Books

In his 1953 novel The Go-Between, L. P. Hartley rather sagely observes, and no doubt from a position of much lived, wisdom-gathering experience, that “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” As opening lines go they don’t get much better, not simply because of the poetic Continue Reading

If you’re convinced that Terminator‘s Skynet and the dire warnings of Elon Musk are all there is to be the coming AI revolution, then reading M. G. Wheaton’s Emily Eternal may play a pivotal role in changing your mind. Or, at least, easing your fears a little (after stoking them Continue Reading

One of the most arresting scenes in the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz, based on the magically-imaginative books of prolific author L. Frank Baum, is when Toto, Dorothy’s plucky terrier, pulls back the curtain shielding the titular wizard from view and exposing his intimidating spectacle as nothing more Continue Reading

The interior is a place that most of us know only too well. Whether it’s mental health issues, loss and grief, regrets, hope and dreams, or simply dismay at the way a colleague or family member has treated us, our natural inclination seems to be to tuck them far away Continue Reading

It’s tempting to think of the apocalypse, any apocalypse, as the end of all things. In many ways it is, of course, with all the things that define us as a people rendered obsolete, thrust into oblivion so completely that retrieving them, even if we wanted to, is well nigh Continue Reading

Idealism is a powerful thing. Though grim, inevitable reality might suggest that ideals will often die a quick and fiery death of the funeral pyre of exigency or the pragmatic demands of realpolitik, we cling to them anyway, convinced that this time, this time, things will be different. This is Continue Reading

For all the many and varied ways that humanity could slash its collective throat, the trip to the apocalypse almost always looks eerily the same. Some great cataclysmic event occurs, people die en masse (or rise up again), civilisation totters and falls, and the survivability of Homo Sapiens takes an Continue Reading

It’s hard to say what separates a character in a novel that you absolutely fall head-over-heels in love with from those who you appreciate and like but are happy enough to leave behind, but one thing is certain – Queenie is very much the former and not even remotely the Continue Reading

When you typically think of fairies and the kind of home they might inhabit, you imagine ethereally winsome beings who drift around in naive delight, seeking to help those they encounter and awash with optimistically-uplifting joie de vivre. There’s no doubt that’s an appealing vision and one which entities like Continue Reading