Black Romantasy
I was as young as nine when this particular genre found me. I was not reading anything inappropriate for the sensitive nine-year-old that I was. In fact, it was the completely age-appropriate Deltora Quest Series by Emily Rodda that captured my heart and mind. I was beginning to identify myself as a Reader just like my mother. But it was the sweeping world of Deltora that marked a moment of change in what I looked for on the bookshelf.
Load-Bearing Fans
It seems disingenuous to say ‘the systems we rely on are more fragile than they appear’ in the year 2026, after a decade that included two Trump presidencies, a global pandemic, extreme weather events, and a few major wars. We all know systems are less resilient than they appear. The unexpected fragility of things we thought permanent shouldn’t be surprising anymore, yet I’ve recently found myself shocked by two pieces of news in the speculative fiction space.
Decolonising A Bookshelf
Over the last decade, I’ve read an average of 3 books a week, or more than 150 books every year. From romance and fantasy, YA and literary fiction, poetry and political manifestos, my reading is perhaps best characterised as ‘eclectic AF.’ But it wasn’t until I started work within Australia’s literary sector that I realised how narrow this reading really was.
References as Romance
Bookish Australia will already be familiar with Joshua Hortinela as the bookseller with a wide smile, sharing his love of tote bags and romantic comedies in behind-the-scenes social media posts about his job and the books that he loves. News of his debut romance novel travelled through Australian Bookstagram like wildfire, with an enormous amount of excitement and goodwill.
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