Local English fiction in South Africa has a problem Last week, reviewer and all-round bookish person Jonathan Amid posted a column to Nuuswerk24 interrogating the state of affairs and quality of book reviews and book reviewers in South Africa. Reviewers and authors took offense. Subtweets (that word will never get old for me and remainsContinue reading "Big fish, small bowl"

I have something I want to tell you. Something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while now. Something I think you should know … I see you struggling, waiting around for ‘your story’ to find you—or you it, whichever comes first—and then being desperately unhappy that it’s not happening for you. And itContinue reading "Dear Writer With No Story"

The Franschhoek Literary Festival: a few inconsequential notes from the fringe This past weekend was the Franschhoek Literary Festival. If you’re a South African bookish sort of person, you’ve probably seen a fair number of these sorts of posts already. If you’re not, all you really need to know is that Franschhoek as an entity—asContinue reading "Too few clever drunks and arseholes, not enough gossip"

Sorry to piss you off 'hard sci-fi' fans, but most 'human-based' science fiction is pure fantasy I finally watched the sci-fi space opera hit The Expanse last year. (Yeah, yeah, three years after its final episode aired. I’m late to things some times. Most times. Anyway.) It was billed as the some of the bestContinue reading "What we die for"