China Tom Mi ville (born September 6, 1972) is a British writer of fantastic fiction. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" (after early 20th century pulp and horror writers such as H.P. Lovecraft), and belongs to a loose group of writers who consciously attempt to move the fantasy genre away from the realms of Tolkienesque clich .
Mi ville was born in London, England, where he currently lives. When he was eighteen, he lived and taught English in Egypt, where he developed an interest in Arab culture and Middle Eastern politics. Mi ville has a B.A. in social anthropology from Cambridge and a master's with distinction and PhD from the London School of Economics.
He stood unsuccessfully for the British House of Commons in the 2001 General Election as a candidate for the Socialist Alliance. He is a member of the British Socialist Workers Party, and his left-wing politics colour his writing (they are particularly evident in Iron Council, his fourth novel).
Mieville shows that revolution is much more complex than most revolutionaries expect, that human beings have many motivations, that events may not be what they seem, effects may be impossible to predict, and good guys seldom win for very long.
Mieville has stated in interviews that he does not want to create stories with simple "good vs. evil" morality, but that is generally what he does.
Mieville's main characters are often conflicted, impulsive, selfish, and wonderfully complex, but they end up fighting against forces that are entirely loathsome, which is a cop-out.
It was always going to be hard to predict exactly what 'Looking For Jake', ChinaMieville's first collection of short stories, would be.
As Mieville's monsters are wont to do, it grows and learns and lots of gory fun is had by all...echoes of Frankenstein abound but it's overly nasty for my taste and too short to carry much weight.
I can't help but think that enjoyment of this collection is going to depend on which of Mieville's novels were most to your taste.
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