My article on how the Albigensian crusade supplied a template for modern oppression, and a podcast talking about all things Cathar, both for Jacobin.

My article on how the Albigensian crusade supplied a template for modern oppression, and a podcast talking about all things Cathar, both for Jacobin.
My review of a study of the last witchcraft executions in England, in Bideford, a town I know well. It shows the roots of witch-panics in conflicts fuelled by capitalism and the state and was deeply fascinating. Recommended!
‘Another writer who knows how to make far-future, spacefaring stories leap from the page is Elaine Graham-Leigh, whose glitteringly good debut novel The Caduca (Conrad Press, £9.99) is an action-packed story about neocolonialism, the blood-soaked cynicism of liberal intervention and a resistance movement divorced from the people and trapped in a cycle of pointless violence and self-indulgent martyrdom.’
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/sci-fi-and-fantasy-june-21-2021
Sean Sheehan at The Fantasy Hive says that it ‘spins an engaging tale that resonates with contemporary issues around legacies of colonialism, resistance and the treachery of politicos’, while David Gee says ‘there are echoes of Frank Herbert’s magisterial Dune saga, which sets Graham-Leigh up there with the giants of the genre.’
Thanks, both!
A fun conversation with Vince Stevenson of @Boomersonbooks, ranging from writing ‘ticks’ to AIs joining trade unions!
A fantasic review of The Caduca from Richard Allday on Counterfire.
Above all, Graham-Leigh has written a book that stands with the unremarked, the overlooked, the dispossessed, whose usual fate is to be written out of history yet whose labour is indispensable.
See the review here.
The Caduca
£10.00
I was recently interviewed about The Caduca by Francis Sealey of Enfield Climate Action Forum, Enfield Voices and GlobalNet21 (he has many hats). It was so much fun to talk in-depth about the book, even if some of the questions were distinctly tricky!
Come to my online book launch, with the All Good Bookshop, and hear me talk about the politics of the novel and what it all means.
Friday 26th March, 7pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81325453819?pwd=UnliNkFFNXNHZGEwVWV4ZXYyTXdaUT09
Meeting ID: 813 2545 3819
Passcode: 880298
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/361965998158089
If you can’t wait, here’s me talking about The Caduca on the Conrad Press Youtube channel.
Me, in conversation about The Caduca, on my publisher, The Conrad Press’ Youtube channel.
If you like this, buy the book! Also available on Amazon and from all good bookshops.
My sci-fi novel, out 10th March, or order direct from me now.
The Caduca
Including free postage to UK addresses. Contact me for international postage.
£10.00