Scarlet Town

Scarlet Town by Leonora Nattrass Laurence Jago, muddling through his young life on the edges of government and high society in Georgian England, is now the unassuming hero of three gripping historical novels by Leonora Nattrass, with more to come I hope. Jago can’t help but stumble upon corruption and skulduggery wherever his work takes him, and whatever his changing fortunes. He began Black…

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Utterly Dark and the Tides of Time

Utterly Dark and the Tides of Time by Philip Reeve Mysteriously washed ashore on Wildsea as a young child, Utterly has grown up under the guardianship of the Watchers – those who live at Sundown Watch, where they observe the seas to the west, and fastidiously note down anything out of the ordinary. Much fear, folklore and superstition is attached to the great oceanic power said to lurk out…

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Where The World Ends

Where The World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean Where The World Ends is largely set on a remote sea stac in the Outer Hebrides in the 18th century. A group of St Kilda boys, supervised by three men, take the short voyage from Hirta to Stac an Armin (‘Stack of the Warrior’) and begin the regular summer visit to to harvest the numerous birds there. Only this time, no boat turns up to collect them a…

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Bottled Goods

Bottled Goods by Sophie Van Llewyn Alina and Liviu, a young married couple in 70s Communist Romania, are suddenly under suspicion when Liviu’s brother takes a trip to the West and doesn’t return. Are they defectors too? After a blunder at Alina’s work implicates her further, they fall under the harsh glare of the Secret Police and new strictures upon their lives become hard to bear. Their…

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Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King – Illustrated by Claire Powell Alasdair Beckett-King’s star has risen in his years with a run of viral videos in which he’s spoofed Scandi noir, spooky podcasts, annoying companions in RPGs, old-school cartoons, and much else besides. His stand-up is going from strength to strength, and his podcast Loremen now runs to hundreds of…

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Faith, Hope and Carnage

Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave & Seán O’Hagan In this series of conversations with Seán O’Hagan, Nick Cave examines his creative life in years since the death of his teenage son, Arthur, in the summer of 2015. His music since that shattering event has navigated the condition of grief in various ways, and his personal faith has deepened. Cave has always been prepared to explain his…

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Albums of 2022

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Books of 2022

My favourite new books I read this year, from engrossing historical fiction to Jarvis’ unique music memoir based on the contents of his loft. I’ve included a couple of fantastic picture books my son and I have enjoyed endlessly. The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John MandelThe Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin MyersMy Name Is Yip by Paddy CreweGood Pop Bad…

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I enjoyed this Memory Card interview with SFB Games (Tom & Adam Vian) plus artist Catherine Unger, all about what led them to make one of my favourite games of recent years – Tangle Tower.

https://pca.st/1xiy1rf0

I was impressed to learn that the wonderfully expressive 'boiling' animation effect is produced by programming.

The characters' black lines and white outlines are constantly 'redrawn' but by code rather than by hand - randomly pinched and shifted by perlin noise at different octaves. According to Tom Vian, "no two people will ever see the same two frames of Tangle Tower characters in the world". Wow! You can read my review of Tangle Tower from a couple of years ago here.

Return to Monkey Island

Return to Monkey Island

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We've been really spoilt for stirring rebel rhetoric throughout Andor. In the finale we got Nemik's audiobook manifesto and a hologram Maarva recorded in her last hours, which was by turns soulful and riot-inciting.

I've loved how speeches like these have framed the struggle against the Empire...but even more, with Maarva's message still echoing, the sheer poetry of Brasso using a brick baked with her ashes to brain a fascist.