This came up as a winner of the 2025 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction, and since I’m always on the lookout for good Aussie crime thrillers, especially in remote places, I dove in. What to Expect A thriller set in a remote mountain town in Victoria. A young policewoman, newly appointed to the […]
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Book Review: Twelve Months (Dresden Files #18), by Jim Butcher
The Dresden Files have been going on since 2000, and I’ve been reading them since ~2017 when fans said there was a lot in common between the early books and my writing. So I’m invested, and keep reading despite some unevenness. What to Expect After jumping the shark in the previous book (Battle Ground, 2020), […]
Publication Day – Feast or Famine?
The fine people of Purple Toga Publications are proud to announce that our latest anthology – Feast or Famine? – is now available! This is a delectable and delightful collection of delicious short stories exploring how core is food to the human experience. The anthology collects some established and new indie voices, ranging from fantasy […]
Series Review: The Witch’s Bestiary, by Evangeline Hunter
I came across the introductory novella on StoryOrigin, and it looked like fun – a humorous take on urban fantasy. I’ve read that story, and proceeded to the novels. What to Expect Amusing modern urban-fantasy where the protagonist is a vet for magical creatures and has loose attitudes towards law and order. Together with rescuing […]
The Rest Is History (Book and Podcast)
I mentioned The Rest Is History previously (being responsible to my ever-growing TBR list, where A Natural History of Ghosts and An Instance of the Fingerpost have made it to reviews here). Considering all the hours I’ve spent listening to the podcast, and now finally getting to the book, I figured it’s time for a […]
Announcing a new series of novels, available now!
To all my long-time fans – or rather, long-time fans of Felix and new fans of Jack – I have an important announcement! The books, while immensely fun to write and receiving critical success, haven’t exactly been commercial best-sellers. Not the path to happy retirement I was planning on. Accordingly, I am taking a new […]
Book Review: All You Took From Me, by Lisa Kenway
This was a Ned Kelly award winner for 2025, always a good sign for an aussie-based thriller. What to Expect A woman wakes up in a hospital after an accident, with no memories of the few months leading to it. Her husband died in the accident, and when the police questions her she can’t figure […]
Book Review: How They Get You, by Chris Kohler
Something a bit different than the usual topics of this blog, but I feel it’s an important read for everyday people. Kohler is a well-respected Aussie journo (=journalist here in Australia), usually covering economics. This books is about the myriad ways businesses rig life so yopu end up paying more than you should – often […]
Just how bad AI is – two book reviews
Since I deal with Responsible AI as part of my day job — the kind of technology that is meant to improve human lives, and not do harm — I also read about the instances of when it goes wrong. Most of the dangers aren’t “the Singularity” type of thing, it’s not the Rise of […]
Aussie TV Crimes (fictional and hilarious)
As regular readers know, I try to review the lesser known but awesome Aussie crime dramas on TV. I do this as comparative storytelling and as research into Tassie Outback Noir. Today I present you with a twist! There’s the usual crime dramas, but also a non-fiction criminology/stand-up combo 🤯 Sounds weird, but it’s awesome! […]