Odds are that if you think of Star Wars, and particularly the trilogy that began it all (New Hope / The Empire Strikes Back / The Return of the Jedi), that your mind will first fall upon the unmissable trio of protagonists of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Continue Reading
Books
Book review: World Engines – Destroyer by Stephen Baxter
Humanity has always had a robust love affair with the future. Often burnt by the past and uncertain or despairing about the present, there is something inside of us that optimistically grabs a hold of the future, embracing it like some kind of gilt-edged promised land where troubles will be Continue Reading
Book review: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #2)
There is an uncommon joy that infuses every last word in Becky Chambers brilliantly-affecting A Closed and Common Orbit. That is largely due to the nuanced and empathetic way that the author addresses the prevailing theme of the book which is all about discovering who you are and where you Continue Reading
#Halloween book review: Peculiar Ground by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
There is a sense, as you plunge into biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s debut novel, Peculiar Ground, that you are in fact walking into a rare and spectacularly unique world. That world is the estate of Wychwood, which we first encounter in the mid-seventeenth century when landscape architect John Norris is, under Continue Reading
Book review: Love in Small Letters by Francesc Miralles
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if life was like the movies? Not Alien or Zodiac because no one wants that kind of trouble; no, films like Sleepless in Seattle or While You Were Sleeping where there are complications sure but life and love generally end up in the sweet spot of Continue Reading
Book review: Five Steps to Happy by Ella Dove
Life is full of surprises. Many are wonderful – unexpected birthday parties, fantastic new job offers, kind words from a total stranger or close friend just when you need it the most. But some are gut-wrenchingly life-changing, the kind that knock you to the ground so profoundly with rug-from-under-you fury Continue Reading
Book review: It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood
Transition points in life are never easy. Oh, we’d like to think they are, or at least will be, since as much as we dread all the change and disruption, we’re also usually quietly (or loudly) excited about the idea that something new and different could be coming down the Continue Reading
Book review: Ice-Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa
When you are taking in the enormity of a major moment in history, it is easy to forget that behind the epic events lie a multiplicity of individual stories. We may see a monolithic whole but it only exists because a host of people all major contributing personal systems that Continue Reading
Book review: The Book of Wonders by Julien Sandrel
There is something gloriously refreshing about the way the French approach their storytelling. By some act of the gods or simply a gift for prodigiously good and insightful storytelling, authors like Julien Sandrel are able to write unflinchingly about the most heartbreaking of situations, giving it due gravity and respect, Continue Reading
Apocalypse by another three names: Author M. R. Carey debuts new trilogy
SNAPSHOTBeyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable landscape. A place where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don’t get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will. Koli has lived Continue Reading