I recently reviewed The Agents by Grégoire Courtois, translated from the French by Rhonda Mullins, for Strange Horizons. Here’s an excerpt from the review: This question, coming near the end of the French surrealistic science fiction novel, The Agents, encapsulates the entire two-hundred-plus-page journey that is this strange, hypnotic text. While its implications and lessons
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. You learn a lot about an author when you read nine of his books in the space of two months. When that author is Pierre Boulle, you’re sure to be intrigued and entertained. A
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Flammarion, 1982 translated by Patricia Wolf Vanguard Press, 1986 183 pages The novel’s original title, Miroitements, means “shimmer,” which better reflects (pun intended) the core of this story: that something bright and shiny may actually be a dangerous distraction. As in The
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Julliard, 1979 translated by Patricia Wolf Vanguard Press, 1985 188 pages I’m not really sure what I just read, but I’ll do my best to write about it. You know how I’ve been saying on twitter (@Rcordas) that Boulle’s work is wild?
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Flammarion, 1976 translated by Margaret Giovanelli Vanguard Press, 1977 187 pages The original title for this collection was Histoires perfides, which literally means “false or treacherous stories.” Personally, I like the English title because it is mellifluous (the very reason why the
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Julliard, 1966 translated by Elisabeth Abbott Vanguard Press, 1971 190 pages The full title of this collection is Because it is Absurd (on Earth as in Heaven), and if that sounds familiar to you, that’s because it riffs off of Jesus’s words
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Julliard, 1964 translated by Xan Fielding Vanguard Press, 1965 315 pages Boulle’s third book to be translated into English demonstrates the writer’s gift for creating heightened tension in the plot and then easing it with a heavy dose of irony. And if
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. selected and translated by Xan Fielding Secker & Warburg, 1966 254 pages It’s a bit confusing when you try to sort out exactly which of Boulle’s stories from which English edition of Time Out of Mind first appeared in which French
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Julliard, 1963 translated by Xan Fielding Vanguard Press, 1963 246 pages If you’ve watched the 1968 Planet of the Apes film, that’s great. Now forget all about it. Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes is, like many of the author’s works,
This is part of a series on French author Pierre Boulle. Julliard, 1977 translated by Margaret Giovanelli Vanguard Press, 1978 204 pages Pierre Boulle published The Great Leviathan, the story of a massive, nuclear-powered oil tanker, eight years after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, in which over three million gallons of oil
