The Wild Goose

Roman notes that John M Ford’s The Dragon Waiting is once again available. Jack Herman provides some notes about this fantasy…

This is an alternative history fantasy (a “counterfactual”) set in the time of Medici Florence (the time of the condottieri) and the Wars of the Roses. The discontinuity in this universe occurred at the time of Julian the Apostate, one of Constantine’s successors; only here Julian did indeed restore religious diversity to the Roman Empire and, after the victories of Justinian in Italy, the Byzantium flourished, and Islam didn’t.… Read the rest

March’s Critical Mass featured Kate Treloar talking about The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2020 novel; I thought I’d better read it for the discussion.

I spent a week reading the novel, savouring the delight. As Bill McKibben, head of 350.org, noted¹, “it’s not a utopia, it’s anti-dystopian, realist to its core.”  He compares the book to Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000-1887.… Read the rest

Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
& Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling

by Tony Cliff (First Second)

Tony Cliff is a decades long veteran of the Canadian animation industry, and three times nominee for an Eisner award. The first of his Delilah Dirk novels, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, is a mad adventure story set in Istanbul, 1807.… Read the rest

As a long-time fan of Green Lantern — I loved the old Hal Jordan stories — I could hardly resist a new Green Lantern series, particularly when it’s written by a brilliant writer!

Sojourner “Jo” Mullein is a rookie Green Lantern who’s been sent to a far corner of the galaxy, far removed from other Green Lanterns, to solve a murder.… Read the rest

You might expect a series called Total Control would be about politics. The original working title for the series was Black B*tch

Deborah Mailman plays an indigenous woman in outback Queensland who is coopted by a conservative government headed by PM Rachel Anderson (played by Rachel Griffiths).… Read the rest

One of the delights 
in recent TV watching is the new HBO/BBC production of His Dark Materials, based on the wonderful trilogy from Philip Pullman.

Unlike the 2007 film of The Golden Compass, the TV series doesn’t sanitise the evil of the Magisterium, a religious organisation which rules Lyra’s world. The film suggested that the evil was a military fascism with religious overtones, rather than being a key characteristic of strict authoritarian religions.… Read the rest

There was an interesting discussion between Jonathan Strahan and Gary Wolfe a while back on the Coode Street Podcast about the attractions of the novella form: long enough to allow some interesting world-building and development, but not as major a commitment as a novel. With Tor (in particular) publishing a number of novellas, there’s a market for the stories. Unsurprisingly, authors have risen to the challenge.… Read the rest

Pennyworth

Ewart Shaw reviews Mortal Engines

“…Othello: And O you mortal engines whose rude throats
Th’immortal Jove’s dread clamors counterfeit..”
— Othello, III.ii.352

Mortal Engines based on the book by Philip Reeve, produced by Peter Jackson, evidently flopped badly at the box office. A film with an excellent pedigree may end up losing squillions. I loved it. I want the DVD when it comes out.… Read the rest

A look at a brilliantly bleak russian film Jennifer rates as one of the year’s best.

Apparently the title of this Russian film comes closer to ‘Non Love’ than ‘Loveless’. There is absolutely not one speck of love. The beginning is arrestingly bleak: slow shots of a snow-covered river bank with piercingly clashing splinters of music. When will we see some life?… Read the rest

Jennifer recalls Sydney in the 1960s

A Melbourne-dweller, I visited Sydney – a family holiday – in 1960. My mother had worked there during the war and she enjoyed showing us around. We went to Coogee Beach on a tram and ate lunch at a Repin’s Coffee Lounge. So, I remember the Sydney of 1959, depicted fondly by Bruce Beresford in his recently released film, Ladies in Black.… Read the rest

Dianne DeBellis Reviews season one of  Westworld

I think it is futile to attempt to summarise this show but here goes.
At the most basic level, it is about a theme park where the ‘hosts’ are computerised human simulacra and the ‘guests’ pay loads of money to act as they please, all be it in a Wild West setting, without consequences.… Read the rest

Roman was in Melbourne recently to catch one of the offerings at the Melbourne Arts Festival.

“Watt” was the second of Beckett’s novels in English, written while he and his partner were on the run from the Nazis in France. He wrote it as a way to stay sane in the face of the trauma of war.

This hour-long production, adapted and performed by Irish actor Barry McGovern, is a mesmeric delight.… Read the rest

Written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu, The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Nebārando) is a weekly manga series published by Shonen Jump. The series has climbed rapidly in the popularity rankings, and is now regarded as one of the most popular of the Weekly Shonen Jump mangas … Read the rest

I’ve been playing video games since the Atari VCS first hit the market and watching movies for even longer. I still spend way too much time on both. However, the combination of the two has not proven to be quite as appealing as I might have hoped.

The problem is, (with a few significant exceptions), video games aren’t noted for providing great cinematic plots.… Read the rest

Every week there’s only one TV series which brings everyone in our house into the same room (technically, what this actually means is that it draws my son away from his computer, but it is the same end result) – My Hero Academia (also known as Boku no Hīrō Akademia). We’ve been watching it almost every week since it first aired.… Read the rest