Brian Reilly came to the door on Saturday to tell us his mum, Bel, had died. He likes to call Mary, Auntie Mary. She’s not really his aunt. But Mary’s son Alan and Robert washed through their house in Trafalgar Street, when the world was young, much the same as they washed through this house. Bel wasn’t their Auntie either. Mums knew better than God these things didn’t matter. The more Auntie Mary persisted in asking if he wanted anything, the...

“Tag, bag and bury the bastard, Garda Inspector Crowe…” Genre: Crime Fiction August - December, present day, one year after ‘A Kind of Drowning’ . The synopsis: Robert Craven's Malign Intent, is a contemporary crime thriller set in Ireland with a slow burning neo-noir atmosphere: Crowe has seen enough dead bodies in his time to suspect that Aonghus Hanafin wasn’t the hanging kind. August bank holidays should be about relaxation, taking time out...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001rjvp/us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Peele If you’ve a spare two hours and don’t mind watching a zombie movie, batter in. I was intrigued. I misread the premise was something to do with doppelgangers. Strictly speaking that’s true. A black and upper-middle-class family of dad, mom and their two children go on holiday to the beach. They meet their demonic doppelgangers who come from a hole in the...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rcl0/episodes/guide https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rckl I admit to having previous here. I listened to Danny Robbin and his team’s Podcast such as The Battersea Poltergeist , The Witch Farm and even one of his lesser known fares the Uncanny Podcast series, The Angel in the Bathroom . Danny Robbins has made the big time now he’s on prime time telly, well kinda, BBC2, but it is 9pm and that’s primetime...

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-vigil?.none.none.popular || https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vigil_(2019_film) The Vigil doesn’t refer to the siege and coming ground invasion of the Gaza strip but a more simpler world when all an apostate orthodox Jew in New York, Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis), had to worry about was his eternal soul being stolen by a Mazzik . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazzikin The monster or Mazzik is eternal as all...

Referee Serdar Gözübüyük has a shocker as Scotland go down as expected in the heat of Seville. Two late goals from Rodri (73 minutes) and Sanget (87 minutes) give Spain victory. Sanget’s goal looked more like a Ryan Porteous own goal. Aaron Hickey, who had a fine game, inexplicably falling over and losing control of the ball, which just about summed up Scotland’s hopes of qualifying on the night. Ironically, Spain on Sunday, in Oslo can do it...

Hurry up and die. That was my visceral response to Lilly Dunn’s dad. We’ve become over-acquainted with men like him. Narcissistic psychopaths like the American moron’s moron (unfortunately with Scottish blood in his veins) and the little Trumpet clone this side of the Atlantic, Boris Johnson. The author’s job is to make her characters human. I, for example, stayed with my mum and da for most of my young adult life, but I wouldn’t claim to have...

I’m familiar with Annest Gwilym’s poetry because she sometimes posts on ABCtales. I have not the patience or understanding to fully appreciate poetry in general or her thirty-three poems in particular. ‘The Word Collector’ is akin to the green space where Dylan Thomas roamed ‘happy as the grass was green’. Words are her natural home. Seasons in the sun is a way of looking at the world. To capture time and squeeze verse between the bookends of...

After much enjoyable reading the Picks for this week come from two ABC stalwarts who have both been at their very best. Story of the Week is celticman's 'Love Story 2'. It has all the hallmarks of a celticman story - brilliant characterisation, sharp humour and the ability to rip your heart out. As you may have guessed, there is first part, and I would strongly urge you to read that too, if you haven't yet, although the second part can be read...

I’d not heard of David Sedaris. After reading this book, I know there’s been a film-version of his early life. I’ve not seen it. I understand he’s a humourist (perhaps I should use the American spelling, humorist). He’s meant to be funny. Book sales are heavily influenced by the book cover. The book cover here is nothing to look at. I notice these things more than your average non-humourist because I’ve skin in the great game. This screams non-...