This is precisely the focus of The Football Factory, with King fictionalising the bewildering experience of living within a literalised media landscape and the resultant pre-millennium tension. Stating that the major challenge facing the genre is a meaningful examination of the present, Vaccari argues that SF “has not successfully engaged with some dominant (and curiously ‘science fictional’) languages of our era: the languages of advertising propaganda…”

In the last issue of Abaddon, Andrés Vaccari briefly attempted to sketch out a future direction for science fiction. Still, the question remains: why is King getting props in a magazine ostensibly concerned with the ‘fantastic’? King writes about working class mores, football and drugs, less the sloppiness and incomprehensible self-indulgence peddled by the Scottish writer. But don’t be fooled by the Irvine Welsh endorsement on the cover. In case you’re wondering, The Football Factory is not ‘science fiction’ or ‘fantasy.’ In fact, most would class it as straight realism, punk-as-fuck and no-holds barred. This review will attempt to redress the imbalance and whet your appetite for John King’s skilful œuvre. Although The Football Factory is an important work, it has not had much critical attention in Australia, with ‘soccer’ not considered to be a particularly marketable subject here. It has been re-issued to coincide with the release of England Away, King’s most recent book and the third part of his loose trilogy (Headhunters was the second). The Football Factory, John King’s début novel, charts the lives of a group of football hooligans in present-day London, England. Originally published in Abaddon # 2, Autumn 1999.

The football factory book