Writing and reviews with an environmental, science fiction, and fantasy touch
Conor Kelly’s Guide to Ireland’s Ancient Places has been lurking in my iPad for several years, waiting to get onto my official TBR on Goodreads. This is not the usual way my book lists work. Consequently this is not the
The Long Flight Home appealed to me because it featured the British Pigeon Service during World War II. Thank you, Net-galley and the publisher for the opportunity of a pre-release copy. The book was launched on Thursday. The Long Flight
Deeplight was offered to me by the publisher (via Netgalley) because I’d previously reviewed The Lie Tree by the same author. So I clicked ‘yes’ because the blurb was so enticing and the author attracts me. It was only afterwards
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister sounded intriguing. I’d read the Wild Swans by Jung Chang several years ago, and was enthralled by it. Jung Chang has written several biographies and historical books about China. This is the first I’ve
Master and God is not a Falco novel. It’s not a Flavia Alba novel either (although there is a new Flavia Alba out, and I’m getting seriously behind with that series). It is set in Ancient Rome, and it is
Grimm, Grit, and Gasoline was one of Rhonda Parrish’s anthologies that I didn’t try to enter, because I didn’t understand what she was looking for. So I read it to find out. I also managed to snag a pre-publication copy
Ashes of London went on my To Read list almost as soon as it came out, but it lingered there until I had the opportunity to get a copy through Net-galley last year. Thank you to them and the publishers
The Czar’s Spy came in a kindle volume called ‘British Mystery Multipacks Vol. 6 – British Spy Mysteries.’ It contains two of my all-time favourite stories, The Riddle of the Sands and the 39 Steps, which is why I got
Datura is a weird book. I mean that in a good way – it fits into the subgenre of Fantasy/scifi of ‘weird’. Leena Krohn is an award-winning Finnish author, but much of the time this story could be set in
The Essex Serpent first lodged in my mind when Sarah Perry was a guest at either Norfolk & Norwich Festival or Noirwich. I think it was in NNF on a session on noir, because I’m sure Sarah Waters read her
Two anthologies for you today, to help me catch up on my reviews. I like reading anthologies when I’m busy, because of the easy put-down, pick-up nature of the book. The downside is I find it almost impossible to remember
Cosmic Colin: Hairy Hamster Horror and The Witches both came from my library. MG means middle grade, a period of schooling in the US that translates into the roughly 8-12 age group in the UK. I regularly peruse the childrens
Witchbone Book One ~ The Goblin’s Winter: a paranormal fairy tale is a very long title for a book. Several other things make me wonder whether the author took heed of editorial advice for MG tales [also demonstrated by the
The Scorpio Races – spotted as I was leaving the library, always looking for Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys, which has been on my TBR forever. The Scorpio Races has nothing to do with that book, but, boy, what a gem.
My reaction to The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die almost made me do a mini-review and give you another today to catch up on my reading. But the more I try to explain how I felt about said Aunt, the longer
Crow Country was the first Mark Cocker book I came across, and realised it was a Norfolk book. Years ago I ran a ‘Local Hero’ reading challenge, where participants could add books about their own local patch – the size
Galileo’s Theme Park is an anthology, part of Third Flatiron’s series. They call for submissions about three times a year. You can see future calls, as well as past publications at their website here. Galileo’s Theme Park ed Juliana Rew
The Unwinding: Gin’s Story came as a Net-galley suggestion. Juliana Rew is the editor of the Third Flatiron Anthologies, so I was keen to see what sort of book she wrote herself. I am now totally insecure as a writer.
Pan’s Labyrinth came out on July 2nd. Wait a minute, I hear you say, surely that’s been out for ages? Well, not the book, apparently. Guillermo del Toro directed the film and Cornelia Funke has helped him get it into
Needlemouse is out this week, or at least, so it says in my Netgalley list. Goodreads says it’s been out since April. Since the publishers were kind enough to send me an ARC via NetGalley I’m sticking to what it
The Dark Portal is the first in the Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis. I added it to my list ages ago, possibly at that Children’s Fiction workshop I did so long ago. Then I found a copy in the
The Seagull is the 8th in the Vera novels, and my first. This is thanks to my bookclub reading them out of order. If you’ve seen an episode of Vera on TV, you won’t mind a bit, at least, I
Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer. The surname rang a bell, so I requested the ARC from Netgalley – I wasn’t disappointed! Lara’s famous aunt is Lucinda Green, champion three-day eventer. Like Lara, I grew up on Lucinda’s books of her
The Lie Tree was a non-winning nomination in our Great Middle Grade Reads Book of the Month last year. I thought it sounded good so I added it to my TBR. Then I saw it in the library…. This one
‘Kill the Black One First’ was a phrase shouted by rioters at Brixton as the police officers formed a barrier. This memoir from Michael Fuller is a powerful and thought-provoking book. I’m very grateful to the publishers and Net-galley for the