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Escardy Gap
1st edition Earthlight 1998 paperback, vg++ In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
543 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
James Lovegrove
151 books662 followersJames Lovegrove is the author of several acclaimed novels and books for children.
James was born on Christmas Eve 1965 and, having dabbled in writing at school, first took to it seriously while at university. A short story of his won a college competition. The prize was £15, and it had cost £18 to get the story professionally typed. This taught him a hard but necessary lesson in the harsh economic realities of a literary career.
Straight after graduating from Oxford with a degree in English Literature, James set himself the goal of getting a novel written and sold within two years. In the event, it took two months. The Hope was completed in six weeks and accepted by Macmillan a fortnight later. The seed for the idea for the novel — a world in microcosm on an ocean liner — was planted during a cross-Channel ferry journey.
James blew his modest advance for The Hope on a round-the-world trip which took him to, among other places, Thailand. His experiences there, particularly what he witnessed of the sex industry in Bangkok, provided much of the inspiration for The Foreigners.
Escardy Gap was co-written with Pete Crowther over a period of a year and a half, the two authors playing a game of creative tag, each completing a section in turn and leaving the other to carry the story on. The result has proved a cult favourite, and was voted by readers of SFX one of the top fifty SF/Fantasy novels of all time.
Days, a satire on consumerism, was shortlisted for the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award (losing to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow). The book’s genesis most probably lies in the many visits James used to make as a child to the Oxford Street department store owned by his grandfather. It was written over a period of nine months while James was living in the north-west suburbs of Chicago.
Subsequent works have all been published to great acclaim. These include Untied Kingdom, Worldstorm, Provender Gleed, The Age Of Ra and the back-to-back double-novella Gig. James has also written for children. Wings, a short novel for reluctant readers, was short-listed for several awards, while his fantasy series for teens, The Clouded World, written under the pseudonym Jay Amory, has been translated into 7 other languages so far. A five-book series for reluctant readers, The 5 Lords Of Pain, is appearing at two-monthly intervals throughout 2010.
He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times, specialising in the Young Adult, children’s, science fiction, fantasy, horror and graphic novel genres.
Currently James resides in Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast, having moved there in August 2007 with his wife Lou, sons Monty and Theo, and cat Ozzy. He has a terrific view of the sea from his study window, which he doesn’t sit staring out at all day when he should be working. Honest.
James was born on Christmas Eve 1965 and, having dabbled in writing at school, first took to it seriously while at university. A short story of his won a college competition. The prize was £15, and it had cost £18 to get the story professionally typed. This taught him a hard but necessary lesson in the harsh economic realities of a literary career.
Straight after graduating from Oxford with a degree in English Literature, James set himself the goal of getting a novel written and sold within two years. In the event, it took two months. The Hope was completed in six weeks and accepted by Macmillan a fortnight later. The seed for the idea for the novel — a world in microcosm on an ocean liner — was planted during a cross-Channel ferry journey.
James blew his modest advance for The Hope on a round-the-world trip which took him to, among other places, Thailand. His experiences there, particularly what he witnessed of the sex industry in Bangkok, provided much of the inspiration for The Foreigners.
Escardy Gap was co-written with Pete Crowther over a period of a year and a half, the two authors playing a game of creative tag, each completing a section in turn and leaving the other to carry the story on. The result has proved a cult favourite, and was voted by readers of SFX one of the top fifty SF/Fantasy novels of all time.
Days, a satire on consumerism, was shortlisted for the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award (losing to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow). The book’s genesis most probably lies in the many visits James used to make as a child to the Oxford Street department store owned by his grandfather. It was written over a period of nine months while James was living in the north-west suburbs of Chicago.
Subsequent works have all been published to great acclaim. These include Untied Kingdom, Worldstorm, Provender Gleed, The Age Of Ra and the back-to-back double-novella Gig. James has also written for children. Wings, a short novel for reluctant readers, was short-listed for several awards, while his fantasy series for teens, The Clouded World, written under the pseudonym Jay Amory, has been translated into 7 other languages so far. A five-book series for reluctant readers, The 5 Lords Of Pain, is appearing at two-monthly intervals throughout 2010.
He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times, specialising in the Young Adult, children’s, science fiction, fantasy, horror and graphic novel genres.
Currently James resides in Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast, having moved there in August 2007 with his wife Lou, sons Monty and Theo, and cat Ozzy. He has a terrific view of the sea from his study window, which he doesn’t sit staring out at all day when he should be working. Honest.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 10, 2015
An author struggles with writer's block, until he is visited by an irresistible image of a train barreling inexorably to its destination. He continues to write...
The train arrives, unscheduled, at Escardy Gap, an isolated desert town in the 1950s. It's one of those quiet, friendly towns where everybody knows each other. The passengers present themselves as a troupe of entertainers, and are immediately welcomed into the homes and lives of the trusting residents. But it isn't long before Escardy Gap is faced with horrors beyond imagining, for its citizens aren't the ones for which the visiting Company is performing...
This is a solid enough horror story that reminded me of the work of King (the "everyman" characters), Bradbury (the nostalgic element) and maybe a little of Charles Grant as well. It takes a little while to get going but once the villains reveal their true faces it's hard to put down. I'm not sure the framing story of the writer was necessary. It allows for some meta-fictional developments towards the end, but it didn't entirely work for me. Still, it's worth a read if you like any of the other writers I've mentioned.
The train arrives, unscheduled, at Escardy Gap, an isolated desert town in the 1950s. It's one of those quiet, friendly towns where everybody knows each other. The passengers present themselves as a troupe of entertainers, and are immediately welcomed into the homes and lives of the trusting residents. But it isn't long before Escardy Gap is faced with horrors beyond imagining, for its citizens aren't the ones for which the visiting Company is performing...
This is a solid enough horror story that reminded me of the work of King (the "everyman" characters), Bradbury (the nostalgic element) and maybe a little of Charles Grant as well. It takes a little while to get going but once the villains reveal their true faces it's hard to put down. I'm not sure the framing story of the writer was necessary. It allows for some meta-fictional developments towards the end, but it didn't entirely work for me. Still, it's worth a read if you like any of the other writers I've mentioned.
March 10, 2009
This book provided one of the pivotal reading experiences of my life. Written as a homage to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (which, I should say, I hadn't read at the time -- and still haven't), it's a long novel in which a travelling carnival wreaks havoc in a small town -- and that's about it. I could see that even then, after I'd read it.
But what makes Escardy Gap so special for me is its twist: it breaks a rule that, at the time, I didn't know stories were allowed to break. My head was left spinning, a feeling I now see as a hallmark of the best fantasy fiction. But I've never re-read the book, nor do I really want to.
Why not? Beacuse it might tarnish the memories. I remmeber finding the prose wonderfully vivid; and, knowing what I do of Crowther's and Lovegrove's other work, I suspect I would still find it so. But, as I said earlier, the plot struck me, with hindsight, as quite thin. It didn't matter back then, because I was dazzled by what was (to me) something totally unfamiliar in fiction. These days, however, I might not be so forgiving.
The real importance of Escardy Gap to me is what it did for me as a teenager. So perhaps that's where it should stay, and then it will always be a 5-star book in my eyes.
But what makes Escardy Gap so special for me is its twist: it breaks a rule that, at the time, I didn't know stories were allowed to break. My head was left spinning, a feeling I now see as a hallmark of the best fantasy fiction. But I've never re-read the book, nor do I really want to.
Why not? Beacuse it might tarnish the memories. I remmeber finding the prose wonderfully vivid; and, knowing what I do of Crowther's and Lovegrove's other work, I suspect I would still find it so. But, as I said earlier, the plot struck me, with hindsight, as quite thin. It didn't matter back then, because I was dazzled by what was (to me) something totally unfamiliar in fiction. These days, however, I might not be so forgiving.
The real importance of Escardy Gap to me is what it did for me as a teenager. So perhaps that's where it should stay, and then it will always be a 5-star book in my eyes.
November 6, 2014
I found this novel to be very tough to rate. The first 200 pages were forgetable; too many cliches, too much over-the-top characterization, too many characters, and too many bad guys. But then, the plot started to take hold. We delve down into the major characters and begin to see them grow. The quirky plot device of getting the "main" character (the author who is writing this tale) actually into the novel seemed contrived at first and almost hokey but somehow, they pull it off. My interest level definitely perked up and I rode the final pages of the book like a wave. When I finished the last chapter, I wanted to give it more stars but must cut back to only 3 because of the long drawn-out build-up in the beginning. The gory parts (and there are a lot of them) are very gory but often original. All in all, worth it in the end.
September 17, 2007
One of the creepiest books I've ever read. Stephen-King-like horrors ensue when the dark circus pulls into the isolated Escardy Gap.
June 24, 2008
This, like The Dead Zone by Steven King, is a derivative of Ray Bradbury's work, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Unlike King's work it's not attributed to the master, as far as I can see. And it's grotesque rubbish. All ugly stuff with nothing to redeem it and a feeble reality versus fiction conceit to justify it. Give it a miss.
Unlike King's work it's not attributed to the master, as far as I can see. And it's grotesque rubbish. All ugly stuff with nothing to redeem it and a feeble reality versus fiction conceit to justify it. Give it a miss.
January 11, 2022
A tough one for me, as I’ve been reading this book - on and off - for most of the year. Back when I had my review column in Interzone, I very nearly reviewed it (ended up covering another Earthlight title instead) and I certainly don’t know what I’d have thought of it then….but, for now, it’s been a mostly enjoyable read. Escardy Gap is like one of Stephen King’s town/community horror novels…but without all the in-depth character backgrounds and childhood reflections: that’s not to say it doesn’t give you a brief chapter or so on each character - and Escardy Gap does have a big cast of characters - but you’re not given the sort of time King often devotes to his backgrounds before it all kicks off. Nevertheless, it certainly covers a lot of ground in 500 odd pages and is definitely a read to be savoured if you liked Ray Bradbury’s ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ (which was a deliberate intention on the part of the authors). It’s certainly one you will struggle to forget…even if you might want to!
January 25, 2024
Took me a month to read because I just wasn't bothered about picking it back up. The first half of the book is SO slow and didn't grab me at all. The second half gets a bit more interesting and the ending is ok but it's not a book I'll be re-reading.
May 3, 2018
Terrible. Couldn't finish this hamfisted pastiche of Ray Bradbury. Ridiculously overwritten too. Who on earth pees in a "cynical way"?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews