play an important role. Quentin S. Crisp approaches colours in a refreshingly invigorating way and examines their connection to art and how they emphasise and bring out the details in a work of art. The author also explores how we can become deeply fascinated by something and how we may let our fascination drive us to do something - fascination can easily become obsession and may change and complicate our lives.
Quentin S. Crisp writes excellently about realistic, fantastical and whimsical events that may affect our lives. These events are emphasised by good prose and the protagonist's thoughts about what's going on. By writing about what the protagonist feels about different things and how his relationship with Jenny progresses, the author creates an intimate and interesting atmosphere that gently stimulates reader's imagination.
The author writes intriguingly about Victor's fascination with the colour blue. I enjoyed reading about how Victor became fascinated by this colour and how it affected his life. It was also enjoyable to read about Victor's obsession with the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys.
What happens between Victor and Jenny is intriguing, because at first Jenny reminds Victor of the pin-up girl he's creating, but then he realises that Jenny is similar, but different from Lara. The author told fascinatingly about how Victor feels about Jenny and how similar she is to Lara. The blending of Jenny and Lara in the mind of the protagonist is something that I found mesmerising.
There's fascinating eroticism and erotic beauty in this novel, because certain things have a faint touch of erotic flavour to them. These sensual elements are part of the story and they're handled admirably.
I think that many readers will be fascinated by what is written about Snow White. The things that the author wrote about this popular female character were intriguingly observant and most likely echo the thoughts of certain people who have examined Snow White's meaning to different people.
The coda that has been written by Victor's publisher is an interesting - and a bit unexpected - way to end the story. It's not exactly an obituary, but a well written tribute to the cartoonist. It's a fine piece of fiction that emphasises the literary and slightly experimental nature of the story.
It was a pleasure to read the author's literary prose, because he used different expressions, descriptions and words in a fluent way. Prose-wise this novel is one of the best novels of the year and will please readers who love well written prose, because the prose is lyrical and poetic.
There's subtle and engaging magic in the author's storytelling. Normally, this kind of stories tend to be mediocre, but not this story. This story is enchantingly compelling, because the author steers it towards intellectually stimulating direction. (In my opinion, Blue on Blue demonstrates why we need small presses, because it's a fantastically different kind of a literary science fiction novel that has not been written in haste. It is geared at readers who dare to read something different, because it's a genuinely interesting and intelligent piece of science fiction.)
Quentin S. Crisip's Blue on Blue is a delightfully charming reading experience for thinking adults. It gives readers an opportunity to read about life and work from the perspective of a cartoonist who lives in an artificial history zone. If you appreciate good prose and want to read something that differs from the norm, please read this novel. It's a literary work of art with frames that are made of science fiction.
Highly recommended!