There Is No Antimemetics Division
by qntm (Penguin, 2025); audiobook read by Rebecca Calder (Penguin, 2026)
A rare fix-up novel that actually works in the execution. Qntm postulates creatures whose powers interfere with human memory, perception, and reality itself, thence an organisation mandated to deal with such ‘anomalies’. Much dark twistiness ensues, and thinking (forgetting!) outside the box.
Doctor Who: 73 Yards
by Russell T Davies; dir. Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, 2024)
A beautifully crafted Doctor-light episode exploring life after loss. The horror elements are effective and Ruby’s despair, hopelessness and eventual survival all feel very real. A classic, save that a rushed ending glosses over both looping mechanism and the woman’s terrifying effect.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
dir. Peter Jackson (2001)
Epic in ambition but not outcome. The titular fellowship is remarkably dim, questing through a geo/chronographically elastic Middle Earth. Peter Jackson isn’t quite sure whether he’s making a big emotions music video or a drinking game predicated on wide-eyed closeups of Frodo.
Shetland, Series 7
(BBC, 2021) [Packaged in Australia as Series 6]
![TV poster: “Shetland, Series 7” (BBC, 2021) [Packaged in Australia as Series 6]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Shetland-07.jpg)
A fitting end to Douglas Henshall’s run as DI Jimmy Perez. The investigation takes some dark turns but these generally prove the result of interconnectedness and cascading misfortune, not egregious scripting liberties. (That said, the booby trap is rather hard to explain.)
The Hotel Balzaar
by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, 2024); audiobook read by Allan Corduner (Listening Library, 2024)
DiCamillo tells tales within tales in this dreamy MG novella, the old world hotel playing host both to the young protagonist’s imagination and desperate sadness, and to stories hinting at genuine magic. Blitzkoff the parrot adds a final, endearing touch of whimsy.
Doctor Who: Boom
by Steven Moffat; dir. Julie Anne Robinson (BBC, 2025)
New Series Doctors share a boundless energy, a defining sense of motion. In contrast, this anti-war bottle episode sees the Fifteenth precariously bemired, balanced atop a landmine. His vulnerability is refreshing, the dialogue exchanges often exquisitely fraught in both scripting and delivery.
The Sandman, Death: The High Cost of Living
by Neil Gaiman & Allan Heinberg; dir. Jamie Childs (Netflix, 2025)
Season 2’s standalone postscript serves as a poignant insight into Death and, through her one day off in a hundred years (spent in company with a suicidal journalist, both experiencing the world and giving him new perspective), the true value of life.
The Boy From the Mish
by Gary Lonesborough (Allen & Unwin, 2021)
audiobook read by Meyne Wyatt (Bolinda, 2021)
Lonesborough writes with an engaging voice (especially as narrated in Wyatt’s audiobook reading), presenting small-town Aboriginal culture and family life within the relatable context of YA fiction. While Jackson’s story is told honestly and openly, Lonesborough often cuts away after key experiences.
Supernatural, Season 2
(The WB, 2006-2007)
A direct continuation of Season 1, and ultimately bringing closure to its primary arc (while salting and burning a few of its own). The individual stories are strong. Newly introduced recurring characters offer relief from Sam and Dean’s much-hammered yet unchanging dynamic.
Mr Campion’s Farewell
by Mike Ripley (Severn House, 2014); audiobook read by David Thorpe (Black Thorn, 2019)
Ripley’s Mr Campion proves a worthwhile extrapolation of Margery Allingham’s original, his agedness allowing for downbeat ruminations on his place in the world, and yet also a carefree, almost schoolboyish exuberance. The mystery itself is meandering, a narrative inverse to Campion’s piquancy.