Pugwash and the Midnight Feast
by John Ryan (The Bodley Head, 1984)
A heavily illustrated early reader in which Captain Pugwash and company are saved, not by Tom’s wits but rather friendly natives they’d all (except Tom) assumed to be cannibals. The moral against groundless assumptions is itself understated, dressed up as pirate shenanigans.
The Drop
by John Christopher, Galaxy (March 1953)
reprinted Science Fiction Stories, ed. Tom Boardman Jr. (Octopus, 1979)
SF short story where a clunky disquiet reveals itself as dystopia (masquerading as tightly regulated survival colonisation). Christopher hints at a greater storyline, and one can imagine this as a much longer work. The ending, however, proves a banal sort of twist.
McDonald & Dodds, Season 1
(ITV, 2020)
Two feature-length murder mysteries. The Bath setting is picturesque, the crimes intriguing enough, but all the characters are over-the-top, ranging from slightly (the lesser suspects) through off-puttingly (the major suspects, Chief Superintendent and McDonald) to borderline unwatchable (Dodds). Nice concept but heavy-handed.
Battlefield Earth
by L. Ron Hubbard (St. Martin’s Press, 1982)
audiobook read by various narrators (Galaxy Audio, 2024)
A truly enormous novel (47 hours in audiobook form!) in which Hubbard plumps hard for the plough-ahead fecundity of pulp writing. Generic exertion grunts and Terl’s constant mutterings of ‘Leverage, leverage’ notwithstanding, Stockholm syndrome does ultimately inure the reader to its charms.
Plus X
by Eric Frank Russell, Astounding Science Fiction (June, 1956)
collected in “4 for the Future” ed. Groff Conklin (Pyramid, 1959), pp. 108-160.
Russell’s impish SF novella pits a lone POW caught deep behind enemy lines, armed with nothing but his wits (and thence an imaginary co-conspirator!), against the entire alien war effort. Leeming’s captors might be a tad credulous but this is terrific fun.
Looking for Alibrandi
by Melina Marchetta (Penguin, 1992); audiobook read by Marcella Russo (Bolinda, 2010)
YA exploration of identity and belonging, told from the perspective of a third-generation Italian Australian. The title is apt, as the destination Marchetta has her protagonist arrive at (eschewing more obvious plot lines/resolutions), is the simple need and resolve to keep searching.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2
(The CW, 2016-2017)
Fast, frivolous and fun, if one can stomach the Legends’ constant backflipping on moral stances, and such abject stupidity as Sara not thinking to wound evil Rip and take the Spear, or twice choosing 1916 to dig about in no man’s land.
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School
by Sonora Reyes (Versify, 2022); audiobook read by Karla Serrato (HarperCollins, 2022)
The self-sabotage feels a little contrived, but in all other respects this is a tour de force. Reyes does her themes proud—found family, queer identity, racial and religious prejudice—yet does so within a wider, welcoming celebration of hope and romance.
The Brokenwood Mysteries, Series 2
(Prime, 2015)
The New Zealand dry humour and small-town setting come once again to the fore, lending their charm to these four cosy-ish murder mysteries. Immersive in the unravelling, several of the crimes/investigations do reveal killers with dubious motives. (‘Blood Pink’ proves especially egregious.)
The Chelsea Detective, Series 2
(Acorn TV, 2023)
Another four feature-length murder mysteries, intriguingly scripted without being too outlandish. Vanessa Emme hits the ground running as DS Layla Walsh. Adrian Scarborough brings a rare vulnerability to DI Max Arnold as well as coffee-deprived, the-world-is-changing irritability and an edge of steel.