By Laura McCarthy. The spring equinox has passed and we’ve been blessed with brighter and warmer days. It’s not a secret that spring is my favourite season of the year. The weather is not swelteringly hot or miserably cold, but is at that Goldilocks point of perfect balance. The...
Books
Interview: Graphic Novelist Craig Thompson On Ginseng Roots
By Laura McCarthy. Craig Thompson is a graphic novelist, well known for titles such as Blankets and Habibi. Now that his serialised comics Ginseng Roots are being released in the UK as one larger graphic novel, I spoke to Craig about the project and his inspirations behind it. ...
Preview: A to Z of Romsey by Martin Brisland
Local tour guide and author, Martin Brisland, will launch his sixth book on Thursday 24 April. The event take place at Waterstones bookshop in The Hundred, Romsey from 7pm, and tickets are available on Eventbrite via waterstones.com/events. “Despite growing up just outside Romsey and thinking I really knew the...
Book review: Modern Poetry & Frank: Sonnets, by Diane Seuss
By Anita Foxall. Modern Poetry and Frank: Sonnets were my first encounters with Diane Seuss’s poetry, both Fitzcarraldo Editions published in February this year which I picked up from Southampton’s own October Books. This Michigan born poet grabbed my attention as soon as I started reading the first...
Book Review: Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson
By Laura McCarthy. Ginseng Roots is part memoir and part history of Asia, in which graphic novelist Craig Thompson tells the narrative of his life, exploring his working class roots, stemming from a childhood spent farming ginseng in Wisconsin. The thread of ginseng runs throughout the novel, as we...
St Patrick’s Day: The rebel consolations of Irish literature
By Benn Orgill. The badness. It’s on the move. It was a long winter – prices rising, plagues lingering, peace talks floundering. And what’s to be done as we watch disaster strike from near and far? Try again, fail again, fail better, as Samuel Beckett would have it. And...
International Women’s Day: The once and future queens – women writers of science fiction and fantasy
By Christopher Taylor. It’s no secret that the world of sci-fi and fantasy has rarely been welcoming for female authors: publishers often lacked faith in women, and readers gravitated to male names. Worse than that, even female authors who break through seem more at risk of disappearing from...
International Women’s Day: Crowning the Queens of Horror Literature
By Laura McCarthy. To mark International Women’s Day on March 8th, we take a look at the great women of horror writing. Stephen King may be known as the ‘King of Horror’ but to decide on a Queen poses too much of a challenge, as there are just...
Book review: The Sirens – Emilia Hart
By Laura McCarthy. Fans of Emilia Hart’s Weyward will be overjoyed at the release of her latest novel, The Sirens, published February 13, 2025. The narrative is delivered through a dual timeline, shifting between 1800 and 2019; in 1800, two Irish sisters are forced onto a convict ship bound...
Book Review: The Transgender Issue – Shon Faye
By Mabel Wellman. In continuation of the articles for LGBT History Month, I have very much looked forward to rereading perhaps the most important book released for transgender people in decades, originally published in 2021. This book is not, by definition, a history book. Instead, Faye has written an...