SNAPSHOT “Turtles All the Way Down begins with a fugitive billionaire and a cash reward. It is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara. But at its heart is Aza Holmes, a young woman navigating daily existence within the ever-tightening spiral Continue Reading
Game of Thrones: “The Spoils of War” (S7, E4 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND BBQ’D TROOPS AL FRESCO My what fun they had in Westeros this episode! Well Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) did … and then, did not. Fresh from killing his son’s assassin in the now-cleared out remains of Highgardens – go Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg), ballsy and Continue Reading
Changing hearts and minds: It’s time to journey to the Promised Land
SNAPSHOT In Promised Land, a young Prince and a farm boy meet in the forest and a growing friendship between them blossoms into love. However, when the Queen re-marries, her sinister new husband seeks control of the enchanted forest and the land the farm boy’s family are responsible for Continue Reading
Why I love books and bookstores #LoveYourBookshopDay
Have loved books for as long as I can remember. And given their close connection, I have loved bookshops with just as much passion for almost as long. Where other kids were spending their hard-won pocket money on skateboards, lollies and comics books – OK I did that too Continue Reading
Movie review: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
If there is one thing you know to the very marrow of your movie-loving bone walking into a Luc Besson film, it’s that it will be gorgeously, extravagantly, luxuriously and immersively imaginative. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets lives up to this justifiable expectation, delivering up a Continue Reading
How *jolly*! The Nightmare Before Christmas gets a comic-based sequel and emoji retelling
SNAPSHOT “From the creative team of DJ Milky and Studio DICE, the book will be released as full-color floppies, then collected into graphic novels, and then finally collected in manga-sized editions.” (synopsis via Bleeding Cool) Can you ever really get enough of Tim Burton’s inspired piece of festive storytelling The Continue Reading
Can a chirpy imaginary blue horse save a life? We find out in Happy! (graphic novel review)
Balancing light and dark in any story is always a tricky proposition. Veer too much to the bright and cheery and you risk leaching the narratively-necessary darkness from the more intense elements of your storyline; but go too dark and the comic quotient looks oddly out of place and Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The endangered voice of the Sun Bear
SNAPSHOT Sun Bear imaginatively embodies the life of a sun bear and discusses the issues of poaching and habitat loss due to palm oil in Borneo from the bear’s perspective. It’s all too easy these days to look at the state of the world and see only a giant Continue Reading
Book review: How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
As the temporary custodians of relatively short lifespans, humanity has always looked longingly at the idea of immortality. Everything from the fabled Fountain of Youth through to vampires and religious dogma (though in many cases you have to die to get this extension to your lifespan, rather complicating the Continue Reading
Monday is missing in the first Steven Sisters movie trailer
SNAPSHOT In a not so distant future, where overpopulation and famine have forced governments to undertake a drastic “One Child Policy,” seven identical sisters live a hide-and-seek existence pursued by the Child Allocation Bureau. The Bureau, directed by the fierce Nicolette Cayman (Glenn Close), enforces a strict family-planning agenda Continue Reading