Carpe Jugulum
by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, 1998)
audiobook read by Nigel Planer (Isis, 2000)
A perfectly respectable Discworld novel. The vampires pose a serious threat; Agnes Nitt evinces personality(ies). Still, there are rather more characters than focus, and thus a nagging sense of Pratchett extemporising a skyscraper and pulling it into place at the pointy end.
Macanudo: Welcome to Elsewhere
by Liniers (Fantagraphics, 2022)
Hardcover. A scenario-based, full-colour cartoon strip championing the power of imagination (with some social commentary thrown in). Argentine maestro Liniers employs a recurring cast of child, animal and fantasy characters, treating world-weary readers to cathartic flights of fancy, daydreaming, and outright surrealism.
Anna
dir. Luc Besson (2019)
One of Besson’s better films, albeit offering nothing new either to the genre or within his own oeuvre. Sasha Luss brings emotionally versatility to a role that shouldn’t require any, her performance elevating the nested-dolls Cold War plot-shuffling. Lera Abova also impresses.
The French Powder Mystery
by Ellery Queen (Frederick A. Stokes, 1930)
audiobook read by Robert Fass (Blackstone, 2013)
More of the same. Ellery pontificates upon every detail in a manner contrived to suggest great intelligence (while painstakingly running through deductions). The investigation plays out blow-by-mundane-blow with much repetition, asking little of the reader save incredulity at the culprit’s day job.
The Waler: Australia’s Great War Horse
by Russell Vines & Barry Strickland; dir. Russell Vines (ABC, 2015)
documentary narrated / audiobook read by William McInnes (Bolinda, 2015)
A short, solemn documentary about the Australian Light Horsemen who served at Gallipoli (sans horses) and then in the Middle East during the First World War. The Waler horses suffered but endured, underpinning a victorious campaign… only to be shamefully cast aside.
A Book for Kids
by C.J. Dennis (Angus & Robertson, 1921)
audiobook read by Colin Friels (ABC Audio, 2016)
Supposedly unabridged, this audiobook in fact omits the stories, leaving only Dennis’s verse—short, rather dated bush ballads, their rhyme too simple for adults, the language too sophisticated for children. Colin Friels revisits his Play School days but fights a losing battle.
To the Dark Tower
by Victor Kelleher (Julia MacRae, 1992)
audiobook read by Francis Greenslade (Bolinda, 2007)
A suitably atmospheric, at times unsettling MG reworking of Robert Browning’s narrative poem ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’. Engrossing at the outset, the story sags in the middle but redeems itself with a measured, rather downbeat ending to the quest.
Gently in the Sun
by Alan Hunter (Cassell, 1959)
audiobook read by Andrew Wincott (Magna, 2013)
Atmospheric prose, unaccountable as a murder investigation. Gently dons an Hawaiian shirt and tries to solve the case through mystic osmosis. The only progress comes when people approach him of their own accord to volunteer information. Even then he gets it wrong.
Seven Dead
by J. Jefferson Farjeon (Collins, 1939)
audiobook read by David Thorpe (Soundings, 2020)
A Golden Age mystery with vim. The scenario is striking but the biggest drawcard is Detective Inspector Kendall (straight-talking, sarcastic, almost manically bonhomous), who even when absent for a long stretch mid-book is ably deputised by a good-natured and loquacious civilian offsider.
Dark Angel, Season 1
(Fox, 2000-2001)
Near-future SF set in a dystopian Seattle. Dark Angel rests very much upon Jessica Alba (who carries its action intrigue and embodies the broader assumption of female empowerment), yet also develops its minor characters and encompasses near-standalone episodes within the season-spanning arc.