Category Archives: Books

Liz Hedgecock: In Sherlock’s Shadow. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Every armchair detective lives In Sherlock’s Shadow, we might beat Morse to naming the murderer, we could expose the criminality and corruption quicker than Poirot, the insurmountable Miss Jane Marple, or the devilishly understated Columbo, but compared to Sherlock Holmes we live in cramped tiny houses that act as minds, we are hemmed in by our own conduct and appreciation of the darker forces that are involved in the underworld, the far reaching tentacles of crime that never ceases to be operational, that never sleeps in search of control.

Liz Hedgecock: In Sherlock’s Shadow. Book Review. full post

(537 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Liz Hedgecock: A House Of Mirrors. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To give life to a character is a privilege, to breathe existence into one who is so established by name alone is an honour, and so as all are aware of the existence and thoughts of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, so surely therefore must acknowledge that without Mrs Helen Hudson, the security of home, the quiet reassurance of stability in nature, both men might have led very different lives.

Liz Hedgecock: A House Of Mirrors. Book Review. full post

(611 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

D. E. McCluskey, Z: A Love Story. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Every generation has its way of dealing with the undead. Whether it comes in the form of political observation transformed into pop culture critique, or the fierce biting satire of purposeful declaration of war against a population willing to look the other way until the effect of wrong is found scratching at the door and the sound of rabid death is proclaimed up on what they see is their acre of space in the universe; each generation deals with the fall out of the horror that awaits in their own way.

D. E. McCluskey, Z: A Love Story. Book Review. full post

(603 words, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Legends Of Camelot. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

British myth and legend has perhaps no finer example of powerful saga and hope than it does with the story of King Arthur and the Knights of Camelot; a fiction maybe, one certainly embellished and given an overall arc by Sir Thomas Mallory as he languished in prison with his days apparently numbered, but one that has stirred an immense wealth of material since, and been one of the causes of British resistance to outside forces since.

Doctor Who: Legends Of Camelot. Book Review. full post

(436 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Adam Scovell: Nettles. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is heartening to see a talented young writer who was unafraid of taking the time to pay their dues and take the next logical step in their journey as a dispenser of words and ideas; it is enriching when they reveal what you always suspected, what you hoped and dreamed of them, that they are a connoisseur of the art, knowledgeable, experienced, and willing to place their soul between each word, each deliberated sentenced chewed over, given room to be digested, willing to be stung by their own reaction, and ready to soothe the reader as they fall head first into a narrative weaved from possible suffering.

Adam Scovell: Nettles. Book Review. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Kit Derrick: Hope Is A Six Letter Word. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The world of the solitary writer/novelist has been undercut and arguably abused in recent years. No longer celebrated by mass readership as thinkers and as people willing to scratch under the surface of observation, the artistry of the dispenser of words, wisdom, and wit has been arguably reduced to that of entertainer, a person to whom it seems is writing for a hobby; or at least that is how some sections of society and unfavourable book forums react.

Kit Derrick: Hope Is A Six Letter Word. Book Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

A J Reid: The Horseman’s Dream. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It was once argued that the future we could foresee, could never actually happen; that the dystopia was all the dream of the anarchist, the radical over thinker, or the doom-monger, the ones who delight in declaring bad news in the hope that they will be seen as bearers of prophecy when their predictions come to bear fruit.

The future is now, and we have paid for our ego, our belief, the hope, that the world will function as it always has, that humanity’s demands have not tipped the balance of a fragile entity and sent it on a collision course with our lives, with our very existence.

A J Reid: The Horseman’s Dream. Book Review. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Miriam Margoyles, This Much Is True. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Fearless, just a word, one that suggests the being of the indomitable, the daring, and the one that sums up the character, the very essence of individuality of Miriam Margoyles with a smile, with a beaming audible chortle for all who have taken the grand lady of theatre, of television, and cinema, for all that she displays.

Miriam Margoyles, This Much Is True. Book Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Bob Stone: Letting The Stars Go. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We live in an unequal world; that much has always been true, and it is to the detriment of all who give the world their finest smile and go through life with one simple aim, to give others the time that they inhabit with a reason to love.

Love, it is the most powerful of emotions, one that push us to achieve great things, to prove the impossible, one that will see us reach for the stars, and witness us Letting The Stars Go once we realise that all we have achieve goes beyond the sacrifices we have made.

Bob Stone: Letting The Stars Go. Book Review. full post

(537 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

You can see it all, and yet still be unaware of the whole story that unfolds before your eyes. Seeing is believing, so they say, and yet what our eyes are able to visualise is barely enough to grasp the enormity of what the future is offering.

Today we are urged to take photographs of everything, to capture the moment, and this lends itself to two very different attitudes, one is the verification of the story, the proof framed that adds definition to the verbal narration, the other is the line taken by some that the photographer is merely seeking attention, demonstrating their life, be it humble, humdrum or beige, as one as an exciting monologue that deserves the full attention of likes, loves and shocked memes.

Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool. Book Review. full post

(525 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)