Much of both on-screen and written fantasy is based on Western mythological traditions. Witches, wizards, elves, dwarves, unicorns, vampires and dragons are the mainstay of most of the fantasy-related media we tend to consume. From Harry Potter to Game of Thrones to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So it is refreshing to encounter speculative fiction on…
Genre pigeonholing can be useful when potential readers are trying to navigate a bookshop but can act to the detriment of books that don’t quite fit, like Sara Sligar’s debut Take Me Apart. It is tempting to label this as crime fiction (there is a possibly suspicious death that one character is investigating), or perhaps…
Lovers of comedy genre mashups will already be very aware of the work of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and open to Truth Seekers. They came on to the scene with the series, Spaced, directed by Edgar Wright, in the early 2000s which mixed comedy with a range of science fiction and fantasy standards. The…
Nophek Gloss is a space opera debut and first in a new series from Essa Hansen. The name of the book comes from Gloss, the most valuable substance in the multiverse which is harvested from the brain of a vicious mammalian creature called nophek. This is not the only strangeness in a book that is…
There is something deep in the shared global psyche that draws us to stories of prodigies, particularly those who have dragged themselves up out of obscurity. Amazon recently released the Indian film Shakuntala Devi based on the true story of a women who came from poverty to become a world renowned “human calculator”. The Queen’s…
Sarah J Maas is a best selling author of two massive, best-selling Young Adult series loosely based on fairy tales: The Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass. House of Earth and Blood, the first in her new Crescent City series takes her into more adult, as opposed to young adult territory. Maas…
Stuart Turton’s follow up to his mind bending science fiction crime genre mashing award winner The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle feels like another genre mash. The Devil and the Dark Water, set in the 17th Century on board an Indiaman headed from Batavia to Amsterdam, trucks not only in murders to be solved but…
Garry Disher returns once more to the world of small town policeman Paul Hirschhausen in his latest book Consolation. Consolation appears in quick succession after the second book in this series, Peace, which itself came after a long hiatus after Bitterwash Road. Consolation shows that Disher has clearly found his groove with Hirschhausen. Once again,…
Rumaan Alam’s latest book Leave the World Behind starts in an idyllic manner – a family on holiday on Long Island. But despite the tranquil and familiar setting – an Airbnb in the country with a swimming pool, plenty of snacks and trips to the beach – there is plenty of foreboding. There is an…
Nardi Simpson’s scorching debut novel Song of the Crocodile opens with the irony of a sign naming the small Australian country town of Darnmoor the “Gateway to Happiness”. The fly-through that follows will be familiar to anyone who has driven around regional Australia. Two main streets crossing at right angles with a war memorial at…
