Wild Place, by Christian White
11 October 2021
Wild Place (published by Affirm Press, 26 October 2021), the third thriller novel of Melbourne based Australian writer Christian White, has I see from the socials, made it into the hands of a few fortunate advance readers. After reading both The Nowhere Child, and The Wife and the Widow, I can only say I’m eagerly anticipating getting hold of this title.
Set in suburban Melbourne during the late nineteen-eighties, with the world in the grips of satanic panic, Wild Place tells the story a school teacher, Tom Witter, who thinks he can help police investigating the disappearance of a local teenager. Unfortunately for Tom though, detectives are not interested in his assistance.
The missing teenager was last seen in an area known as the wild place, a forest area bordering Tom’s property, which also adds to his curiosity, and indeed concern, about the case. In the past the forest reserve had been popular with locals, but in recent years had developed a far less welcoming, and darker, reputation.
Keen to protect his own children, Tom teams up with the local neighbourhood watch group, and begins his own investigation into what happened. Needless to say, as with all stories set in White’s realms, nothing is as it seems, and doubtless readers can expect to be shepherded some way down a particular path before being stunned by one of White’s trademark twists. I cannot wait.
RELATED CONTENT
Christian White, fiction, TBR list, writing
Is home streaming films the new normal cinema experience?
11 October 2021
Image courtesy of Yousaf Bhutta.
Life in this part of Australia, New South Wales, begins to return to some semblance of normal today. After months of lockdowns many residents will no longer be subjected to the restrictions they’ve become accustomed to recently. Cafes, bars, and cinemas are among a slew of businesses re-opening, which will be welcome news to many people.
While getting out to a cafe, and maybe a bar, is something I’ve been looking forward to, I’m not so sure about going back to the movies. And it’s not because of the possible risks of being seated in a confined space with several hundred people for two to three hours. If the past eighteen months has shown me anything, it is how convenient streaming films online is.
Home streaming films may not offer the big screen experience of a cinema, or the enjoyment of being out with other people, but it’s still going to be hard to walk away from. For one thing, you’re not bound to a schedule. If say you’re streaming the latest James Bond movie, the show starts exactly when it suits you, not someone else.
There’s also advantages I’d never thought of until we started streaming regularly. Unlimited pauses are one. Anything goes; there’s time to grab a snack, take a phone call, text someone, google a point of interest in the film that’s on, or tap in a few notes for the article I need to write for work tomorrow. And then there’s the in your own home comfort of the whole thing.
Imagine no inconsiderate fellow patrons, talking loudly, texting incessantly, scrolling their socials (with the screen set to maximum brightness of course), or making or taking phone calls mid-session without leaving the auditorium (I’ve seen it happen). And let’s not get started on noisy food wrappings, or people who don’t understand allocated seating.
Of course the comforts of our would-be home cinema causes me to feel some guilt. Staying home could have an impact on a cinema’s viability. Staff may have to be let go. Their bottom-line is still being affected even though I may be paying to watch films from said cinema’s stream service, but they’re missing out on my vital for them coffee and pop-corn purchases.
But who knows what might happen? In six months we may have traded the simple joys of watching movies at home for the big-screen, cinema auditorium extravaganza. Regardless, I think the post pandemic lockdown period will be pivotal for the cinema industry. And if the worst comes to the worst, it could be the home cinema will become a permanent feature after all.
RELATED CONTENT
The Man Himself, new music from Gang of Youths
9 October 2021
The Man Himself, new music from Sydney based Australian music act Gang of Youths, I won’t say no to that. A third album is reportedly on the way, but no word yet as to when it’ll arrive.
RELATED CONTENT
Love Your Bookshop Day 2021
9 October 2021
Happy Saturday. Today is Love Your Bookshop Day, and the occasion couldn’t be timelier after many bookshops in some parts of Australia have had to keep their doors closed for months, and contend with a series of lengthy lockdowns that have affected everyone.
RELATED CONTENT
In Moonland, by Miles Allinson
8 October 2021
The birth of a child seems a strange time to start delving into the past, but that’s what happens in the second novel of Melbourne based Australian novelist Miles Allinson, In Moonland (published by Scribe Publications, August 2021). Rather than think about his new born daughter Sylvie, Joe is intent on finding out more about his father, Vincent, who died when Joe was seventeen.
Vincent was a temperamental man, kind one minute, aggressive the next, who once spent time at a spiritual retreat in India. After catching up with Vincent’s surviving friends, Joe discovers something happened in India which had a profound impact on Vincent. Despite what Joe learns though, many questions about his father’s life remain unanswered.
At the time of his death, it was suggested Vincent was trying to stage a car accident so he could make an insurance claim, but Joe discovers that may not have been the case after all. In later years, Sylvie narrates the story, as she travels to meet her estranged father Joe, in a country since ravaged by climate change, and governed by an authoritarian leader.
RELATED CONTENT
fiction, Miles Allinson, TBR list, writing
The Luminous Solution, by Charlotte Wood
8 October 2021
The Luminous Solution (published by Allen & Unwin, September 2021) is new work – non-fiction this time – from Sydney based Australian Stella Prize winning author Charlotte Wood, she of The Weekend fame.
A rich inner life is not just the preserve of the arts. The joys, fears and profound self-discoveries of creativity – through making or building anything that wasn’t there before, any imaginative exploration or attempt to invent – I believe to be the birthright of every person on this earth. If you live your life with curiosity and intention – or would like to – this book is for you.
RELATED CONTENT
Australian literature, Charlotte Wood, writing
Abdulrazak Gurnah winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature
8 October 2021
United Kingdom based Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has been named the 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
RELATED CONTENT
Abdulrazak Gurnah, literature, writing
Now and Then: Ten Years of Stella
7 October 2021
Although the inaugural award was not made until 2013, it is ten years since the inception of the Stella Prize. To mark the occasion, Stella co-founder Chris Gordon will host an online discussion with past winners and shortlisted authors about the impact the award has had, and its outlook over the next decade, this evening at 6:30PM (AEDT). Details on how to be involved are here.
Join Stella co-founder Chris Gordon in conversation with Carrie Tiffany (winner of the inaugural Prize in 2013 for Mateship with Birds), Emily Bitto (winner of the 2015 Prize for The Strays), and Claire G Coleman (shortlisted in 2018 for Terra Nullius) as they discuss Stella’s impact thus far, and what might be achieved over the next decade.
RELATED CONTENT
Australian literature, literary awards, Stella Prize
On final approach: Forever, the new Flight Facilities album
7 October 2021
Seven years after the release of their debut Down to Earth, Sydney based Australian electronic act Flight Facilities lands on Friday, 12 November 2021, with their new album Forever. I’ve been queuing up their new singles – including the title track – on Spotify for weeks now… let the countdown to 12 November commence.
RELATED CONTENT
The Animals in That Country, by Laura Jean McKay
7 October 2021
A flu of pandemic proportions is sweeping the country, and there seems to be little humanity can do to quell it, try as we might. That’s the somewhat familiar premise of The Animals in That Country (published by Scribe Publications, March 2020), the debut novel of New Zealand based Australian writer Laura Jean McKay.
But this disease had an odd symptom: those who become infected are possessed of the ability to understand the languages of animals. While having a conversation with their pets is probably something many people would cherish, that’s not quite the way this flu works. The infected become privy to the thoughts of every last creature. And for some people the result is an unbearable form of information overload. They die a slow death by madness, from an avalanche of once mute voices.
For straight-talking grandmother Jean, who works in a remote Australian wildlife park, the illness is a blessing in disguise. With the exception of Kimberly, her granddaughter, she much prefers the company of animals anyway. But when Lee, her son, leaves with Kimberly, in a bid to escape the outbreak, Jean, accompanied by a dingo named Sue, sees little choice but to go in search of them.
RELATED CONTENT