So many of our greatest stories of terror and the supernatural come from faraway lands. A nation’s laws, customs, traditions, politics, and religion will have a profound effect on what kinds of stories they want to tell. Horror is a magnificent genre that takes heavy themes, chews them up, and spits them out as something …
Book Lists
Many of us were disappointed when that letter never came. You know the one. But being part of the Harry Potter world, wearing Harry Potter clothes, visiting the studios and theme parks, rereading the books and discussing them with friends — all of this is just as magical as heading to Hogwarts yourself. And far …
If there’s one TV show that captures the tone, atmosphere, and grandeur of high-class living in pre-modern Britain, it’s Downton Abbey. The show encapsulated not only the day-to-day lives, relationships, and dramas of the English gentry of the time, but also the lives of their servants, cooks, and drivers. It blended real-world events with political …
Thailand is a nation with an incredibly rich and splendid history. A free nation which has tied the way of life that is Buddhism into its very culture, food, and traditions. There’s a reason so many of us crave Thailand holidays more than any others in South East Asia. Thai temples, architecture, food, religion, and …
Literary travel is a huge part of our life and what we do here. Visiting the real-life locations of fictional worlds or the homes of the authors whose works we love so much is one of the most exciting parts of travel for us and any other proud literary traveller. Luckily, there are books out …
As a Brit in today’s political climate, it can sometimes be tough to find things to be proud of. One thing I always enjoy when I visit home, however, is a lovely Oxfam Bookshop. There’s at least one charity bookshop in every town, and they can be a great place to pick up a new …
The Good Omens TV adaptation hit Amazon Prime like a meteor, and it caused a tsunami of positive whoops and cheers from long-time fans of the book and newcomers alike. The show, as adaptations go, is perfect. It’s a lesson in how to use costume, set, style, dialogue, and music to mimic the tone set …
So, the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones has wrapped up. In my opinion, the previous two post-book seasons did a decent job at continuing the story that George R.R. Martin had laid out. Season 8, however, was lacking in character progression, decent dialogue, worthy endings to many story arcs, and any real …
The ethos and approach to publishing of Red Circle Authors Limited is everything that we at Books and Bao cherish. As someone who howls from the mountaintops about the importance of Anglophones reading more translated literature from across the globe, it is thrilling to see a small publishing house release a selection of Japanese stories …
All eyes are trained on Indonesia right now. Its tourism is flourishing more than ever; foreigners from the West are flooding there to work and live cheaply and healthily (for better or worse), and its art scene is finally being celebrated the world over. Some of the biggest names in poetry, prose, and essays all …