news, views & reviews
Posted in Audiobooks, Fantasy, Historical on Apr 5th, 2007
by Susanna Clarke
reviewed by John Murphy
“Two magicians shall appear in England”
I tend to catch the tail-end of trends, like an enthusiastic gate-crasher at a party long since broken-up. When friends and family suggest—nay, insist—that I must, I absolutely must watch such-and-such a movie, listen to such-and-such a CD, or read such-and-such a book … well, [...]
reviewed by Rachel Murphy
Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis’ retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, is the story of the sisters Psyche and Orual, Psyche being the beautiful and innocent (taken by many for a goddess) and Orual being the ugly one, though thoroughly devoted to her sister.
Told in Orual’s voice, the novel is [...]
Posted in Fantasy on Apr 20th, 2006
Reviewed by Debra Murphy
“Whoops!” Brother Jerome clutched at the headstone on Father Aloysius’s grave in an attempt to steady himself on the icy ground, but on the frozen grass his feet slid from beneath him. He pitched forward, his head hit the headstone with a thud and he slumped down, blood trickling from the cut [...]
Posted in Classics, Fantasy, Mystery/Detective on Feb 15th, 2006
Reviewed by Debra Murphy
From the back cover of the illustrated Idylls Press edition:
"Originally published in 1908, G.K. Chesterton’s nightmare-fantasy of Police vs. Dynamiters, Law vs. Anarchy, and Religion vs. Nihilism has influenced writers as diverse as Franz Kafka and C.S. Lewis, and remains as exuberant and imaginative, as original and prophetic as when if first [...]