Rebel Dykes | Dir: Sian Williams & Harri Shanahan | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ Talking with the fourteen year old in my life, she told me that her best friend was a ‘gay boy’ and two of her female friends were a couple. When I was that age, homosexuality was illegal and it was rumoured that […]
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron Bloomsbury Growing plants in recycled milk cartons and empty glass jars ever since she could remember, Briseis finds she has a strange power over plants. Leaves turn to face her as if she were the sun and flowers bloom in her footsteps, but it is a power that her […]
The Queer Bible Edited by Jack Guinness HQ (Harper Collins) Jack Guinness shines a light on some unacknowledged LGBTIQ+ history with stories of a group of LGBTIQ+ people who have inspired others and helped shape the world into being a better place. He wants people to know that “they walk in the footsteps of the […]
Nancy Business by R.W.R. McDonald Allen & Unwin Rob McDonald is a queer Kiwi dad, living in Melbourne with his two daughters and one HarryCat. He introduced the character of twelve year old Tippy Chan and her gay uncles to the world in his first novel The Nancys, which won him a many awards. Born […]
Cousins | Dir: Ainsley Gardiner & Briar Grace-Smith | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The final scene is the key to this wonderful film, and fortunately I was accompanied by a friend from New Zealand who was able to explain the powerful image of three symbolic colours swirling in the muddy water where three young girls are swimming […]
You Had It Coming by B.M. Carroll Viper Warning: This review contains mentions of sexual assault. Paramedic Megan Lowe has half an hour before the end of her shift and is looking forward to having a day off when a call comes in that a male in his fifties has gunshot wounds to his chest […]
Greenfield | Dir: Julius Telmer | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Just after dawn, the country town of Greenfield is coming to life and James (Ethan Tomas) is dropped off by a truck driving through. As he walks to his destination, a huge party is getting underway to welcome Kelley back to town after she had spent 10 […]
The Beauty of Living Twice By Sharon Stone Allen & Unwin Sharon Stone made a name for herself in Hollywood, not just for her beauty and talent, but for her candour and her refusal to “play nice”. Then in September 2001, a stroke and bleeding on her brain that led to major surgery made her […]
The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn HarperCollins Living in New York with husband Adrian, thirty-one year old Ambrosia Wellington (Amb) receives an email invitation to attend a weekend of celebrations for the class of 2007 to commemorate 10 years since graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Even though she did […]
Something to Hide by Fleur McDonald Allen & Unwin This is the fourth novel in the crime series featuring Detective Dave Burrows and the sequel to Red Dirt Country (2019). McDonald describes her character as being tough, loyal, full of integrity, who doesn’t mind bending the rules to get the ‘right-justice’ outcome. McDonald says that […]
