Far from the Light of Heaven, by Tade Thompson
18 October 2021
An article published in The Atlantic in September 2018, written by Geoff Manaugh, pondered the question of dealing with crime on Mars. It was a thought provoking read, given the long time talk of establishing colonies on the red planet. But talk is easy. Mars is far from hospitable, and colonising the planet presents a raft of challenges, some of which may prove insurmountable.
But what happens, if one day in the future, we discover the means to cross the gulfs of interstellar space, and are able to establish colonies on planets we may find, that are somewhat more conducive to human habitation? The question of law enforcement is likely to be utmost on the minds of those organising such a gargantuan undertaking.
Crime beyond Earth is a theme central to Far from the Light of Heaven (published by Hachette Book Group, October 2021), the latest novel from British-born Yoruban doctor and novelist, Tade Thompson. Shell, the first mate of a vessel carrying one thousand colonists to a distant world, wakes from ten years in hibernation to discover some of the passengers have been murdered.
A puzzle to say the least, given everyone on board was asleep. Shell launches an investigation, but her work is cut out for her. Her captain, an artificial entity called Ragtime, who might know more than he lets on, is little help. Meanwhile menacing robots lurk in the shadows of the enormous vessel, which Shell cannot leave until she works out what happened.
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fiction, Tade Thompson, TBR list, writing
Easy On Me, new music from Adele
16 October 2021
After a six year recording hiatus English musician Adele releases a new single, Easy On Me. The track is lifted from her album, 30, which is scheduled to be released on Friday, 19 November, 2021.
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Artists incomes takes a hit from the COVID pandemic
16 October 2021
A lot of people have been doing it tough as a consequence of the COVID pandemic, and its impact on jobs. But artists incomes, which often hover mere dollars above the poverty line at the best of times, have had a particularly difficult time, says Anna Freeland, writing for the ABC.
According to new research conducted by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), one in two visual artists experienced an income decline of between 20–100 per cent last financial year. A sobering four in five artists and one in two arts workers earned less than $25,000 over the year, which is more than $100 a week below the poverty line for a single person with no dependents. “That figure of $25,000 may be a misnomer in itself if people are being paid a fee for commissions and those commissions are being delayed, which has happened to artists for over a year,” says NAVA Co-Director Mimi Crowe.
And from Freeland on Twitter: arts audiences are getting jabbed at a faster rate than the general population. Arts audiences includes artists’ patrons. Hopefully this bodes well for artists planning to exhibit in the near future, when lockdowns wind back.
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Trailer for Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World”
15 October 2021
The Worst Person in the World (trailer), the latest work by Norwegian film director Joachim Trier, stars Renate Reinsve as a young woman named Julie who has trouble finding a balance between her love life and professional life. Peter Bradshaw, film writer for The Guardian described Trier’s feature as an instant classic. The Worst Person in the World screens three times as part of the Sydney Film Festival in early November.
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Joachim Trier, movies, Sydney Film Festival, trailer
The T. S. Eliot Prize 2021 poetry shortlist announced
15 October 2021
The 2021 shortlist for the T. S. Eliot Prize for poetry has been announced. The winner, who will be named in January 2022, will receive £25,000, while the nine runners up will each pocket £1,500. It’s good to see the efforts of poets that may usually go unrecognised, being recognised.
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literature, poetry, T. S. Eliot
No Hebrew translation for Sally Rooney’s “Beautiful World, Where Are You”
15 October 2021
From a statement issued by the author of Beautiful World, Where Are You, Rooney’s most recent novel:
“I understand that not everyone will agree with my decision, but I simply do not feel it would be right for me under the present circumstances to accept a new contract with an Israeli company that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.”
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Lemon, by Kwon Yeo-Sun
15 October 2021
It is 2002 and Korea is in the frenzied grip of the football World Cup, an event the nation is co-hosting with Japan. At the same time, Kim Hae-on, a nineteen year old student, was murdered in a crime that became known as the “high school beauty murder.” On the day of her death she wore a yellow dress, from which the name for Lemon (published by Penguin Random House, October 2021), Korean author Kwon Yeo-Sun’s novel, derives.
The story traces the seventeen years following the unsolved murder, as a grief-stricken Da-on, Hae-on’s younger sister, struggles to move ahead with her life. The story also explores the perspective of two of Hae-on’s classmates, the fiancée of one of the suspects, and back to Da-on many years later, as she visits a food delivery driver, the last person to see Hae-on alive, himself also a suspect in the killing.
Although billed as a crime thriller, Lemon is more a meditation of trauma, loss and grief, and the impact of a single devastating moment that changed the lives of those close to Hae-on. But as the story progresses, it gradually becomes apparent Hae-on’s murder wasn’t the only crime committed…
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fiction, Kwon Yeo-Sun, TBR list, writing
The Power of the Dog, by Jane Campion
14 October 2021
The Power of the Dog, the latest film by Sydney based New Zealand director Jane Campion stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank, a rancher living in the American state of Montana in the nineteen-twenties.
When his brother George (Jesse Plemons) marries the widowed Rose (Kirsten Dunst), a furious Phil takes to tormenting Rose, and her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Quite abruptly though, he seems to soften his stance, and begins warming to Peter. But is Phil’s change of heart sincere, or does he have an ulterior motive? The Power of the Dog screens at this year’s Sydney Film Festival on Friday, 5 November.
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Jane Campion, movies, Sydney Film Festival, trailer
The Arrangement, by Kiersten Modglin
14 October 2021
Ainsley and Peter have been married for years. As far as the outside world is concerned they are happy and successful as a couple. Needless to say, behind closed doors though, it’s a different matter. In a bid to breathe life into their relationship, the couple decide to see other people. They call it the arrangement, which is also the title of American author Kiersten Modglin’s latest novel (published by Amazon Digital Services, January 2021).
But the arrangement comes with stipulations. Both partners must date a different person every week, and two, they are not to discuss with each other what happens while they’re seeing said other person. So far, so good. After all, it’s not as if they’re the only married couple with such an arrangement, no matter how formal. But Ainsley and Peter run into a problem when it comes to confiding in someone else about the other person.
Neither can tell their friends, because they all believe Ainsley and Peter are the perfect couple. So they take to talking to each other, and that’s when cracks start appearing in their plan. Before long they find themselves spiralling into despair, anger, and retribution, and soon the question is being asked, will they even survive, let alone their marriage?
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fiction, Kiersten Modglin, TBR list, writing
The French Dispatch, by Wes Anderson
13 October 2021
The French Dispatch is the twentieth (or so) film by prolific American filmmaker Wes Anderson, and will be the closing feature of this year’s Sydney Film Festival. Set in the offices of a fictional American magazine, in a fictional French town named Ennui-sur-Blasé, the story follows the ins and outs of the paper’s journalistic staff.
Long time Anderson collaborators Owen Wilson and Bill Murray are among the star studded cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Anjelica Huston, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Liev Schreiber, Saoirse Ronan, Jeffrey Wright, and Léa Seydoux. Count me in then for the closing night of the Sydney Film Festival.
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