John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

A sprawling sci-fi satire with a buffoonish hero at its heart, Captain Ellenshaw and the Broadsword Affair by Malcolm Finch is a wild ride through duty, drunkenness, and cosmic market expansion. A legendary captain turned lout is given a far-flung mission to keep him from embarrassing the Admiralty any further, but this semi-mythical madman can’t help but cause chaos wherever he goes. Packed with a crew of societal rejects, ridiculous hyperspace hijinks, and campy dialogue, this is far from a polished read, but it’s an entertaining binge nonetheless. A literary lovechild of “Spaceballs,” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, […]

A ridiculous but poetic tale of Wichlees, parpzees, catch-ball and the Tueslethrump Feastival, A Very Strange Party On Bangy-Bong by Ashlyn Moss and Peter C. Hare lives up to its title. The denizens of planet Bangy-Bong are preparing for the stinky party, complete with gwindleberries, slimy snot, and enough horse dung to keep the celebrations going, but there is mischief afoot for this waterless world, and a threat to the wild party they’ve been planning. A fantastical tongue-twister, this endlessly unusual children’s book is a frenetic plunge of illustrated weirdness – one that will have young readers laughing the whole […]