Review: Lovebroken, by Finley de Witt

Publication Date: 28th January 2024 £12.99 ISBN: 9781805142256
Thema subject category: DNC – Memoirs
paperback 216 x 138 mm 320 pp Portrait Author location: Hastings

Have you ever struggled with your mental health, your terrible relatives or a dysfunctional relationship? Or simply wondered what the hell is wrong with you? This story is for you.

Finley recounts their chaotic life with deadpan humour and honesty, wryly embracing their colourful lovers and a series of futile attempts to fix them. When a catastrophic encounter in France sends them into meltdown, they
wind up receiving daily psychoanalysis on the NHS with a cast of unsettling characters – mainly the therapists.

On leaving hospital, Finley stitches their life back together, living for a short time with a Bristol theologian before finding domestic bliss with a transgender civil servant. A cutting-edge approach to mental illness eventually leads them to a key revelation about their past, and they finally understands themself through the lens of their history. Aware at last of what they had survived, they face an agonising decision about their future.

Trauma has never been so funny or so shocking.

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Review: Queer Villains of Myth and Legend, by Dan Jones

Publication date Thursday, January
18, 2024
Price £16.99
EAN\ISBN-13 9781804191354

Description

Every good hero needs a villain! Explore the hidden world of magnetic and mysterious villains, often cast aside and misunderstood in tales of mythology and folklore. Through the pages of Queer Villains of Myth and Legend, discover a diverse community of fascinating characters, ranging from seductive and cunning to powerful and awe-inspiring.

Experience the dark allure of Circe and Medusa through to David Bowie’s Jareth in Labyrinth and delve into their complex and multifaceted personalities and motivations. Take a deep dive into the intersection of queerness and villainy, re-examine some of our favourite characters, and discover why so many ‘bad’ characters are queer-coded.

From ancient mythology to contemporary pop culture, Queer Villains of Myth and Legend celebrates the fascinating stories of these often-overlooked characters. Join Dan Jones on a journey of discovery, as he explores the hidden depths of queer villainy and sheds light on the queer identities of these compelling figures. It’s a powerful celebration of
queerness through the ages in all its legendary complexity.

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Book Review: Jubilee, by Stephan K. Stanford

Fiction: FICTION / Science Fiction / Space
Opera
ISBN: 978-1-78758-886-8
Pages: 288 pp
Imprint: FLAME TREE PRESS

It was meant to be an in and out mission…

Jubilee is a lawless, artificial world existing within its own parallel universe; a seething cesspool of vice ruled by an eccentric AI.

So they say.

Detectives Col and Danee are sent to Jubilee on a hastily organised mission
to recover the body of a leading conservative politician (someone it seems,
has been a naughty boy). But the corpse has been switched and the
imperilled partners are drawn together. They might be falling in love, or they might be saving the galaxy– either way the authorities will not be pleased.


FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree
Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and
suspense, science fiction and fantasy. The list brings together fantastic new
authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original
voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at http://www.flametreepress.com and
connect on social media @FlameTreePress

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Extract Post: Halfway House by Helen Fitzgerald

PUBLICTION DATE: 18th JANUARY 2024
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £9.99 | ORENDA BOOKS

They’re the housemates from Hell…

When her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou O’Dowd heads to Edinburgh for a fresh start, moving in with her cousin, and preparing for the only job she can find … working at a halfway house for very high-risk offenders.

Two killers, a celebrity paedophile and a paranoid coke dealer – all out on parole and all sharing their outwardly elegant Edinburgh townhouse with rookie night-worker Lou…

And instead of finding some meaning and purpose to her life, she finds herself trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse where she stands to lose everything – including her life.

Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense, Halfway House is both a breath-taking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman…

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