Because it’s snowing today
Because it is snowing today – snowing properly, so that the snow is lying smooth and thick and perfect overContinue Reading
Category: Video
Video review of the Forbidden Zone
Here’s a less than 2-minute review of Jon Gliddon’s latest novel, The Forbidden Zone. It was easy to add graphicsContinue Reading
Greg Hickey’s The Friar’s Lantern in 1 minute and a bit
When you have a mashup between a medieval-sounding title and a modern forensic mystery and a choice of choice ofContinue Reading
John Delacourt’s “Butterfly” in one-and-a-half minutes – Video-format review
Some novels really lend themselves to being discussed in visual terms – either their subject or setting is dramatic orContinue Reading
How to squish Sjón’s 528-page “CoDex 1962” into 2.5 minutes
It took four posts to finish saying what I wanted to say about CoDex 1962, the strange but marvellous novelContinue Reading
53-second take on Undermajordomo Minor, by Patrick deWitt
Some novels just cry out to be made into films. Undermajordomo Minor, by Patrick deWitt, is one of those. IContinue Reading
What tickles your funny-bone? Rhett and Link caption The New Yorker’s cartoons
Here’s something entertaining: the appearance on The New Yorker magazine’s video channel of my favourite You-tubers, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal,Continue Reading
A Year in Books – Video of 2018 on Seven Circumstances
Readers who enjoy reading about the books they have read, and are searching for the next good book to read,Continue Reading
One-minute video review – The Only Story by Julian Barnes
The novel is downbeat and intense, but demonstrates that what matters is love, what keeps people going is love, andContinue Reading
So many superlatives to fit in – Calypso by David Sedaris (a video critique)
The more I think about David Sedaris’ writing, the more I realize I’ve been missing out on a good thingContinue Reading
Author interview Authors to watch Award-winning novel Backstories Review of science fiction Review of Science Fiction and Fantasy Video
It’s 4 not 3! – Arm of the Sphinx, by Josiah Bancroft
Compact Crit. #12 – The Books of Babel, by Josiah Bancroft (In particular: Arm of the Sphinx) I am publishingContinue Reading
New video-format review: On the Bright Side – The New Diary of Hendrik Groen
Compact Crit. #10 – On the Bright Side – The New Diary of Hendrik Groen (a.k.a. Zolang Er Leven IsContinue Reading
75-seconds video review – More about the future of pleasure model robots
Compact Crit. #11 – The Pleasure Model Repairman, by Ruuf Wangersen It was great fun to read Ruuf Wangersen’s debut Sci-FiContinue Reading
The one, the only, the greatest – Literary one-hit wonders video
Like in music, one-hit wonders are a never-ending source of fascination for people. Depending on how you define a “one-hitContinue Reading
The Creative Process: What makes a literary one-hit wonder?
There is a lot more to the phenomenon of literary one-hit wonders than you’d think. There are many reasons forContinue Reading
New video-format review – The Memory Palace, by Edward Hollis
Compact Crit. #9 – The Memory Palace, by Edward Hollis Since Edward Hollis’ book, The Memory Palace, is mostly aboutContinue Reading
Review in a compact video – Bloom County, by Berke Breathed
In my review of the return of the Bloom County comic strip, I had in my mind only the drawnContinue Reading
54-second review of Insomniac City, by Bill Hayes
Compact Crits #7: 54-second review of Insomniac City, by Bill Hayes Read the whole story here. Make no mistake, thisContinue Reading
46-second review of The Last Kind Words Saloon
Compact Crits #5: 46-second review of The Last Kind Words Saloon, by Larry McMurtry
Review in a 48-second video – You Took the Last Bus Home, by Brian Bilston
Compact Crits #6: 48-second review of You Took the Last Bus Home, by Brian Bilston (poetry) Here’s the full reviewContinue Reading
Share the stunning view of the Starman – and DON’T PANIC
“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”, John Keats wrote in his poem “Endymion” in 1818 – aboutContinue Reading
Review in a 60-second video – Caroline, by Sarah Miller
Compact Crits #4: 60-second review of Caroline, by Sarah Miller Here’s the long list of all the novels – apartContinue Reading
Discussion of current events Humor Humour Review of new book Review of new non-fiction Subjective non-fiction Video Web series and vlogs
Review in 50-second video – Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality
Compact Crits #3: Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality, by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
Review in a 57-second video – Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
Compact Crits #2: 57-second review of Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders.
Splashes in a suikinkutsu – Experiential content on the Internet
See me, hear me and walk with me – that’s what many websites try to achieve; in other words, connectContinue Reading
Award-winning novel Backstories Discussion of writing style Published books Review of literary fiction Review of previously published novel Review of science fiction Romances and Love Stories Video
Finnish Weird at its best – Troll, by Johanna Sinisalo
ABOUT TROLLS –There is a whole body of memes about trolls. There are cute troll dolls, like in the 2016Continue Reading
Printed books are not only for old fogeys like me
Comic artist and illustrator Lucas Levitan’s particular talent is to superimpose his bulbous-nosed cartoon figures onto actual photos he has found, mostlyContinue Reading
Books for Summer Discussion of writing style ebook Review of historical fiction Review of new book Romances and Love Stories Video
A sexy idea that moves you – The Gods of Tango, by Carolina de Robertis
There is a lot of tango-ing in this novel, The Gods of Tango, as well as an eyebrow-raising amount ofContinue Reading
Review of The Unfixed Stars by Michael Byers – and photos of Pluto
Looking at the pictures of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons space probe reminded me of the excellent novel about the discoveryContinue Reading
Famous Men for Father’s Day: An Author, an Astronaut and a dead Absurdist
Manly books about famous men In celebration of Father’s Day coming up, here are some books about men I admire thatContinue Reading
SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES 