Joining us on Backlisted this week is writer John Higgs whose fascinating new book William Blake Vs The World is out now. We were thrilled John chose Steve Aylett's guide to originality, creativity and individuality, Heart of the Original, first published by Unbound in 2015 and as original, creative and individual a book as we have ever featured on this podcast; be prepared to experience a "small-particle tulpa storm" of ideas.

Also in this episode, John enjoys the waspish melancholy of Elizabeth Hardwick's Sleepless Nights, while Andy introduces a reading from Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy, a trailblazing Guyanese woman's memoir of post-war London.

Books mentioned:

Steve Aylett - Heart of the Original (Unbound e-book); Heart of the Original (Kindle); Lint
John Biggs - The KLF; Watling Street'; Stranger Than We Can Imagine, William Blake Vs The World
Beryl Gilroy - Black Teacher
Elizabeth Hardwick - Sleepless Nights
Flann O’Brien - At Swim Two Birds
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
Richhard Brautigan - So the Wind Won’t Blow It All Away
Martin Amis - Time’s Arrow
Philip K. Dick - Counter-Clock World
Octavia Butler - Parable of the Sower
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Richard Jeffries After London
Angela Carter - The Bloody Chmber

Other links:

Pre-order Steve Aylett’s new comic Hyperthick
Heart of the Original trailer
Stewart Lee talks about Aylett's novel Lint on A Good Read on BBC R4
Steve Aylett interviewed by Adam Savage, June 2021
Lint The Movie (2012
Sun Ra - Space is the Place