Fill a field with sweating males suffering from a surfeit of testosterone and adrenaline and make their sole job squashing their opponents so they can put some kind of small object into a net or between a post. Now, if Aunt Jemima came up with a recipe like that, no one would have heard of …
Author: richardsleftbank
Retired, when in a late life crisis, began to write - started a blog and now, three novels later, the rest still isn't history.
A LABYRINTH OF KINGDOMS BY STEVE KEMPER
A Labyrinth of Kingdoms (10,000 Miles Through Islamic Africa) by Steve Kemper - WW Norton & Co. 2012 - “Dr. Livingston, I presume?” So said Henry Morton Stanley, the American journalist/explorer, at the culmination of his 1871 central African expedition to find the famous missing missionary. The somewhat silly and stilted greeting still lingers with …
MY OLD LADY
My Old Lady - 2014 film written, produced and directed by Israel Horovitz - There is a curious practice in France relating to real estate. The French call it ‘viager’ and it works in a similar fashion to a reverse mortgage, but without using a bank. Both systems are based on the equity inherent in …
GOOD OMENS THREE
Good Omens 3 -Amazon MGM, BBC Studios and Narrativia, 2026, Directed by Rachel Talalay - If you read the Pratchett & Gaiman book ‘Good Omens’ you likely waited with eager anticipation for the release of the mini-series. With a classic fantasy book upon which to write the screenplay and a cast that included Michael Sheen …
PAX RUMPUS
OH FRABJOUS DAY! CALLOOH! CALLAY! - WE CHORTLE IN OUR JOY for His Holiness Ronald Rump: Pontiff of the universe, World’s Greatest Comedian, PREZ for Life and Prince of Peace has MADE A DEAL to end ‘Murca’s war against I-Rain - sort of… Details are scarce but it appears that I-Rain and ‘Murica finally agreed …
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly - Hodder & Stoughton 2022 - Not to be confused with the 2005 horror film of the same name, Erin Kelly’s inspiration for ‘The Skeleton Key’ was drawn from a unique book called ‘Masquerade’ by Kit Williams, published in Britain in 1979. The book was a collection of pictures …
MONKEY BEACH BY EDEN ROBINSON
MONKEY BEACH BY EDEN ROBINSON - Knopf, 2000 - Eden Robinson is a First Nations’ writer whose work explores fiction through the lens of her culture and lived experience. My wife’s book club had this on their reading list and there were a few readers that didn’t like the ‘non-lineal’ style of the narrative. …
AKIN BY EMMA DONAGHUE
AKIN BY EMMA DONAGHUE, HarperCollins 2019 - Noah Selvaggio, a widower living in New York, is within days of turning eighty. Noah’s father was a famous photographer whose work is now valuable and often found in museums. Noah’s sister Fernande, mother of Victor, died recently, leaving Noah an envelope with some photos taken in …
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL BY MATT DINNIMAN
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL BY MATT DINNIMAN, ACE 2020 - I’d have to guess that Matt Dinniman spent a good part of his spare time playing video games and ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. Aside from the gaming world, Dungeon Crawler Carl seems to draw a little inspiration from Bancroft’s ‘Senlin Ascends’, Collins ‘Hunger Games’, television’s ‘Survivor’ or …
ABORIGINAL TITLE
I looked across the street and coveted my neighbor’s house. One side of the house had an ocean front, on the other side I saw a fishing pond and they had a creek running through acres of forested land surrounding it. They’ve lived there longer than anyone else and call themselves ‘FIRST NEIGHBOURS’. So …
Richard's Left Bank 