SPOILERS AHEAD … AND HORSES AND COWBOYS AND WATERSLIDING ZOMBIES … Life, huh? One minute you’re riding high-ish … the next? Well, let’s just say whatever the opposite of high is, go there and then keep digging. In the case of the season 5 finale of Fear the Walking Dead, Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: Martha the Monster learns to embrace her otherness
SNAPSHOTIn a world where humans live alongside monsters, Martha finds herself stuck with a major identity crisis. (synopsis via Laughing Squid) There is something intoxicatingly powerful about the freedom to be completely and utterly yourself. I don’t mean in some kind of antisocial, douchebag kind of way; rather, being unapologetically Continue Reading
Book review: Bodies of Men by Nigel Featherstone
There are places in this world where it is hard to imagine beauty of any kind emerging. Top of the list, with dubious honours, would have to be the theatre of war, that peculiarly destructive place where humanity supposedly fights one against the other but if we’re truly honest, against Continue Reading
Ridiculous but fun to watch: The discarded opening scene for Toy Story 4
Brilliance, even for animation as innovative and talented as Pixar, is a progression, not an immediate destination. Granted, the company that brought us the eternal delights of Toy Story (1 through 4), UP and Wall-E, among many, many others, has a bigger head start thatn most but evebn so, every Continue Reading
Loyalty, fate and magical compulsion: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
SNAPSHOTRaybearer themes loyalty and fate, and is steeped in West African traditions and mythologies. The novel centers on Tarisai, who was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. As Raybearer begins, The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Continue Reading
Wheee! Lucas the Spider and his friend the Fly go for a icily-fun ride
Summer is here! Lucas and his friend found a new toy to play with – if only they could get it to stay still! (synopsis via Laughing Squid (c) Lucas the Spider Here in Australia, winter, which truth be told doesn’t amount to all that much, at least compared to Continue Reading
Did Penguin Books have an actual penguin as an intern? Yes, yes it did …
SNAPSHOTOver the summer of 2019, the Penguin Books distribution center in Maryland played host to a little African penguin who interned with them for a day. The flightless bird confidently walked into the building, through the lobby and right into the warehouse to do a spot inspection. She then made Continue Reading
Book review: Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
One thing that quickly becomes apparent when you plunge into the vividly imaginative postmodern queer sci-fi storytelling of Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy, is that this is not your grandmother’s retelling of the Arthurian legend. To be fair, most grandmothers probably do not habitually sit Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: “Wish you were fictitiously here” – imaginative postcards from pop culture locales
It was Cheers which famously asked “Wouldn’t you like to get away?” Well, yes we would and the further away from real life the better thank you very much. A nice fictional locale with none of the banal or trying trappings of the everyday would be quite lovely thank you Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #16: Dizzy Fae, DUCKWRTH, Soaky Siren, Dillon Francis, Bombay Bicycle Club + Eurovision 2020 update
Great songs are often, though not always, a beguiling mix of insightful, meaningful lyrics and a great supremely-catchy melody. All five of the songs in this week’s post fit the bill and then some, reflecting the fact that while you can capture ears easily enough with an irresistible melody, capturing Continue Reading