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Review: The HalfHero series by Ian W. Sainsbury
What if a super human turned out not to be so super…or even human? Britain’s superhero, The Deterrent, was unveiled to the world in 1979, and disappeared two years later. The truth about his origins has never been revealed. The rumours about his children—those that survived—and their mysterious abilities have never been confirmed. Until now. Armed with a diary that reveals everything about The Deterrent’s early years, Daniel Harbin—discovering powers of his own—finds himself dragged into the same secretive government department his famous father worked for. Can a halfhero be a better superhero than his father, or is Daniel making a terrible mistake? When the wrong people know what you’re capable of, no matter how powerful you are, you’re still in danger…. A…
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Review: Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.” Set in “Little Jamaica,” Toronto’s Eglinton West neighbourhood, Kara moves from girlhood to the threshold of adulthood, from elementary school to high school graduation, in these twelve interconnected stories. We see her on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with the ongoing battles between her unyielding grandparents. I…
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Armchair Traveler
“You can lead me all over Attica or anywhere else you like, simply waving in front of me the leaves of a book.” ~ Socrates When the Covid lockdowns had begun to take their toll on my everyday tolerance for staying at home – something I thought up to that point was limitless – I decided to travel in my armchair using other peoples travel memoirs as gateways to the world. “We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.” ― John Lubbock People told me I was mad and only making the restrictions worse, but in fact the books I was reading told stories of journeys I would most likely never have taken even without the freeze the pandemic placed on us. As you can see from…
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Toxic Masculinity & The Emerging World Order
I have to admit I’ve always had a fear of the pendulum effect when it comes to societal developments. Like every other person who welcomes improvement in equality and the practice of tolerance and respect, I celebrate every step forward with a sense of joy and a sigh of relief. These steps go a long way to help restore my faith in humanity in general and those who take risks to benefit others in particular. But there has always been a faint murmur of concern at the back of my mind when those changes appear to be part of a wave of change rather than a constantly mounting ripple of reform. Newtons Law of action and reaction comes to mind – for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s what I…
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My Signature: A Moviestar Moment
When I was promoted to what was to become my final role before retirement I had a momentary realisation that would make a small, but legally important, change in my life from that point on. I needed to change my signature. The role I was taking on, area manager for the local education and training board, would require me to sign multiple documents across a range of purposes on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. The signature I had relied upon for the whole of my adult life up to that point was extremely legible and used a print based layout – letter by letter. It required me to lift the pen a number of times and more importantly was rarely used. I needed a signature that would be more difficult to copy and quick and…
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Regrets & How To Fix Them
Lucky old Edith Piaf had none but, like Sinatra, I reckon when we reach our sixties we all have at least a few, regrets that is. Relax, my Irishness won’t allow me to use this time together to roll out the few I have – too few to mention? – even though it might be a lot less expensive than a therapist (something else being Irish sees as totally alien). What I really wanted to chew the fat about was the notion of regret when you retire and have to reinvent yourself once again. I say once again because in reality we do that a few times over a lifetime, from child to adult, to partner, to parent, but each of those reinventions are gradual over time and influenced by role models and society’s requirements. Post-retirement, or…
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DRIVING OVER LEMONS
Given the ban on travel because of the current pandemic, and a series of unfortunate events that have prevented us from even wandering around Ireland, I've taken lately to travelling vicariously through other people's accounts of their journeys and life experiences in various parts of the world. In this adventure we're off to Andalucia in the 1980s with the first drummer of the band Genesis (I bet he's sick of being described in that way at this stage), his wife and a menagerie of both human and non-human characters. This memoir is an easy read and if I'm to be honest it's suffering from a dated feel at this stage, even though the version I read was a 25th anniversary edition with an extra chapter (that didn't really add anything to the overall story).
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MORIARTY
Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace. THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW A sequel to House of Silk the first Sherlock Holmes novel approved…
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NECROPOLIS
Necropolis by Anthony Horowitz Evil has been unleashed on the world and only five children – with special powers – can save it. Matt and the other three desperately need to find Scar, the final gatekeeper, who has been trapped in Hong Kong, where puddles of water turn into puddles of blood, where ghosts, demons and hideous creatures stalk the streets. Matt has no choice but to follow her. Now, both imprisoned, their only hope of survival is to reach a secret door in the Man Ho temple. But even if Scar can find her psychic power, it may already be too late. THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW If you’re what Stephen King refers to as a ‘constant reader’ then you’ll know when I find an author or series of books I tend to binge until…
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MY REDBUBBLE REVOLUTION
Okay I realise everybody at some stage looks at other peoples art and says to themselves “I could do that”. Sometimes we’re so off track that as soon as we try we realise it’s a non-runner, but then sometimes that’s all we need to recognise our own ‘art’ is quite good, in its own way. It took me years, no decades, to be comfortable enough to think that what I do could be considered art and when I did I wanted to share my enjoyment of the whole process. Once I got over my artistic stagefright I thought I’d dip my toe in the world of using my designs as something to share with the world on Things and that led me to Redbubble. It was my own little Redbubble Revolution. Now I’m about to start adding…
