(courtesy IMP Awards) Foundation (S2, E1) Cataclysm in slow motion is once again the order of the day as Foundation, base don the work of the great Isaac Asimov ushers in its second season with “In Seldon’s Shadow”. A show known for its lush nuanced stroll towards a civilisational apocalypse Continue Reading
Books
Book review: Frontier by Grace Curtis
(courtesy Goodreads) In a field as venerable and well-established as science fiction, with tropes plenty and cliches to burn, it can be challenging, though clearly not impossible as an impressive number of recent new books in the genre attest, to come up with something truly, mesmerisingly new. And even if Continue Reading
Book review: The Birdcage Library by Freya Berry
(courtesy Hachette Australia) Weaving a mystery into any story is a thing of consummate skill and almost beauty. One wrong foot either way, however, with too much or too little revealed, too early or too late and the entire beguiling narrative, at least the envisaged one, falls into a messy Continue Reading
Book review: Judas Blossom (Book 1 of The Nightingale and the Falcon) by Stephen Aryan
(courtesy Angry Robot Books) If you are history buff, you will be used to the fact that in recounting events from the near or distant past facts should take precedence over almost anything else, which is right and just and precisely what good history telling should do (this comes with Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly book review: Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) Preview copy provided via NetGalley; Wreck the Halls releases 3 October 2023. If you have even a passing familiarity with the deluge of festive storytelling that comes our way each and every Christmas season, you will be patently aware of the fact that redemption and Continue Reading
Book review: The Balloon Hunter (A found novel) by Hugh Howey and Elinor Taylor
(courtesy hughhowey.com) There are a great many horrible things about being caught in an apocalypse – any kind; take your pick – zombie, aline, viral, political – but what really strikes you as you watch or read stories about the end of the world is how lonely it must be. Continue Reading
Book review: Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) There is a prevalent idea out there that having money somehow solves all of a person’s problems. Driven no doubt by those without than those with who likely know all too well that while money might make you happy, or at least comfortable, it does not Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly book review: You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
(courtesy Sourcebooks Casablanca) From the gloriously mischievous play on the lyrics of an old Christmas favourite to the phrase adorning its back cover in Australia (or the front in this artwork) where Santa and “Joy to the World” get short shrift, You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky, Continue Reading
Book review: The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
(courtesy stevenrowley.com) Knowing we are loved is a powerful thing. If we are fortunate enough to have emotionally expressive people in our life, we will know that, deeply and often; but, and all too often this is the case, either through benign neglect or lack of care (usually the former Continue Reading
Book review: Orbital by Samantha Harvey
(courtesy Grove Atlantic) Preview copy provided by NetGalley; Orbital releases 2 November 2023. You imagine that orbiting the earth must be something akin to watching the world’s greatest, most expansive documentary unfolding before you (narrated, of course, by Sir David Attenborough because who else would work in this, or any, Continue Reading