Keyan Bowes

Recently, I received an email from Robert Borski, asking if I'd be interested in a review PDF of his new book, Bloodwallah and Other Poems. I was instantly intrigued.

I've never met Borski, but I'd encountered his poetry in Strange Horizons. Until I started reading SH, I had no idea at all that there was so much excellent genre poetry out there.  I even thought SH should double up on poetry, they  did it so well. (Does the average reader thinks that all of spec fic poetry is contained in the poems in Asimov's and in Tolkien's books, or was I just above-averagely ignorant?)  Anyway. SH published quite a few of  Borski's inventive poems that stayed with me long after I'd left the site.  I often said so on the SH forums (which are, unfortunately, the weakest point of an otherwise very strong magazine).

So, Bloodwallah. I loved it. It's the poetry of ideas, of what-ifs, of clever turns of phrase... the kind of poem that makes one think of things differently. This collection of 91 pages of poems starts with an outraged Bloodwallah talking about a vampire customer who treated one of his finest vintages as "sang plonk." It touches on clocks that strike 13... and Pinocchio's sister... and CSI: Transylvania... and toasters more dangerous than sharks.

It's a great collection to be enjoyed with friends to whom you can read choice bits out loud. I'll be looking to buy a copy for someone I think will like it.