I’ve been following Amanda Jette Knox on Twitter for a while now – she’s funny and fierce, particularly on behalf of her family. She writes often of her whole tribe, including her trans daughter and her trans wife. When Love Lives Here, her book about her family’s life, was released, I was pretty sure I’d…
Read moreCategory: Reviews
Review: Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventure By Courtney Milan
The author Courtney Milan came to my attention recently as the result of some fairly unpleasant decisions (and their consequences) made by the Romance Writers of America in response to some of Milan’s robustly framed but justifiable critique on racism/racist tropes in romance (and on one book in particular). The Guardian has a summary. Not…
Read moreReview: Euphoria Kids by Alison Evans
Alison Evans’ Highway Bodies was a superb new zombie apocalypse with its focus on gentle queer kids surviving in a savage world by leaning on love and friendship as well as their own resources. Their next novel is another sweet tale of young queer people finding their place in the world and with each other,…
Read moreReview: Wild in the City – A Guide to Urban Animals Around the World by Kate Baker, Illustrated by Gianluca Foli
Most of us have heard about the foxes that frequent London suburbia – I’ve seen a few myself, and a penfriend used to write about the vixen that had kits in a den under her allotment shed. In Melbourne, too, followers avidly check online for the state of the Collins Street falcons (with their chicks…
Read moreReview: Myths and Legends of the World, Retold by Alli Brydon, Illustrated by Julia Iredale
Lonely Planet Kids is putting out some gorgeous illustrated books about the world, and Myths and Legends of the World is another beautiful example.
Read moreReview: Darkness For Light by Emma Viskic
When review copies of Emma Viskic’s third Caleb Zelic crime novel became available, you can bet I leapt right on that review train and shouted PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME. I loved the first two in this series – Resurrection Bay and And Fire Came Down – so hard that I compulsively live tweeted…
Read moreReview: The Great Divide by LJM Owen
LJM Owen, known previously for her archaeology-related Dr Pimms crime fiction (Olmec Obituary et al) has branched out into dark, contemporary crime with The Great Divide. Set in the fictional small Tasmanian town of Dunton, The Great Divide follows Jake Hunter, a Melbourne policeman who’s taken a job in what he expects to be a…
Read moreReview: The Case of the Misplaced Models by Tessa Barding
Improbable Press, recently acquired as an imprint by Clan Destine Press, has released two new books already under the new banner. I’ve reviewed the first – A Question of Time, a collection of 50 short stories with illustrations – and have just finished this new novel by Tessa Barding. The Case of the Misplaced Models…
Read moreReview: A Question of Time by Jamie Ashbird
Improbable Press, recently acquired by Clan Destine Press, has come of of its new gate with two new books: A Question of Time by Jamie Ashbird, illustrated by Janet Anderton, and The Case of the Misplaced Models by Tessa Barding. A Question of Time is the third in IP’s 221B series (which began with my…
Read moreReview: Year of the Queen by Jeremy Stanford
Jeremy Stanford’s 2006 begins when he’s invited to work with Simon Phillips (then Artistic Director of the Melbourne Theater Company) and others on workshop Priscilla: Queen of the Desert into a stage musical, playing Tick (the part made famous by Hugo Weaving). What follows is a year in a life of both an actor and…
Read more