(courtesy Fantastic Fiction) A dozen ways to fall in love this Christmas! 12 authors, 12 tropes, 12 romance stories. Whatever your trope, you’ll find a romantic story in this anthology to keep you happy. Enemies to lovers, best friend’s brother, friends to lovers, married one, twice shy, and runaway groom/ Continue Reading
What makes things so Wicked? New featurette pulls back the curtain …
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTWicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Emmy, Grammy, Tony winning powerhouse Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Grammy-winning, multi-platinum recording artist and global superstar Ariana Grande Continue Reading
Christmas in July festive review redux: I watched “Tis the season to be murdered” (Hart to Hart, S2 E5)
“Oh Jonathan! What a lovely day. This is going to be the best Christmas ever.” And with those words, Jennifer Hart (Stefanie Powers), who by this stage in season 2 of Hart to Hart (1980) should know better, dooms the Harts to another festive season littered with murder and mayhem. But Continue Reading
Festive animated Peanuts special: I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown
(courtesy IMDb) Remember when you were a kid and as Christmas approached, all you wanted, all you could think to ask for from Santa, was one particular toy or thing. You were, in a way only kids can ask for, obsessed, and all that mattered was getting that present and Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly book review: A White Christmas on Winter St. by Sue Moorcroft
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) If you read a few Christmas-themed books, you will be well acquainted with the recurrent themes of this most festive of genres. At least one member of the couple at the centre of the story must be emotionally broken or traumatised and in need of Continue Reading
The short and the Christmas in July short of it: The life-transforming, cocoa-sipping revelations of Hey Deer!
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTHey Deer! Short Animated Film about an adorable, cocoa-drinking deer who is eager to tidy and shoveling in front of his house every day. However, there is a suspicious earthquake every night which causes the mess day by day and make unbearable our fella’s life. Between two cups Continue Reading
It ends where it all began: Thoughts on Sweet Tooth S3 (the final season)
(courtesy IMP Awards) What a journey this has been! What started as a reasonably small story about a hybrid boy/deer living in the depths of Yellowstone National Park, or really just Yellowstone since civilisational constructs have largely fallen into disuse in just under a decade of apocalyptic decay, has grown Continue Reading
Book review: The Day Tripper by James Goodhand
(courtesy Allen & Unwin Book Publishers) In recent years, there has a been near-chronological avalanche of stories that make merry with ideas of time and space and use our increasing understanding of how these two concepts work and interact to spin some incredibly involved and immersively beguiling storytelling. Having someone Continue Reading
Movie review: Twisters
(courtesy IMP Awards) How do you have a sequel when you don’t have a sequel? When you have a film that sits well and truly within the universe of a previous film, with clear allusions to it, visually, narratively and character-wise, but which tries as much as it can be Continue Reading
Standing up for who you are and what matters: Thoughts on Sweet Tooth S2
The COVID pandemic gave rise to many a strange dynamic. One of them, and the one that impacted this reviewer most when it came to consuming everything from movies to streaming shows to books, was a willingness to dive into all kinds of plague-related and end of the world-set storytelling; Continue Reading