I love going to conventions. Not only do you get to indulge in your geekiest loves, you discover so many new things you never encountered before. I discovered RJ Barker at Nine Worlds. When I heard him and – more ...
Read More »Lullaby Girl by Aly Sidgwick
With Mental Health Awareness Week last week in the UK, mental health issues are a hot topic. Aly Sidgwick’s debut novel will tap into this zeitgeist perfectly, helping to dispel some of the myths around mental illness. The novel pulls ...
Read More »Mental illness in fiction: Guest post by Aly Sidgwick
I rediscovered writing at the age of twenty nine, whilst living in Sweden. Depression and anxiety have plagued me my whole life, but in 2009 things came to a head and I suffered a full blown nervous breakdown. Those first ...
Read More »The Copper Promise: Finding humour in dark times
Being an active networker in publishing realms, I have found that I come across new and interesting writers is relatively curious ways. For instance, I am a big fan of literary agent Juliet Mushens. Who knew agents could have fans? ...
Read More »The Fire Sermon: The next YA dystopian thriller to be optioned for film
I was pulled into the hype surrounding The Fire Sermon by its clever marketing campaign – well, clever and prolific. It sounded like a fun (can we call dark dystopias ‘fun’?) premise and I was excited to read a novel ...
Read More »Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
After seeing Ancillary Justice recommended by practically every one of my favourite authors I had to find out what all the fuss was about. Not only that, the novel has been awarded a number of prestigious awards, including the Hugo ...
Read More »After Before: If one is found, at least the other survives
The subject matter of After Before is far from a barrel of laughs: genocide and terminal cancer with another harrowing event thrown in for good measure that for spoiler-free reasons I can’t elaborate on here. As the title may suggest, ...
Read More »The Woman Before Me: A thriller without any thrills
I was excited to review a debut novel from independent publisher Legend Press when they sent me my very first review copy. Legend Press was set up in 2005 and has since become one of the most successful start-ups in ...
Read More »Carrie Fisher: A real person’s princess
I feel like I’ve been asking for the same presents for as long as I can remember. First it was to get real versions of the Star Wars films to replace my taped-off-the-TV numbers. Then it was the special edition ...
Read More »