By Benn Orgill. The badness. It’s on the move. It was a long winter – prices rising, plagues lingering, peace talks floundering. And what’s to be done as we watch disaster strike from near and far? Try again, fail again, fail better, as Samuel Beckett would have it. And...
Books
International Women’s Day: The once and future queens – women writers of science fiction and fantasy
By Christopher Taylor. It’s no secret that the world of sci-fi and fantasy has rarely been welcoming for female authors: publishers often lacked faith in women, and readers gravitated to male names. Worse than that, even female authors who break through seem more at risk of disappearing from...
International Women’s Day: Crowning the Queens of Horror Literature
By Laura McCarthy. To mark International Women’s Day on March 8th, we take a look at the great women of horror writing. Stephen King may be known as the ‘King of Horror’ but to decide on a Queen poses too much of a challenge, as there are just...
Book review: The Sirens – Emilia Hart
By Laura McCarthy. Fans of Emilia Hart’s Weyward will be overjoyed at the release of her latest novel, The Sirens, published February 13, 2025. The narrative is delivered through a dual timeline, shifting between 1800 and 2019; in 1800, two Irish sisters are forced onto a convict ship bound...
Book Review: The Transgender Issue – Shon Faye
By Mabel Wellman. In continuation of the articles for LGBT History Month, I have very much looked forward to rereading perhaps the most important book released for transgender people in decades, originally published in 2021. This book is not, by definition, a history book. Instead, Faye has written an...
Book review: The Bright Sword – Lev Grossman
By Christopher Taylor. Restoring Arthurian Romance in the Twenty-First Century The overwhelming majority of Arthurian fiction since T.H. White’s defining The Once and Future King (published in 1958) has sought to redefine Arthur in the context of the 4th-6th century: from Sutcliffe’s Sword at Sunset in the 60s, Zimmer-Bradley’s...
Books & film: Risen from the dead – the modern horror revival
By Laura McCarthy. The recent success of media in the horror genre is undeniable. During the very first opening weekend at the cinema this year, we have seen Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu become the top grossing film at the box office in the UK, grossing £5.2million and becoming Focus’ seventh...
What’s Coming Up In February At October Books?
By Laura McCarthy. Southampton’s beloved independent bookshop October Books will be hosting a variety of exciting events for lovers of reading, writing, and even cooking this February. Things get underway half way through the month, when they will be holding a poetry fundraiser on Saturday 15th February from 2.30pm...
BANNED! Does a rising trend of book censorship mean we’re destined for Orwell’s Oceania after all?
By Laura McCarthy. It is a well known fact that George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 is the most banned book of all time. The irony of censoring literature which is prophetic of extreme censorship isn’t lost on most of us. You may well have heard of other past bans too, including...
Winter reads: turkeys, blankets, and fantastical flying hogs
By Laura McCarthy. Throughout the cold nights by the fire, you need a little something to accompany that hot chocolate in hand and nothing could be better than a book which captures the essence of the season. Personally, I’ll be looking forward to kicking things off with The Dead...