FictionReviewTwo intersecting narratives draw on the horrific and fascinating true story of an Indian Ocean shipwreck
In 1628 the Batavia, the Dutch East India Company’s grand flagship, set out on her maiden voyage from Holland to her namesake: the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The ship foundered off the coast of western Australia, and the 300 surviving passengers and crew, including women and children, were stranded on the Houtman Abrolhos islands. Read More...
OpinionHorror films This article is more than 1 year oldWelcome to the age of ‘dark copers’ – where morbid curiosity is a means of survivalThis article is more than 1 year oldEmma BeddingtonFrom haunted dolls to horror films, there is a big appetite right now for fear-as-fun. Are we all just practising for what 2023 throws at us?
A friend gleefully informed me that you can buy haunted dolls – “vessels” for unquiet spirits – on eBay. Read More...
BooksScience fiction's answer to Fifty Shades of Grey is uneven but shows a great deal of promisePerhaps inevitably, Hugh Howey's Wool has been described as the science fiction version of Fifty Shades of Grey. Howey initially self-published the first instalment of his post-apocalyptic story – just 60 pages – in July 2011. By October, readers were clamouring for more, and he duly obliged. His novel now runs to over 500 pages and has hit US bestseller lists, with book deals on both sides of the Atlantic, and film rights picked up by Ridley Scott. Read More...
