CRIME fiction is probably the broadest of all literary genres. And nowhere in my recent reading is this better demonstrated than by this beautifully crafted novel. Fine writing from a Grand Prix Litteraire de l’Heroine winner that mystifies and intrigues from the appealing title all the way through to its haunting other worldly conclusion. Whether a crime has been committed is largely left to the reader to decide. A sudden death is the focus of the tale but there are no bloodied bodies, shootings, stabbings, stranglings or similar murderous events. Simply a woman who disappears from the edge of an… Continue reading
Words, writers and writing
Picture courtesy Elijah Hail, Unsplash WHAT is it about proofreading and editing that academics find so hard to understand? Yet again a university student has requested my help in preparing their thesis for submission. And yet again, and much as I would welcome the work, I have had to say… Continue reading
It was only a few days ago that I suggested many of the words and phrases that have already become lingua franca during the recent global crisis were sure to be well in the running for selection as Word(s) of the Year. Place your bets … Since then we have… Continue reading
As one who is forever wary of book cover blurbs, I approached this much-praised offering with even more caution than usual. Look at those blasts from high-status reviewers: Mind-bending, Unputdownable, Masterful. Surely hyperbole gone mad. There are six more pages of them inside, all of them in the same OTT… Continue reading
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You’ve gotta love what the Aussies can do to the English language. No time was wasted Down Under in adapting linguistically to the present crisis. A sample of the latest OzSpeak: “Me boss tested posi for the ’Rona so now I’m in iso. Popped down to Woollies for some sanny,… Continue reading
Things are not going to change. All you poor sensitive souls out there, and you seem to multiply by the day, will simply have to accept my continuing rudeness. There will be no apologies if what I write upsets you. Grin and bear it, turn the other cheek, tweet away on Twitter, fulminate on Facebook, do whatever makes you feel better. But it will make no difference. You will not stop me; I am going to continue placing a FULL STOP at the end of my sentences. This is in defiance of such academics as Canadian linguist Gretchen McCulloch, who… Continue reading