Leviathan’s Blood is the second novel in the Children Trilogy from Ben Peek. With the first novel in the series setting out a complex and original world, Peek had his work cut out for him to keep up the quality ...
Read More »Masculinity according to Full House
Why is it that when I watch older television sitcoms, I often find a more enlightened view on social constructs than appear on those currently airing? Seems to me that the late 80’s/early 90s was far more progressive than we ...
Read More »Breaking the Glass Slipper: Gender inequality in ‘best of’ lists
Welcome to the brand new podcast, Breaking the Glass Slipper. There are so many wonderful women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror but they are often overlooked. This podcast series was inspired by writer Juliet McKenna who recently commented ...
Read More »Jane Got a Gun: What is a Western without a brilliant baddie?
I love a good Western. The best Westerns have simple premises and tend to stay focused on one single plot line, something Jane Got a Gun sets up before spectacularly discarding in favour of a meandering, flavourless, tension-less narrative. With ...
Read More »Bête: Wait here, the cat had said. Fuck that.
Adam Roberts is hardly a new voice in SFF writing, and yet he was new to me. Or, should I say, his fiction work was new to me. Long ago I had come across one of his academic works on ...
Read More »Midnight Special: A spectacular misfire
Jeff Nichols’ third feature film, Midnight Special, a science fiction thriller, has been the recipient of high praise from critics and viewers. I feel like I must be missing something. While it is obvious the man knows how to create ...
Read More »The trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has landed
With the Blu-Ray of The Force Awakens coming out in the US this week, Disney is keen to capitalise on Star Wars being on everyone’s mind. Today, the studio has published the first trailer for the stand-alone film being released in December. ...
Read More »The Machinery: The world is a hard and cruel place
I met Gerrard Cowan last year at FantasyCon where we both sat on a panel discussing writing habits. His debut novel, The Machinery, was initially released last year with a paperback available from March 2016. The follow-up, The Strategist, is ...
Read More »Victoria: One girl. One city. One night. One take.
Victoria is the latest European indie film to have critics raving. It has the added bonus of an intriguing – aka gimmicky – production: the entire film takes place in one shot. If nothing else, you have to admire an ...
Read More »Ready Player One: Going outside is highly overrated
This novel, Ernest Cline’s bestselling debut, is a strange one. Obviously pitched at fellow geeks, the narrative makes reference to every imaginable cult property – video games, films, music, comics, books, and celebrities. While, for the most part, the book ...
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