MUSIC
INTERLUDE - IN MEMORIUM
I found out today that Dunedin author Majella Cullinane passed away on 29 September. While Majella had been battling cancer for several years, she seemed well and most definitely in high spirits the last time I saw her. This was at the launch of her short story collection, Islands Ever After in May. I was reading the collection in chunks around other things and finished it earlier in September...
There's something about Majella's voice that is both present on the page and in person. (I know the tenses need some attention in that last sentence, but not right now.) A kindness and an exactness. There are words that are just Majella words. Some of that might be down to being a Kiwi from Ireland, but not all of it.
Majella was one of the first Dunedin writers to reach out to me when I moved down for the Burns in 2017, and again when I moved back for good in 2021. Our catch-ups in the staff club were infrequent but she had a way of making these gaps feel insubstantial.
It's tempting to think of everything we have lost with her passing at just 50 - the poetry and fiction that we won't get, the future catch-ups and support - but there is solace in what she did create, the gifts she has left for anyone keen to discover.
The poetry collections Guarding the Flame, Whisper of a Crow's Wing, and Meantime.
The novel, The Life of De'Ath.
And the stories in Islands Ever After.
BOOKS
The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence - Before It's Too Late by Cory Doctorow (non-fiction, audiobook, Canada, 2026)
I saw a talk this week where someone said that they didn't have much hope for the future: either climate change or AI would wipe us out. If you're specifically worried about the latter, I recommend reading Doctorow's latest - he's good at getting to the heart of the AI bubble (growth stocks gotta keep dangling the potential for future growth, baby) and why AI bros keep talking about doomsday scenarios brought about by their own toys.
(It's perfectly fine to worry that, until the bubble bursts, how far back the gross inefficiency of corporate AI compute and resulting egregious use of energy and resources will put the climate cause. But even then, the best antidote to despair is to engage in local repair. Offline, in the flesh, with other meat bodies.)
I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney (novel, audiobook, US, 2025)
The obituary-writer conceit felt a little half-baked. At times it felt more like the protagonist (mostly an agonist) was better suited to a slice of life humourist for the New Yorker (like Kenney)... And the Manic Pixie Dream Girl detector was making a racket in the second half of the book... And structurally it was looser and more meandery than a book like this should be... And yet, I still liked it.
Life of M by Rachel Cusk (novel, audiobook, UK, 2026)
I've read a lot of Cusk, but always in physical format (and one e-book on my phone). This was my first audiobook experience and I freaking hated it. I think I would have disliked this book in any format (after loving the Outline Trilogy, liking Second Place and being mixed on Parade).
Life of M shares a similar bent, erring away from traditional story elements and centering an author (who may or may not be Cusk). Even she's partially excised from the text, the absence makes it even more about her. And even though most readers will know the actress M is based on Natalie Portman, with whom Cusk has an acquaintance, the game seems to be how far real Cusk push the unlikability of her stand-in author and what real-life ripples her game of funhouse mirrors with Portman she can cause.
But cripes, there isn't much concrete for the reader (or listener) to grasp here. It's just thoughts and arm's length observations. I'm trying to think who I could recommend this book to... Masochists? Insomniacs? Cusk completists? It's a short list.
Dissolution by Nicholas Binge (novel, audiobook, UK, 2025)
This novel starts with the kind of sci-fi set up that I do not find engaging. It's dialogue between two characters, one who apparently has no memory and the other is guiding her through some kind of arcane technological process. I just feel like Malcolm McDowell on the reprogramming chair in A Clockwork Orange with passages like this.
Thankfully, I made it to the next section, which is set in the 1950s and told from the perspective of the husband of the memory-less character in the opening section, back when he was a school boy. The novel alternates between these more engaging sections and the sci-fi, memory-hopping stuff, until they largely converge.
Which is to say I was eventually drawn in and found it somewhat interesting on memory and time (is it too basic to call these topics "obsessions"? Like saying I'm grateful for oxygen).
When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole by Geoff Parks (novel, audiobook, NZ, 2025)
If you're expecting a lot of bush, sorry, there's hardly any. A more accurate, but equally prolix title might be: When a small rural town in the King Country harbours a budding psychopath.
Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense by Elliot Kalan (non-fiction, audiobook, US, 2025)
I've purchased my copy of Kluge, but keep putting off reading it. But maybe if you smush Doctorow's AI book and Kalan's comedy book together, you get Kluge?? We'll see.
A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper (novel, audiobook, US, 2026)
Harper also writes for the screen, and this did feel very adaptable. Lots of short, declarative sentences. Lots of violence. A little bit What if James Ellroy wrote about LA in 2026, which isn't a bad thing.
And it gets bonus points for using a Protomartyr song heavily in one of the chapters.
Islands Ever After by Majella Cullinane (short stories, physical book, NZ, 2026)
🎕
FILM & TV
Lanterns, Season 1 (just got the finale to watch when it drops on Monday) - the best superhero show since Watchmen... Yes, I'm a Lindeloff stan.
Michael Clayton - first time watching this movie from 2007, sought it out because it was written by Tony Gilroy... and surprise, surpise, I loved it.
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie* - a rewatch for me, first time for my kids, I thought they'd like it more than they did. I still liked it a lot. The first time up the CN tower didn't pop the same on the small screen (and knowing what was about to happen). But a second viewing was more rewarding in terms of piecing together how it was made and getting some of the jokes I missed first time around. Check it out on Netflix if you haven't seen it!
Fever Pitch* (US version with the Red Sox instead of Man United) - my daughter chose this. Man, Jimmy Fallon is annoying.
AEW Dynamite - just mentioning this for the most recent episode, which was a tribute to Ben Satterley, aka Pac, who died last week, the day after a big pay per view, and the company did such a good job of putting on a show. Super emotional. Managed to turn kayfabe down to, like, 2 out of 10, and talk about the man behind the character, and how he came up with spots, and it was sad and complex and glorious.
The Agency - Have started watching season 1. People rave about it, but it feels similar to a lot of spy shows. The Jack White opening song is trying to be like Slow Horses, but so far The Agency doesn't have the humour or charisma.
Alone - finished season 13
Only Connect - the latest season's episodes so far
The Dark Side of the Ring - seasons 1 & 2
The Secret Lives of Dentists
Warm Bodies
Con Air*
