Philip Palmer is a novelist, screenwriter rand radio dramatist. He is the author of five space operas published by Orbit Books: Debatable Space, Red Claw, Version 43, Hell Ship and Artemis. His other novels/novellas include Hell on Earth, an epic police procedural with demons, Murder of the Heart, a ghost story; and Morpho, an alien invasion thriller written for NewCon Press. His radio plays include the SF thrillers Invasion, and Dark Minds, both for BBC Radio Wales. His most recent radio drama, Clair, features a Welsh private detective with psychic powers, and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in late 2026/early 2027.

The Great West Wood by Philip Palmer

THE GREAT WEST WOOD is a magic realist thriller set in the South London suburb of Westwood. A vibrant urban village set upon a hilltop, looking out across London, in an area once covered by an ancient forest.

This is a place where magic is taken for granted; where trees can talk; and children can float; and where a long-dead peat body can be resurrected to become a much-feared crime boss.

Welcome to Westwood…

CURATOR'S NOTE

I'm a huge Philip Palmer fan, and if you haven't discovered him yet, you must! – Lavie Tidhar

 

REVIEWS

  • "Philip Palmer's The Great West Wood is that rare novel which feels both startlingly original and yet rooted in a mythic tradition as old as Britain itself….[his] writing is alive with energy, wit, and menace."

    – SF Crowsnest

  • "Palmer's prose is vivid and humorous. He is a master of pacing and dialogue, as seen in his past as a screenwriter. Palmer's inventive, distinctive, and uniquely British voice will resonate with everyone who embraces the joy of discovering beautiful, complex books like The Great West Wood."

    – Review Tales
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

You have to admire him, this long dead savage who grew up in a world where a bow and arrow was cutting edge technology. He has adapted and he has learned. He has stolen clothes and money, he wears shoes, he has learned how to speak English, and also a smattering of Urdu. And he has walked the streets of Westwood and he knows the names of many of the people of Westwood, and he knows where the bad shit goes down. He knows where the brothel is, where the drugs can be bought, where the bad guys have their slaughters. He knows where the librarians (not the ones who work in the library, the other sort) hide their guns to rent out or sell to blaggers and bangers. All this, he knows.

He has learned what money is and how it can be used. He knows what mobile phones are and with Kane's guidance, he acquires one and is able to use one. Although his withered fingers find it hard to press the keys accurately so he relies a lot on Autocorrect.

He has come to terms with the bizarre rules of his own reincarnate state. The arm that was bitten off by a dog grew back remarkably quickly, and is now an almost perfect match for the other one. His skin will never look like human flesh but he has used the Fitness Trail in the New Park to bulk himself up, so that he no longer resembles a cadaver chewed by dogs. These days he has arms the size of a slender girl's arms, rather than fragile twigs that can be snapped off by a single dog bite. And his legs are stronger, and thicker, and his torso has muscles, not a six-pack maybe but still considerable core strength. And at night he runs naked around the park at a speed that would incur the envy of any professional athlete.

Over the weeks that follow his first meeting with Kane, his eye grows back too, as good as new. Or as at least, as good as the other one, since both eyes are thick brown blobs which swivel in their sockets, like dungballs moved by unseen ants. But with these two ugly eyes he can see in the dark, he can see long distances, and he can see ghosts. He knows that Westwood is the most haunted of all the London villages; but he ignores them all, all the ghouls and spectres and angry lost souls. He is alive now; he does not identify with the tribe of the dead…