The chances are that if you haven’t heard of Christmas, then you have been living under the proverbial rock, without deliveries of junk mail or without access to a streaming platform or no nearby mall or singing angels in the sky announcing the saviour’s birth (you know, it happens ALL Continue Reading
Books
On 8th day of Christmas … I read Across the Void by S. K. Vaughn #BookReview
Nothing captures the imagination like trying to rescue someone in impossible circumstances and it doesn’t get much more impossible than the cold and unforgiving surrounds of outer space. An environment noted for its hostility to life as much as its startling beauty, journeying into space is not for the fainthearted Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas … I added 10 more new pop culture ornaments to my tree incl. Ziggy, Scruffy, Star Trek: Discovery and Bing Bong
It would readily apparent by now that I really love Christmas, and by extension that I really love decorating my Christmas tree which takes pride of pop culture ornament-accented place in my lounge room every year. Granted, it’s almost 20 years old and is looking a little old and creaky Continue Reading
Book review: Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett
One of the great truisms of reading, indeed life itself it seems at times, is not judging a book by its cover. However, it is well nigh impossible to pass by the boldly bright cover of Kristen Arnett’s Mostly Dead Things, a tale of messed up families, love and weirdly-expressed Continue Reading
On 5th day of Christmas … I read Olaf’s Night Before Christmas #Frozen
Does Kristoff have trenchant personal hygiene issues? Is Sven moonlighting on Christmas eve as a sleigh-pulling reindeer hailing a strangely jolly bearded man in red through the sky? And, most importantly because enquiring sentient snowman minds want to know, are the stockings hung by the chimney because they’re wet? Are Continue Reading
Book review: The Wailing Woman by Maria Lewis
If you’ve ever had a sneaking suspicion that more goes in this crazy, mixed-up world than meets the naked mortal eye, then has Australian author Maria Lewis got a tale (or five) to tell you. A whole universe of them in fact with the fantasy author on the rise responsible Continue Reading
On 2nd day of Christmas … I read The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Lisa Dickenson
Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Or so the 1963 evergreen classic by Edward Pola and George Wyle would have us believe, what with “kids jingle belling”, “everyone telling you to be of good cheer” and “caroling out in the snow” (unless you’re in Continue Reading
Book review: After the Flood by Kassandra Montag
As a species, humanity is deeply attached to the idea that adversity builds some kind of nobility of purpose, that by going through metaphorical fire we are somehow purged of our lesser selves and emerge with a flawless, unimpeachable self. It’s a heartwarming idea and so it’s no surprise we Continue Reading
Book review: The Best Kind of Beautiful by Frances Whiting
There is something almost indescribably wonderful about watching someone come to life again. Perhaps that’s because of the simple of beauty of watching something rich and vibrant spring forth from seemingly nothing – that’s never strictly speaking completely true; there’s always something there, it’s usually just deeply repressed and dormant Continue Reading
Book review: Star Wars – Resistance Born by Rebecca Roanhorse
One of the more curious aspects of human nature is the lengths that people will go to, and the pernicious accommodations they will make, for the sake of a perceived peaceful existence. Politicians, particularly those of a more authoritarina bent, of which the world has a surfeit right now, take Continue Reading