![]() Poirot’s final case, a mystery which brings him and Hastings back to Styles where they first solved a crime together.Īgatha Christie wrote it during World War II, as a gift for her daughter should she not survive the bombings, and it was kept in a safe for over thirty years. Already responsible for several murders, X, Poirot warns, is ready to strike again, and the partners must work swiftly to prevent imminent murder. Though aware of the criminal's identity, Poirot will not reveal it to the frustrated Hastings, and dubs the nameless personage 'X'. ![]() Who is the serial killer X?Īrthritic and immobilized, Poirot calls on his old friend Captain Hastings to join him at Styles to be the eyes and ears that will feed observations to Poirot's still razor sharp mind. ![]() Now wheelchair bound, there is still one case for Poirot to solve. Poirot and Hastings come full circle at Styles. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() Marine life with sharp, spindly legs begin to crawl onto land and terrorize the human population. Part pandemic thriller, part creature feature, the story begins with the invasion of Okinawa from the sea. When it comes to these horrific viewing glasses few are as clear as Gyo, by Junji Ito.Ī horror manga about an ancient germ from the depths of the ocean, Gyo works as an allegory for climate change. ![]() Elder Things, Dreamlands and colours from out of space all offer us a fantasy window into realities that don’t require human eyes, and perhaps are best viewed with other unspeakable senses. Our world is not one that requires us, and as we all start to make that realization we turn to cosmic horror in order to better understand our pessimistic, apocalyptic fears. The climate is changing and maybe there’s nothing we can do. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Iravan is a powerful senior architect, his abilities are so ingrained into his being that manipulating the surrounding plant architecture comes as natural to him as breathing. Nakshar is one such city and upon it lives Iravan and Ahilya, our thorny married couple. ![]() These architects are honoured above all others for their ability to physically shape the architecture of the city, thus stopping it from colliding into the jungle, and also for their ability to sense earthrages. Set on a jungle planet uninhabitable due to destructive storms called earthrages, the last of humanity survives by living on plant-based floating cities run by architects. Rao’s debut bursts with wondrous inventive worldbuilding, reflects on privilege and class divisions and centres on a marriage ruptured by secrets. This is a story which cleverly blends a whole host of genres from fantasy to sci-fi, dystopian to futuristic and even eco-fiction. Rao, due to be released in 2023 from Titan Books. The Surviving Sky is the debut novel by Kritika H. “The will of the city grew inside her, all the citizens, attuning their consciousness, to keep everyone safe, and then-Stillness. ![]() ![]() ![]() There is a hope and longing built into this idea - oh what I wouldn’t give to be able to shed this skin, to transform into something mighty and destructive and unstoppable, to right the wrongs I see and to live full of power. Love for family, love for community, love for ourselves. ![]() It is a story of women’s anger, but also women’s love. She deals with some very heavy things, and she is usually left to navigate them alone. ![]() I felt completely for Alex, I understood this character in my bones. The story starts in childhood with all the confusion of memories made before context. Our narrator is Alex, it is part memoir, part scientific study, part history. This book is uses the premise of “spontaneous dragoning” to rail against the silences we are forced to carry, the secrets we lock away in our hearts, the ways ignorance and fear and discomfort limit and cage us. I haven’t been shy about my love for magical realism and the way these stories force us to confront our decidedly less wondrous reality. And my goodness gracious, does Kelly Barnhill ever capture all of those feelings perfectly in this exquisite book. Because we’ve been mad, I’ve been angry my whole damn life, but it’s just now I’m finding books that mirror my own simmering fury at the world I was given. Let’s start with: if I have anything to be grateful to the former occupier of the White House for, it is the uptick in feminist rage literature. I’ve been sitting here staring at a blank screen, trying desperately to figure out the words to convey the depth and urgency of my love for this book. ![]() ![]() ![]() That someone wants to keep him from his family. As a fallen leader of The People, he's almost thankful that his family is not alive to witness the depths to which he's sunk.Then he finds a memory that suggests they weren't killed in a riot, that someone lied to him. He ekes out an existence by ruining the very souls he'd tried to save. Rife with political and religious undertones, By the Nails of the Warpriest follows an unnamed thief who steals memories from the elderly–those who have a a vague memory of The City before The Struggle–and sells them to memory-junkies. The streetlamp flickering alternates their faces between playmate and ghoul." They don't yet understand that no amount of violence or coercion can replace complacency with the religious fervor sovereignty brings. ![]() My stomach clenches at the sound of her declaration, the pang of guilt like rusted metal on my tongue. The others scramble towards her, hoping to steal her spot. One stands at the top, holding a broken table leg in place of a scepter, shouting that she is Queen of The Struggle. Mud and ashen water streaked across their faces. "Children climb piles of discarded furniture and chunks of collapsed building in the alley. ![]() ![]() ![]() He returned to Norway in 1891 and died in Oslo in 1906 after suffering several strokes. After his initial unsuccessful years, Ibsen became more popular as a writer, although his plays were often thought of as scandalous and inappropriate. He later moved to Dresden, Germany, where he wrote his most famous play, A Doll’s House. In 1864 he left his wife and his five-year-old son, Sigurd (who grew up to become the Prime Minister of Norway) and moved to Sorrento, Italy. When he first began to write, though, he was quite unsuccessful, rendering himself and his wife extremely poor. After failing his university entrance exams, he decided he’d rather focus on writing than pursuing higher education. Henrik Ibsen was born into into a wealthy family in Skien, Norway in 1828. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() MEGALODON IN PARADISE by Hunter Shea – This book only came out last week, and what better timing? I was lucky enough to read this bad boy before it came out, and let me tell you, Hunter Shea does a Megaldon story like no other. I’ll be looking forward to the movie whenever they decide to release it (2018?).ģ. It’s a great story with one hell of beastly antagonist. MEG by Steve Alten – Okay, probably an obvious one, but eat me. It’s about a marine biologist who does battle with a man-shark hybrid created by Nazis. White Shark isn’t Benchley’s most renown book, but I love it anyway. WHITE SHARK by Peter Benchley – You were probably expecting Jaws by Peter Benchley, a novel which would undoubtedly make ninety-nine-point-nine percent of best shark book lists. In honor of the week dedicated to these lovable toothy monsters, I’ve compiled a short list of shark-related novels you should check out.ĥ. Sharks are interesting beasts, a statement I think we all can agree on. I spend most of the week watching the same documentaries over and over again, getting my fill of all things shark. ![]() ![]() ![]() From his dramatic birth to nearly being abducted into slavery to escaping assassination, Muhammad emerges as an unrelenting man on a mission. I loved this book!” -Reza Aslan, author of No God but God and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of NazarethA six-year-old cries in his mother’s arms as she draws her last breaths to urge him: “Muhammad, be a world-changer!” The boy, suddenly orphaned in a tribal society that fears any change, must overcome enormous obstacles to unleash his own potential and inspire others to do the same.Fusing details long known to Muslim scholars but inaccessible to popular audiences, Mohamad Jebara brings to life the gripping personal story of Islam’s founding prophet. Insightful, thoughtful and thought provoking! " -Azar Nafisi, New York Times bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran“A beautifully written, immaculately researched meditation on the impact of the Prophet Muhammad on the modern world. ![]() "An accessible biography of Muhammad, Islam’s founding prophet, tracing his development from orphan to political leader and providing insights into his personal life and tastes." -New York Times Book Review"A joyous read, presenting the Prophet Muhammad both as human and humane. ![]() ![]() ![]() If everything went well, the marriage would earn him an amazingly talented wife and hopefully improve his rocky relationship with the powerful country.Īlthough Zira wasn’t the only country he had to worry about. Naturally, they weren’t calling him Herald Frost the giant killer.ĭespite his less than dignified reputation, Frost was set to marry Princess Brynn Hilde Leaucault of the neighboring country of Zira. That was because in the strange world based on game mechanics Frost found himself in, laying with elves was somehow treated like laying with animals. He’d killed 12 giants, eight heroes, a duke, and even a prince.īut nobody ever talked about any of that.Īll they talked about was the deviant, disgusting, detestable Herald of Shalia that shamelessly laid with elves. ![]() ![]() Sebastian Frost was a man with an interesting reputation. ![]() ![]() ![]() “The inclusion of these works will add immeasurably to the visual and scholarly distinction of Second Street Gallery’s exhibition,” says Executive Director and Chief Curator, Kristen Chiacchia. The Untitled works, a painting and a work on paper both dated 1957, are important compositions from a significant year in Joan Mitchell’s oeuvre. The highlight of the exhibition was the inclusion of two rarely seen original works of art by Joan Mitchell, on loan to Second Street Gallery from The Fralin Museum at the University of Virginia. ![]() ![]() Artists participating in the exhibition included: Isabelle Abbot, Karen Blair, Janet Bruce, and Priscilla Long Whitlock of Virginia, as well as Molly Herman, a native of Alexandria, Virginia who now lives and works in New York City. ![]() Taking its title from the 2011 biography by Patricia Albers, this exhibition examined the lasting influence that Joan Mitchell has had on women artists who continue to work in the abstract expressionist style of painting. A leading figure in the New York School and second generation Abstract Expressionist movement, Mitchell is known for the compositional rhythms, bold coloration, and sweeping gestural brushstrokes of her large and multi-paneled paintings. Joan Mitchell is recognized as one of the most significant artists in Post-War American Art. This show, Lady Painters: Inspired by Joan Mitchell, was on view from June 7 to July 19 in the Main Gallery. Second Street Gallery presented its first exhibition honoring one of the principal figures of the second generation of Abstract Expressionism. ![]() |