City of Ghosts – Victoria Schwab

"People think that ghosts only come out at night, or on Halloween, when the world is dark and  the walls are thin." Cassidy Blake was a normal teenager until the day she almost drowned. Or rather, did drown, but was saved by Jacob, who just happens to be a ghost. He follows her back through the …

The Bone Key – Sarah Monette

"I was contemplating the fragments of an unidentified animal's skull, late on a wet, windy Friday in March, when a voice said, 'Booth? Is that you?'" I first met Kyle Murchison Booth in A Theory of Haunting, a 2006 novella I picked up after discovering that the author, Sarah Monette, also wrote under the name Katherine …

A Short Stay in Hell – Steven L Peck

"Although I have loved many, there has been only one genuine love in my near-eternally stretched life - Rachel who fell to the bottom of the library without me." When our narrator dies, he has strong expectations of where he'll end up as a staunch practising Mormon. Heaven and godhood ahoy, right? But no - …

Spooktastic Reads 2024

Welcome to my contribution to this year's Spooktastic Reads - 13 days (and nights!) of thrills and chills and all things spooky! Also an excellent kick to get back into blogging after the unholy (see what I did there?!) combination of house moves and job interviews happening a little bit too much at the same …

The City in Glass – Nghi Vo

"From the topmost tower of the observatory to the floating docks on the beach, the city of Azril lit up with paper lanterns, with candles, with girls throwing flaming knives and boys in firefly crowns, with passion, with desire, with hatred, and with delight." Vitrine is a demon. Centuries ago she found herself in the …

Here One Moment – Liane Moriarty

"Later, not a single person will recall seeing the lady board the flight at Hobart Airport." What would you do if someone told you how and when you're going to die? That's the question faced by the passengers on an otherwise unremarkable - just delayed - flight, when a fellow traveller starts to make some …

The Universe in 100 Colors – Tyler Thrasher & Terry Mudge

"To the curious minds whose boundlessness mirrors the infinite spectrum of colors and the vast cosmos they illuminate." The blurb calling this the 'intersection of science and art' is pretty much spot on. We start with an explanation of what colour even is, from both a scientific and slightly more poetic way of thinking about …

Buried Deep and Other Stories – Naomi Novik

"Whenever I get asked how I develop some part of my books - a magic system, a fantastical species, some invented history - the answer is always that I never do it in advance. Every story and every novel starts for me with a first line that makes me want to know more myself ... …

She Who Knows – Nnedi Okorafor

"If I stood there long enough, I was sure I'd see one of the Old Ones dancing in the distance." Najeeba is a young teen in a small African village. Her father and brothers are part of the annual pilgrimage to the salt flats, hoping to find the purest samples to take to market. The …

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Following the events of Deadpool 2 (2018), it seems that Wade Wilson's (Ryan Reynolds) life hasn't turned out for the better despite his meddling in time (notably in the hilarious post-credits scene). However, it did attract the attention of the TVA - the Time Variance Authority, as introduced in the Loki tv series, and for some …