Boxer Beetle
by Ned Beauman
Sceptre Publishing
Meet Kevin ‘Fishy’ Broom. He’s a twenty-something computer hermit with the metabolic disorder Trimethyaminuria that renders him reeking of a fishy odour. He also collects Nazi memorabilia. Broom becomes embroiled in a murder mystery that begins some 80-odd years prior with a letter from the Fuhrer himself. The other half of the story follows Philip Erskine, a snobbish entomologist (study of insects) in 1930’s Britain. Erskine is the original recipient of Hitler’s letter and draws the story back to his fascination with eugenics which leads him to experiment with a Jewish boxer called Seth Roach and some vicous beetles.
For a debut novel, Boxer Beetle defies classication. Author Ned Beauman deals with some radical topics including the Nazi obsession with the perfect race while contemplating the role of minorities like the Jewish population and homosexuals from an outsider’s perspective. Erskine is intolerable but saddening as he justifies his bigotry towards the Jewish population as he battles with his own homosexual tendencies. At times, Boxer Beetle feels like an Indiana Jones tale where Indy is replaced by Broom, best played out by the awkward Juno-star Michael Cera. Beauman’s debut is a grinding read at times but refreshing for a gay novel.
Benn Dorrington
The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group
by Catherine Jinks
Allen & Unwin
From the author of The Reformed Vampire Support Group comes the deliciously mischievous The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group. OK, so this isn’t a gay novel per say, but if you read the condition of lycanthropy as being a kind of metaphor for being homosexual, it kinda works. Kinda.
What this novel is though is a book about boys becoming men and facing the awkwardness of growing up responsibly, even when they are significantly different to everyone else… beneath the surface at least.
Meet Tobias, 13 year old ‘dingo boy’ who awakens in the dingo enclosure of a nearby wildlife park. What kicks into motion is Tobias’ headfirst free fall into the paranormal, guided in part by the aggressive, reckless yet strangely sensitive Reuben, one of the characters to carry over from the original book.
The charm of this novel is that it is East Coast Australiana through and through, yet reads as though it’s an international best seller. Jinks has a masterful style, writing with a machine gun rhythm, although this is apparently the only sequel to be written… which doesn’t explain the zombies that spill out at the end.
Young adult? Yes. Superbly written? Yes. Incredibly insightful? You bet.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
Just My Type
by Simon Garfield
Allen & Unwin
In 1971, 11-year-old Simon Garfield rested his eyes on David Bowie’s Hunky Dory cover and began relating fonts to emotion. Garfield romanticised the font used so much it ‘promised an expanding consciousness even before the needle hit the groove’. Garfield’s enthusiasm for fonts is palpable in his latest book, Just My Type. JMT uncovers the people behind the fonts and the motivation to create these defining pieces of design. Learn why Comic Sans has become the most loathed font of them all or how a New Zealand woman was fired for using capital letters in an email.
JMT is approachable for anyone remotely interested in the history and relevance of fonts today. Garfield explains clearly the depth fonts have, like why some fonts – like men – come from Mars and some come from Venus. He draws the reader in, especially those who didn’t quite know they had an interest or opinion about fonts. So what type are you? Visit www. pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/ and check which font you are out of the 16 fonts available ranging from Archer Hairline to Universal.
Benn Dorrington
