Editor, author, book reviewer & somewhat a graphic designer.
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I will start by saying that I pretty much grew up in and around Cape Town's mountain hiking trails. My parents were both avid hikers, and from a young age I was dragged up all manner of places – some of them rather daunting, like the infamous hike around the Hout Bay Sentinel ( not for the faint of heart). So as someone who still enjoys the occasional excursion, a book like Hiking Beyond Cape Town…
The more I look at this series, the more I begin to realise how prescient Cherryh is in terms of socio-cultural world building – there are lessons for us that are relevant today. For the sake of those who're not invested in this gargantuan series, I'll keep my review short and sweet. Humans and the indigenous atevi are simply hardwired differently. But the humans are doing what humans in a…
It's not often that I hit a fantasy novel that's the perfect blend of intergenerational adventure, but KR Solberg and CR Jacobson have pulled together a compelling tale that finds that balance. Jon Therman and his family are smugglers, getting by in a land that staggers under the yoke of an oppressive Drawlen empire ruled by authoritarian immortals and their thugs. And for the most, he's happy to…
I've realised that the last time I blogged was in September. I have still have a pile of book reviews to write and my resolution to blog more often this year instead of relying on social media has fallen by the wayside. But if you're reading this now, fantastic. I don't celebrate Christmas nor do I go way out to observe NYE, though this year I will be having low-key gatherings with my closest…
If were also one of those kids who collected caterpillars and fed them until they formed a chrysalis, purely for the joy of seeing them emerge as butterflies ... or kept silkworms ... or both ... then this is likely the book for you. Southern African Moths & their Caterpillars , by Hermann Staude, Mike Picker and Charles Griffiths is one of the more useful guides for any lover of creepy-crawlies…
It's not often a book on writing that I jam into my head sticks, but Stein on Writing by Sol Stein is one of those that was so packed with *actual* useful advice that this is one of those almost biblical tomes on the craft that I keep recommending. Interestingly enough, I find my own method of approaching layered writing already is pretty much in line with how Stein teaches, so it wasn't as if I…
Look, Cameron Johnston is on my insta-buy list, but he already had me with "a gender-flipped Die Hard set in a mysterious castle". So, The Last Shield pretty much checked all my boxes as I read it. First off, our main character, Briar, is not some young slip of a thing who's going to save the world while making goo-goo eyes at some shadow daddy. She's an older, stubborn-as-heck warrior – a…
I will admit straight out that it's the cover of Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia that had me pick up the book. That. Art. Though I'm somewhat fatigued by vampires in standard urban fantasy settings, what had me keen to dip into Moreno-Garcia's writing was the setting, as well as a dip into a culture vastly different from my own. I will also admit that I played an inordinate amount of…
Ek het geweet van die begin af dat ek vir Inkommers deur Hans du Plessis sou geniet, en al is dit 'n storie van 'n plek, is dit ook meestal 'n storie van die mense wie daar woon. Van die wat behoort, of sou ek liewers sê voel dit is hulle geboortereg teenoor die wat wat buite die kring is, so te sê. Daar is nogtans baie karakters, en partykeer het ek hulle 'n bietjie verwar. Die konkels in al die…
I've been a huge fan of Jacqueline Carey's writing since basically forever, and fell irrevocably in love with courtesan and spy Phèdre nó Delaunay the instant I read Kushiel's Dart . These days I suspect the books will likely fall under the banner of romantasy, but this was fantasy romance way before that term was every coined. I've been wanting to return to this alternative historical fantasy…
