(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) We live in a perilously binary world, one that separates everything into stark Os or 1s and refused to entertain the idea of halves, gradients or places in-between. Armed with that dangerously blinkered mindset, people then begin to assign worth and blame to those that either Continue Reading
Books
Book review: The Death of John Lacey by Ben Hobson
Humanity loves its motherhood statements. There’s something comforting about referring to brotherhood, mercy and justice because they sound full of virtue and goodness and the assumption is made, somewhat erroneously, that everyone knows exactly what’s meant by them. But, like the word “love” itself, there’s often little examination of what Continue Reading
#Halloween book review: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
If you are an inveterate reader, the odds are good, better than good actually, that fellow readers or close friends (sometimes, happily, they are both) that at some point they will recommend a book to you. A book, they will assure you with a mix of solemnity and enthusiasm, is Continue Reading
Book review: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
(courtesy Allen & Unwin Book Publishers) We live in a grievously unbalanced world. No surprises there you say; one look at the 24/7 news cycle or at the place we work or the society in which we live and it becomes clear that fairness very rarely rules the day and Continue Reading
Book review: Bound to Happen by Jonathon Shannon
(courtesy Ultimo Press) When it comes to Sliding Doors territory, that exciting or maddening place, depending on your perspective, where possibilities are endless and change, incremental or large is a constant, there are always a multitude of ways things can either come together or go spinning far apart. At least, Continue Reading
Short film review: The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar
(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) Talk about a marriage made in storytelling heaven. The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar brings together the Roald Dahl story which is part of a 1977 short story collection by the author entitled The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar and Six More – the book also Continue Reading
Book review: The Scourge Between the Stars by Ness Brown
(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) Accomplished horror preys, and yes that word is wholly intentional, as much on our fear of what will happen, of what lurks in the dark or unseen realms just out of perception as it does on what actually comes to pass. It’s the dread, the sickening Continue Reading
#Christmas preview book review: The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary
(courtesy Hachette Australia) This will come as a news to absolutely no one but the world is not exactly full of moments which end neatly and perfectly and with everything tied in a bright red bow. It’s also not fantastically good at giving people the happy endings they deserve, and Continue Reading
Book review: Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane
(courtesy Macmillan Publishers) Fiction is, strictly speaking, the stuff of make believe and imagination, of dreamt up people and not even a shred of coincidence between people living and those who have most certainly shuffled off this mortal coil. But the truth is, and any writer will tell you, that Continue Reading
Retro book review: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Classic books are hailed as classic for a reason. It’s not simply that they’ve been around for a while; plenty of tiles have and people struggle to remember titles, plots or even that they exist at all. The ones that really imprint themselves on peoples’ minds, or that really cement Continue Reading