Siobhan Dunlop (Author of No Holds Bard)

Siobhan is currently reading Negative Space by B.R. Yeager (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7 hours, 58 min ago · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Negative Space by B.R. Yeager. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Negative Space by B.R. Yeager <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Siobhan rated a book really liked it Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Spoiled Milk is a 1920s-set queer boarding school gothic novel about a group of upper sixth girls whose friend falls to her death. Emily is in her final year at Briarley School for Girls, a sanctuary for her and her classmates from the outside world. ...more
7 hours, 59 min ago · like · see review
Siobhan rated a book liked it I'll Be the Monster by Sean Gilbert	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'll Be the Monster is a novel about a murderous couple on holiday who run into an old university friend and rehash the past. A couple who met at Cambridge are now trying to keep their marriage alive through a luxurious holiday, but a few days in, th ...more
Dec 21, 2025 03:47PM · like · see review
Siobhan is currently reading Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 21, 2025 03:47PM · like
Siobhan rated a book liked it I'll Be the Monster by Sean Gilbert	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'll Be the Monster is a novel about a murderous couple on holiday who run into an old university friend and rehash the past. A couple who met at Cambridge are now trying to keep their marriage alive through a luxurious holiday, but a few days in, th ...more
Dec 21, 2025 03:42PM · like · see review
Siobhan rated a book really liked it Plastic, Prism, Void: Part One by Violet Allen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Plastic, Prism, Void is a wild ride of a romance sci-fi literary fiction adventure through form and one messy relationship. Acrasia is a magical trans girl who comes across as pretentious. Opus is a mech-piloting trans guy. They were enemies, but the ...more
Dec 19, 2025 12:55PM · like · see review
Siobhan rated a book liked it Love Junkie by Robert Plunket	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Love Junkie is a satirical novel about a housewife who falls in with the gay New York crowd and ends up in a variety of unlikely scenarios. Mimi is bored with her life with her husband, when when she meets a gay man who knows all about the brands and ...more
Dec 18, 2025 01:43AM · 1 like · like · see review
Siobhan rated a book it was ok The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want – Exposing Surveillance Capitalism and Artificial Intelligence Myths in Information Technology Today by Emily M. Bender (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It's important to break through the hype and look at the reality of (generative) AI and the tech industry, but it felt like this book just threw a lot of talking points around AI at the wall and didn't offer much you wouldn't see in an angry thread o ...more
Dec 18, 2025 01:13AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The AI Con by Emily M. Bender. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The AI Con by Emily M. Bender <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Siobhan rated a book really liked it Empire of AI: Inside the reckless race for total domination by Karen Hao	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 17, 2025 06:31AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Empire of AI by Karen Hao. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Empire of AI by Karen Hao <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Siobhan rated a book liked it Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement by The Friends of Attention	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Attensity! is a manifesto for reclaiming our attention away from technology companies through collective action. It is a short manifesto statement, with each sentence then broken down into a short essay to expand upon the ideas behind it, which build ...more
Dec 15, 2025 07:46AM · like · see review

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Negative Space
by B.R. Yeager (Goodreads Author)

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Spoiled Milk
by Avery Curran (Goodreads Author)

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Spoiled Milk is a 1920s-set queer boarding school gothic novel about a group of upper sixth girls whose friend falls to her death. Emily is in her final year at Briarley School for Girls, a sanctuary for her and her classmates from the outside world. Spoiled Milk is a 1920s-set queer boarding school gothic novel about a group of upper sixth girls whose friend falls to her death. Emily is in her final year at Briarley School for Girls, a sanctuary for her and her classmates from the outside world. But when Violet, their erstwhile leader, falls to her death, they want answers, but as they start to investigate, it seems that things are rotten at Briarley, and the school isn't going to let them go.

I'd heard quite a bit of hype about this novel so I was excited to read it, and it fits into the 'cursed vibes England' niche that I'd imagined it would, making you think of Julia Armfield and Alison Rumfitt. The story itself is gothic 1920s boarding school, not aimed at a YA audience even though the characters are seventeen and eighteen, and the horror starts slow and develops as the book goes on. It felt to me like it was about cycles of violence, both interpersonally in characters' relationships and in terms of the boarding school setting and the haunted element.

The latter two elements, the implications of the boarding school power structure and the actual malevolent force itself, are more subtext than text in the book, and I think the main thing I left the book wanting was more depth into the meaning(s) behind what happened beyond occasional allusions to the sugar trade past of the family who owned the house and gave the school its name. I think particularly because this book felt like a boarding school version of Tell Me I'm Worthless, which very much foregrounds how fascism is the haunting, I wanted a little more about how different themes in the book were part of the supernatural side.

The book is narrated by Emily, who is a biased narrator who changes opinion and doesn't give or know the full story, and this makes for classic gothic novel assumptions as well as a bit of an exploration of queer repression. This isn't the book for you if you're looking for uncomplicated queer characters/romance, but instead there's actually flawed teenagers suddenly thrown into a malevolent situation. A downside of the narrative POV is that you don't get to see as much of the other upper sixth girls' characters, but it suits the style of the novel and its atmosphere to have a singular perspective through which you interpret the narrative.

Overall, this is a gripping gothic novel that doesn't always offer answers, but instead has a malevolent atmosphere and a well-captured sense of being trapped somewhere that is decaying everything in it. It perhaps wasn't as dark as I expected—I would definitely see this as historical gothic rather than horror—but that's not necessarily a bad thing! ...more

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I'll Be the Monster
by Sean Gilbert

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I'll Be the Monster is a novel about a murderous couple on holiday who run into an old university friend and rehash the past. A couple who met at Cambridge are now trying to keep their marriage alive through a luxurious holiday, but a few days in, th I'll Be the Monster is a novel about a murderous couple on holiday who run into an old university friend and rehash the past. A couple who met at Cambridge are now trying to keep their marriage alive through a luxurious holiday, but a few days in, they run into Benny, who they know from those days. What follows is a tortuous game between them all, with secrets lurking underneath.

This book is a distinctively written story that is gripping, but doesn't really get as dark as you might expect it to be. Much of the narrative is written from the second-person perspective of the husband, addressing his wife, and this creates an unreliable narrator through a lens that puts the reader at a remove from the action, which works well for this couple who you never really learn that much about. There are also chapters from the Cambridge days that show things from the wife's and Benny's perspectives to give a bit more backstory, and I welcomed these sections as they delve a bit further into the incident that they're mostly thinking about in the novel. Otherwise, the story is a lot of interactions and paranoia without much actually revealed about anyone, making it at times more of a vibe. It is fascinating how much the book skirts around the couple's actual actions at any point and I do feel conflicted about how much I liked that fact about it, but it is certainly an interesting choice.

I'll Be the Monster is readable literary fiction that slowly draws you in and then toys with you, without offering too many definitive answers about the present day of the book. At times I wish it lingered more on the darker elements and the imagery of them—especially the central opening image of someone floating on a punt down the river—but I liked how excruciating the couple's relationship with Benny and each other was as they navigated what him being there meant to them. I do think it is one of the many books that would benefit from not being compared to The Secret History, as I think some people have compared it to, as I think that misrepresents the narrative and focus of the book. ...more

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Spoiled Milk
by Avery Curran (Goodreads Author)

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Siobhan rated a book liked it

I'll Be the Monster
by Sean Gilbert

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I'll Be the Monster is a novel about a murderous couple on holiday who run into an old university friend and rehash the past. A couple who met at Cambridge are now trying to keep their marriage alive through a luxurious holiday, but a few days in, th I'll Be the Monster is a novel about a murderous couple on holiday who run into an old university friend and rehash the past. A couple who met at Cambridge are now trying to keep their marriage alive through a luxurious holiday, but a few days in, they run into Benny, who they know from those days. What follows is a tortuous game between them all, with secrets lurking underneath.

This book is a distinctively written story that is gripping, but doesn't really get as dark as you might expect it to be. Much of the narrative is written from the second-person perspective of the husband, addressing his wife, and this creates an unreliable narrator through a lens that puts the reader at a remove from the action, which works well for this couple who you never really learn that much about. There are also chapters from the Cambridge days that show things from the wife's and Benny's perspectives to give a bit more backstory, and I welcomed these sections as they delve a bit further into the incident that they're mostly thinking about in the novel. Otherwise, the story is a lot of interactions and paranoia without much actually revealed about anyone, making it at times more of a vibe. It is fascinating how much the book skirts around the couple's actual actions at any point and I do feel conflicted about how much I liked that fact about it, but it is certainly an interesting choice.

I'll Be the Monster is readable literary fiction that slowly draws you in and then toys with you, without offering too many definitive answers about the present day of the book. At times I wish it lingered more on the darker elements and the imagery of them—especially the central opening image of someone floating on a punt down the river—but I liked how excruciating the couple's relationship with Benny and each other was as they navigated what him being there meant to them. I do think it is one of the many books that would benefit from not being compared to The Secret History, as I think some people have compared it to, as I think that misrepresents the narrative and focus of the book. ...more

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Plastic, Prism, Void: Part One
by Violet Allen

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Plastic, Prism, Void is a wild ride of a romance sci-fi literary fiction adventure through form and one messy relationship. Acrasia is a magical trans girl who comes across as pretentious. Opus is a mech-piloting trans guy. They were enemies, but the ...more

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Love Junkie
by Robert Plunket

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Love Junkie is a satirical novel about a housewife who falls in with the gay New York crowd and ends up in a variety of unlikely scenarios. Mimi is bored with her life with her husband, when when she meets a gay man who knows all about the brands and ...more

Siobhan rated a book it was ok

The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want – Exposing Surveillance Capitalism and Artificial Intelligence Myths in Information Technology Today
by Emily M. Bender (Goodreads Author)

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It's important to break through the hype and look at the reality of (generative) AI and the tech industry, but it felt like this book just threw a lot of talking points around AI at the wall and didn't offer much you wouldn't see in an angry thread o ...more

Siobhan rated a book really liked it

Empire of AI: Inside the reckless race for total domination
by Karen Hao

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Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement
by The Friends of Attention

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Attensity! is a manifesto for reclaiming our attention away from technology companies through collective action. It is a short manifesto statement, with each sentence then broken down into a short essay to expand upon the ideas behind it, which build ...more

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	No Holds Bard: Modern LGBTQ+ fiction inspired by the works of William Shakespeare by Julie Bozza (Goodreads Author), Siobhan Dunlop (Goodreads Author), Adam Fitzroy 3.89 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Queer Writing for a Brave New World by Anna Leach (Contributor), Essa Flett (Contributor), John Lugo-Trebble (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Syntax Error 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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