Dave Higgins's Blog, page 11

The Famine Cycle Trilogy by J.D.L. Rosell

Rosell blends noir tropes of dingy backstreets and corrupt authorities with fantasy tropes of ancient gods and strange magics, creating a tale that is both gritty personal struggle and epic quest. While Airene models herself after the Finches, a short-lived order of public servants who sifted truth from lies, she and her friends are little … Continue reading The Famine Cycle Trilogy by J.D.L. Rosell

Iron Ox

Carving a jade chop I brush away priceless dust The scent of childhood

The Captain versus Pan by Jordan Elizabeth

Elizabeth presents a classic tale of children being spirited away to be young forever through the lens of adult experience rather than childish innocence, adding complexity and realism without succumbing to moral relativism. This review is based on an advanced review copy of the version due to be published in Carnal Imprint Publishing’s Boundless Enchantment … Continue reading The Captain versus Pan by Jordan Elizabeth

The Slowest Flaring

Art, as they say, is terrible and artificial. Stripping away the comfort of familiar all-rightness by skilled action. Obviously, it can also be a pleasant little diversion such as playing with a matchstick. Nothing unnerving about a jolly little matchstick dancing and spinning and inspiring patterns… for over an hour… Collapsing and shifting like the … Continue reading The Slowest Flaring

The Girl of Dorcha Wood by Kristin Ward

Ward reframes the classic fantasy trope of a youth discovering they might be special as a gritty tale of hardship making a community shift from seeing someone as a helpful eccentric to a malevolent other. Having lived almost all her life in Dorcha Wood, Fiadh finds the peasant tales of cruel Aos Sí. and their … Continue reading The Girl of Dorcha Wood by Kristin Ward

A Politic Choice

For any of my UK readers who are still considering which candidate they might support (or other readers who just like doing a quiz), I recommend the Vote for Policies 2024 General Election Survey: the intent is to let you pick the policy packages you like without knowing which party proposed them until afterward, offering … Continue reading A Politic Choice

Beyond: Three Sigils and Totems Stories by William Meikle

Meikle portrays three very different times and characters, united by an underlying cosmic dread. This collection gathers three short stories from Meikle’s Sigils and Totems universe. ‘Stars and Sigils’. Newly rich, drunk, and raw from his partner’s death, an asteroid miner is offered a chance to see his friend again; it’s almost certainly a scam … Continue reading Beyond: Three Sigils and Totems Stories by William Meikle

Your Periodic Reminder Menstruation Isn’t Shameful

“Menstruation is the only blood that is not born from violence, yet it’s the one that disgusts you most.” —Maia Schwartz

Suck-U-Bus by S.C. Mendes & Nikki Noir

Blending the extreme religious accusation that heavy metal is literally the devil’s music with the psychology of sleep disorders and hallucinations, Mendes and Noir create a thriller arc that rides the liminal zone between existential evil and human cruelty. When Lisa’s brother Danny begs her to attend a heavy metal concert like they used to, … Continue reading Suck-U-Bus by S.C. Mendes & Nikki Noir

Calls of the Urban Jungle

Someone on our street is having scaffolding erected and the scaffolders have a pumping sound system—fully audible halfway along the street, through double-glazing, and noise-cancelling headphones pumping. They’re assembling to a cutting edge modern music channel: Elf x Darkness, Sub Focus, Shostakovich, beats like that. So, I’ve been spending the day waiting for the… I’ve … Continue reading Calls of the Urban Jungle