In the often action-packed world of urban fantasy, where narratives move at a blistering pace and the time for introspection or contemplation is scant, it’s rare to have characters who truly wear their hearts on their sleeves. That’s not to say that characters in all urban fantasies don’t go on Continue Reading
Books
#Halloween book review: The Lost Ones by Anita Frank
People, it so often turns out, have a fairly limited perception of time. We tend to see the past, present and future as unalterably locked away in their own sealed-off chronological prisons but the truth, as Anita Frank demonstrates with gothic-tinged dread and considerable insightful compassion in her hauntingly atmospheric Continue Reading
Book review: Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly
For many people, family is the prism through which much of life makes sense. We may not always love our fellow family members are fully and completely as Hallmark might suggest, but it is through our connections to our parents and siblings and uncles and aunts and grandparents and on Continue Reading
#Halloween picture book review: Gustavo the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago
We all need friends. They are the people who are always there for you, love you regardless of your strange flaws and (hopefully endearing quirks) and who make your time here on this earth far more than just the sum total of what you bring to the table. But what Continue Reading
Book review: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
After what has been by any measure the year from hell, where reality’s failings have been laid bare without fear or favour and without the hint of an apology, you could be forgiven for wondering if there is anything good or just left in the world at all. Everywhere you Continue Reading
Book review: Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler
Much of the time, the way we react to life is purely instinctual, especially when we’re children and we form our defensive responses less on reason and more on emotion and a need for some kind of perceived protection. The problem with these perfectly understandable responses to childhood trauma is Continue Reading
Book review: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green
If aliens were to invade Earth, and let’s be honest, if popular culture is any guide they are queued all the way back to the Kuiper Belt waiting to do so, the first question we would need to ask ourselves is who do need saving from – them or ourselves? Continue Reading
Book review: The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
Sociopaths and psychopaths aside, no one ever wakes up one day and thinks to themselves that now is the time I will put aside all my lofty hopes and dreams for the future and choose instead to do those things which slowly but surely corrode my soul and eat away Continue Reading
Book review: The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
Humanity is not, by and large, a fan of looking deep into its soul. You could be forgiven for thinking so when you look at the dizzying amount of literature, music, film and on and on devoted to exploring the darker and lighter parts of humanity’s inner self, but the Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: The whimsical joy of Accidentally Wes Anderson
SNAPSHOTJoin us to discover the most interesting and idiosyncratic places on Earth. Inspired by the unique vision of director Wes Anderson’s films, this book travels to every continent to tell the extraordinary and unexpected true stories behind more than two hundred stunning locations. (synopsis via Laughing Squid) Plague-ridden 2020 has Continue Reading