Argylle by "Elly Conway"
"Remember Argylle? That cool-looking spy movie about author/amnesiac secret agent Elly Conway which spammed trailers featuring Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa into absolutely every corner of the Internet a few months ago? Well not only did I watch it, but I had a whale of a time doing so. It was so shamelessly silly that I was more than happy to turn my brain off and simply bask in its colourful carnage. It was only after I left the screening that I discovered I was very much in the minority of audience members as someone who enjoyed it.
A few days later, I learnt that in a brazen attempt by marketing executives to cash in, a ghost writer has been paid to assume the name of Elly Conway and write the first novel of the Argylle series. Naturally, as a fan of the film, I was curious to see whether this tie-in would be able to capture the spirit of the movie (even though it isn’t “the book of the film”), or whether it would be a soulless husk of a story that actually managed to sour the taste in my mouth."
Sicily '43 by James Holland
'I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I've developed something of a soft spot for the island of Sicily. Perhaps because I'd thoroughly enjoyed The Invention of Sicily back in late 2022, I ended up picking up a copy of ‘Sicily ‘43’ by James Holland quite soon afterwards at a second-hand book fair. In true book-dragon fashion, I then proceeded to plop it onto my bookshelf and let it gather dust for the entirety of 2023.
But then, several weeks ago, I started down yet another wargaming-related rabbit hole. Wanting to expand my collection of tiny toy soldiers for the Second World War, it struck me that Operation HUSKY – the Allied invasion of Sicily – could make an interesting focus for a scenario or even a mini-campaign. With a batch of appropriate figures ordered, the next task was to actually learn about the history itself. And so I bunkered down and got to reading Sicily ‘43....'
jJessica Jones: Uncaged! by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos
"Having been rewatching Jessica Jones recently, I was reminded just how much I enjoyed her whole deal as a full-time private investigator, part-time reluctant hero. Sadly for me, however, she’s not currently available as a model for Marvel: Crisis Protocol (my current tabletop gaming interest) and so I was required to turn instead to the world of comic books to enrich my life with more Jessica Jones content"