Category Archives: Reviews

Psychogeographic Review’s Books of the Year, 2024

The city is a map of stories, and in them we are both the inhabitants and the explorers. Zadie Smith (from NW) At Psychogeographic Review I write about the books, poems, maps, photographs, paintings, films and music that help us to … Continue reading

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Two Arrow Falls (from Chester City Walls) by Giants of Discovery

Music Review – November 2024 The Wirral, where I was born and bred, has an incredibly rich Viking heritage and is the only place in mainland Britain to have documented evidence of Norwegian Viking Settlers, from 902AD. This album is a … Continue reading

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Ghost of an Idea: Hauntology, Folk Horror and the Spectre of Nostalgia by William Burns

Book Review – November 2024 Is nostalgia a harmless skip down memory lane? Can nostalgia be used like propaganda to mollify, entice, and seduce: encouraging us to turn off our critical thinking, stick our heads in the sand, and revel in … Continue reading

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Dark Play by Tim Cooke

Book Review – November 2024 I woke to thud and a crack, a small face ricocheting away from the glass. The features – much like my own – creased into a familiar frown. A spurt of blood spilled from a crevice … Continue reading

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Sunken Lands by Gareth E. Rees

Book Review – April 2024 I started my journey with hope that I could contribute in a microscopic way to the groundswell of storytelling that might help us see what has gone wrong with our civilisation and understand what we … Continue reading

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Final Approach by Mark Blackburn

Final Approach charts the turbulent flightpath between a jetsetting father and a planespotting son. Final Approach is a long way from being the type of book I would normally read and enjoy. I do not share Mark Blackburn’s twin obsessions … Continue reading

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Psychogeographic Review’s Books of the Year, 2023

What is psychogeography, anyway?  My understanding of the concept is three-fold: it is a theory, a practice and a body of evidence.  The most interesting of these, for me, is the body of evidence: the books, works of art and … Continue reading

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Crimes of Cymru: Classic Mystery Tales of Wales – Edited by Martin Edwards

Book Review – August 2023 Macabre fiction has been a particular strength of Welsh writers over the years, perhaps in part inspired by the alluring yet sometomes eerie quality of the landscape. I have to admit I’m a big fan … Continue reading

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Real Dorset by Jon Woolcott

Book Review – August 2023 So it seemed to me that Dorset is ripe for a sort of psychogeography – a literary tradition that in essence is a sensitivity to the meeting point of place and history, finding meaning in … Continue reading

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Brittle With Relics: A History Of Wales 1962 – 1997 by Richard King

Book Review – August 2023 This is a history of a nation determined to survive during crisis, while maintaining the enduring hope that Wales will one day thrive on its own terms. I was looking forward to reading Brittle With … Continue reading

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