I met Cassandra Khaw at one of Unsung Stories’ splendid spoken word nights, where she was one of the writers reading their short works aloud. I was struck by the beauty of the language in the story, its unique imagery an the romanticism of its fantastical central relationship. She read this story just before the […]
With Den Patrick, Jen Williams, Peter Newman, Francesca Haig & Stephen Aryan Ostensibly a book launch for the final novel in Den Patrick’s ‘Erebus’ trilogy, ‘The Girl on the Liar’s Throne’, tonight’s event evolved into a unique discussion with a panel of four other successful contemporary fantasy writers, all of whose work has two elements […]
MONSTERS, MAGIC & MAYHEM Although tonight’s meeting was an interesting discussion about the evolution and interpretation of a successful contemporary fantasy epic, I think what many of us took away was the knowledge that Edward Cox writes his books on a tumble dryer. I don’t mean he has rigged it up as some kind […]
Because a Super Relaxed Reality Club just wouldn’t work I was apprehensive about attending because I have a tendency to be tense. Would I be allowed in? And if I was, would there be enforced massage from a large troll of indeterminate gender wearing too much make-up and a Minion onesie? Or is that just, […]
I missed this adventure at the flicks due to babysitting duties, despite it being on the list of movies to see regardless of child welfare. Ah well. Instead, my journey involved waiting years to see it, then hearing endlessly about how awful it was from just about everyone. The ideal of course would be that […]
‘Children of Time’ is one of those books one devours obsessively and then mourns once it’s finished. Such has been its impact that I don’t know what to read next (apart from more of this author’s books). Either way, I’ve had to go off-genre and read a bloody thriller for my next book. Yes, ‘Children […]
Like Led Zeppelin albums, Unsung Stories’ spoken word evenings are individually numbered, adding to the unique sense of each. Tonight’s intersection of fact and fantasy was the observation by regular MC George Sandison that today was Diana Wynne Jones’s birthday. Jones, who was at Oxford when CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were lecturing there, is […]
1939: Nazi fascists have bullied and lied their way into power. They have no plan so they start a war that achieves the exact opposite of what was intended. 1981: Argentine fascists have bullied and lied their way into power. They have no plan so they start a war that achieves the exact opposite of […]
File Under ‘B’ Aliette de Bodard is the Nebula Award-winning writer of numerous short stories, many set in the Xuya universe of her acclaimed novella ‘On A Red Station, Drifting’; the ‘Obsidian & Blood’ trilogy of Aztec-themed mystery novels and, most recently, the fantasy epic ‘The House of Shattered Wings’. Her father is French and […]
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