September 5, 2026 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy Simon & Schuster Australia) OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO

Her fresh start is just getting started … Thoughts on Leanne 2

(courtesy Leanne Morgan Comedy Instagram) Moving on with your life after a traumatic event is always going to be a challenge, and not simply in the immediate aftermath. In season 1 of the Chuck Lorre sitcom, Leanne, we see the eponymous protagonist of this gentle comedy, played by stand-up comedian Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) One of the most enduring motifs in space operas is the idea that a renegade, diverse bunch of people, all of good heart and relatively pure soul, which is rare in a rough-n-tumble, dog-eat-dog galaxy, can find each other, come together, forge a found family against Continue Reading

Movie review: Enola Holmes 3

(courtesy IMP Awards) In an age where everything feels more than a little serious and there’s nothing, it seems at least, but doom and freaking gloom, then we should all give thanks for franchise such as a Enola Holmes which, on its third sprightly outing, proves there’s great diversionary and Continue Reading

Graphic novel review: Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries

This graphic novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, August 2026 The power of human connection is a recurrent theme in human storytelling for one very good reason. While we are very much individuals and should always be firstly defined by who we are alone, it’s an undeniable truth that Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Queenie is Working on it by Candice Carty-Williams

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Some seven years ago when I had the great fortune to read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, it became quickly apparent that here was a protagonist I was going to really love … A LOT. Queenie was everything you could want in a leading character, so much so Continue Reading

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4 review: “Level-Five Transporter Accident”(E5) + “Off-Hour” (E6)

(courtesy Memory Alpha) “Level-Five Transporter Accident” Now here’s some fun! Star Trek meets the Muppets in an episode which demonstrates once again that Strange New Worlds is more than happy to go there, and with gusto and fierce imagination into the sort of places many other sci-fi series fear to Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Every Time She Wakes by Petronella McGovern

(courtesy Allen & Unwin – Australia) If you ever have the opportunity to go to a book launch of any kind, even it features a genre that usually doesn’t trouble the heaving shelves off your overstacked TBR, then you must go. Not only will, of course, have the great pleasure Continue Reading

Movie review: The Dog Stars

(courtesy IMP Awards) When I read The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, the novel on which the great Ridley Scott’s latest movie is based, I was struck by how forcefully hope sat at the centre of a post-apocalyptic tale of a world brought to its civilisational knees by a virus Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Everything that is Beautiful by Louise Nealon

This novel was mostly read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Secrets can usually only stay secrets for so long. Somehow, some way, what was holding them in place far away from public gaze and collective knowledge corrodes and falls away and the truth outs, unable Continue Reading

Some friendships are bulletproof: Thoughts on Ride or Die

(courtesy IMP awards) Even if you are a Woman of a Certain Age (and yes, this is directly referenced in the show; I will leave you to work out exactly how), or even a Man of you know, you will still likely be familiar with the phrase “ride or die”. Continue Reading