Ishmael's Blues is the third anthology of essays by ishmael smith, following Honest, Not Invent (2020) and Vent Stack (2021). Where the first book mixed posts from his blog Call Me Ishmael with a selection of rants by his earlier alter-ego, stanislav (the young polish plumber), and Vent Stack was pure stanislav, the present volume is devoted entirely to writing from the ishmael blog. There is a strong biographical element to the selection, which also continues mr ishmael's caustic examination of books, politics, Mediaminster, and the Royal Family.Among reactions to the two books already available were the following :'It chronicles the human condition through the eyes of an outsider, but one who is unencumbered by the polite conventions imposed on us by "our betters"...please, if you have never heard of Ishmael Smith, or his alter ego, Stanislav, do yourself a great favour, buy this book, read it, use his way of deflating pomposity, and, over all else, just damned well enjoy the writings of a modern literary genius.'Grimy Miner, reviewing Honest, Not Invent on Swiss Bob's going-postal.com'Brilliantly written - without a gift from God it would have been impossible to generate such style and power. Mr Ishmael had an uncanny eye for detail, and this allied to an incredible capacity for mimicry in his writings gave birth to the many voices that enriched his work. If you have two functioning brain cells and are fed up with the propaganda and bias daily doled out by the MSM and the PBC, and the increasing censorship that lets the powerful and connected escape scrutiny, and need an antidote, then this is it.'Mike, reviewing Honest, Not Invent on the callmeishmael blog.Caratacus said...'I envy those lucky folk who have yet to read mr ishmael's writings - boy, do they have a treat in store.'Doug Shoulders said...'I have a hardback on order to arrive in time for the bookcase I'm building.Honest, Not Invent will go top left hand side.'Bungalow Bill said...'Fabulous work. Thus are the pious humbled. Always a fine thing to see. Nice one.'
