I was supposed to write a review for BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER blog, Fancy Goods, but they needed a review on short notice so I made it into the print edition.

My review of Haunted Heart by Tania Donald is on page 27 of the June 2011 issue of BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER. My verdict:

It won’t shock readers familiar with erotic fiction, but may provide an edge for those who aren’t. Despite parallels with Twilight, this novel is darker and its conclusion isn’t as simple—nor as satisfying.

This review was based on the Let’s Do Lunch meal during the Good Food Month in October 2007.

Let's Do Lunch 2006, The Wharf Restaurant

The lure of a cheap lunch found me sneaking out of work, to meet a friend for some alfresco indulgence at The Wharf Restaurant in Pier 4, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay.

We started with chicken liver paté with caper berries and balsamic dressing. The serving was huge, making for a leisurely lunch, as we sipped our complimentary red wine to keep the chill at bay. Read this article.

This was a review of Her Son, Jose Rizal performed by a local Filipino community theatre group. This piece went through a lot of revision, but it didn’t quite suit the publication I was aiming for.

The sold-out gala performance of Her Son, Jose Rizal, written by renowned Filipino artist Leonor Orosa-Goquingco, was an extravaganza of music, colour and emotion. Goquingco’s one-act play is a brief but powerful look at key moments in the life of Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ most celebrated patriot. Four scenes are linked by soliloquies of an older Rizal (Manny Diel) in prison and show various stages of Rizal’s life as a boy (Elijah Merjudio) and a young man (RJ Rosales).

A sense of expectation hung in the air as the lights dimmed at the Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills. Diel opened the play from one corner of the stage, an anguished Rizal on the brink of martyrdom. Although director Armando Reyes seemed heavy-handed with these speeches, the spectre of Rizal’s prison cell, ever present downstage, remained a deliciously foreboding presence. Read this article.