Ida Keogh

I quite enjoyed this. Keogh is a good writer, mostly, and its a good idea done well. There is gentle satire and ooh politics, and the format is something that appeals to me. Occasional lapses into cliche are forgivable, if a little irritating (as a cockney I was mildly offended by the crappy depiction of the racist cockney cab driver). Not that there aren't racist cockney cab drivers but ffs is that the only voice we're ever allowed? Racist cabbies and gangsters and sodding Eastenders. Anyway yeah Fish! is mostly good, occasionally a bit crap, but I'd definitely read more by Ida Keogh. Koff, Kee-ooh/f, or Kew I wonder?… (meer)

A rather pointed (although hardly incorrect) metaphor regarding the UK's policy of incoming refugees. Who are cast as Merpeople fleeing a clan war deep beneath the seas. A host of different characters appear for a chapter each to give their brief viewpoints, with many re-appearing in others' sights. It works very well, although possibly slightly over the top. Initial surprise is investigated, and sympathy for their plight leads to minimal action, which in turn drives initial wide spread acceptance before suspicion and retaliation pick up again. If only there was the possibility of a slightly more positive ending in the real world.

The merpeople themselves aren't totally water bound, capable of breathing air or water interchangably, and like many aquatic species change gender more or less at will. The author's also chosen to give them chromoplastic skin and a siren like song of attraction - I'm not sure it was really necessary but it allowed a few more hooks for the acceptance to hang.

I winced a few times at the sharpness of the critique - SF can usually be more subtle - but it was well written short and clever.… (meer)

This novella is Ida Keogh's first published longer work after her award-winning short story "Infinite Tea in the Demara Cafe". That story created expectations for me and while perhaps not as neatly wrapped up, "Fish!" certainly did not disappoint.

The story takes place in a contemporary setting and deals with themes of love, war and mainly, discrimination. It has one fantastical element: the discovery of mermaids (or merfolk to be precise), so in terms of genre classification "urban fantasy" seems a suitable tag.

"Fish!" is told in many short chapters, from different points of view, which generally keeps the pace fast and allows the author to dispense a lot of information quickly, though the absence of named characters in many chapters sometimes makes it harder to remain invested in the story.

The author has the talent to deal with serious themes while keeping the tone pleasant throughout and ties up the story by focusing it towards specific characters in the final third.

I'm very interested to follow this author's development in the future!… (meer)