The Reading Ruru/Kerry

Our Simulated Selves A mind-bending quantum thriller about simulated realiti…

Read Our Simulated Selves by Nikki Null as a judge in team #SpaceGirls for #SPSFC5
This is an unequivocal YES from me to move forward to be read by our whole team. I’ve completed it and you can read my review on Goodreads
#SPSFC #Self-publishedSci-fi #🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 #Booksky 💙📚🪐
#pukapuka 📚🇳🇿

In today’s NZ Herald

A graphic saying "Win me!" Showing the covet for A Good Day to Die by GR Matthews

You have no allies.
You are already bleeding, though you are not sure why.
Rawlins is nearby, and he is absolutely not here to help you.

To survive even ten minutes, you may take one completely ridiculous weapon.

Not useful.
Not sensible.
Just delightfully stupid.

Comment your answer to win this;

A graphic saying "Win Me!" And showing the covet for the audiobook omnibus of Corin Hayes by GR Matthews

The pressure is crushing.
Your suit is beeping in a way that feels personal.
Corin Hayes is present, grumpy, sarcastic, and already halfway through a drink.

You are offered one coping mechanism to get through the day.

Comment with your absurd coping mechanism to win a UK/US audible code!

A graphic saying "Win Me!" Showing the covet of The Silencing of the north by GR Matthews

Winter is coming.
The Empire is marching on the clans.
Everyone looks tired, armed, and deeply unimpressed by your existence.

You are offered one role to justify why you should not be immediately sent to die in the snow.

Comment your choice of role to win this!

Fantasy-Faction @fantasyfaction.bsky.social is doing a giveaway on the amazing books by author G.R. Matthews @grmatthews.bsky.social as his sequel to Seven Deaths of Empire releases TOMORROW!! Be in to win these excellent books

#BookGiveaway #NewRelease #GRMatthews #Booksky💙📚 #pukapuka 📚🇳🇿

😢😢😢

Earth Sucks It’s the apocalypse. And Feng has a knack for pissing p…

I read Earth Sucks by Heather Chambers as a judge 4 team #SpaceGirls in #SPSFC5. Whilst it's a No to moving on, this was an enjoyable read, with some comic relief scattered throughout. I do recommend giving this book a read.
#SPSFC #Self-publishedSci-fi #Aliens #dystopia #Booksky💙📚🪐 #pukapuka📚🇳🇿

Afterburn Kara is an outcast. A freak. A non-telepath. The only p…

Read Afterburn by D Andrews as a judge in team #SpaceGirls for #SPSFC5 I'd already read this due to personal interest and I'm personally giving this a Yes to move forward.
#SPSFC #Self-published #Sci-fi🪐🚀 #discrimination #gaslighting #Booksky💙📚 #pukapuka🇳🇿📚
Pic shows a fiery silhouette in a bubble

Cartoon. Title: PARLIAMENT RETURNS UNDER SHADOW OF DEADLY WEATHER in this image we have the Beehive. Parliament of New Zealand being battered by waves and rising sea levels. At the top the National flag is broken and in tatters. Luxon is hanging out his office window shouting, "it's too soon to talk about this..." and a woman in a bath tub with oars shouts really loudly back "IF NOT NOW WHEN?!"

My cartoon in today's www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

There's been loud voices in the media saying it's too soon to talk about the impacts of climate change... 𝘀𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜𝗦 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲?

#ClimateChange #PoliticalCartoon #EditorialCartoon #Caricature #Luxon

Ashen Light John Allenbeck hates his job. Most days, it feels like …

As part of team #SpaceGirls, I read Ashen Light by Ian Young for #SPSFC5 I personally am giving this a Yes to be read in full by whole team. RTC
www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
#SPSFC #Self-published #Scifi🪐 #Automata🤖 #crime🔍 #Spaceships🛰🚀#Booksky💙📚 #pukapuka💙📚🇳🇿

The image shows a scene in oranges and yellows of a city of dark towers being blown apart by a rising phoenix whose wings spread across the entire sky. In the foreground is the silhouette of a man in long coat with his arms outspread welcoming the phoenix even as flames lick up around his feet.

Introducing Fantasy-Faction's Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off ( #SPFBO) team! (@marklawrenceauthor.bsky.social @kitvaria.bsky.social @karenlucia.bsky.social @devildauta.bsky.social @kitauthor.com @stillmellow.bsky.social @stacey-unchecked.bsky.social)

fantasy-faction.com/2026/the-11t...

#booksky

Blades Forged (Empire of Knives #1) Praise for Blades Forged “Extremely, extremely dark… t…

Looking for a new Grimdark book to to read? I highly recommend P D Ashton's debut novel, Blades Forged www.goodreads.com/book/show/24...
(It was almost a 5 star read for me)

#Fantasy #Grimdark #debut #self-published #MilitaryFantasy

Why it will soon cost more for disabled people to travel Disability advocate Blake Forbes says the Government is severing a “lifeline” for some disabled Kiwis, after it confirmed prices would increase.

The NZ Govt has announced that it will be reducing support for the Total Mobility scheme that subsidises travel for some disabled people

That money being taken from disabled people is 25% of the tax rebates that were introduced for a tobacco company

#nzpol

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

FFS! Luxon just said "We've got rid of emergency housing." without even realising he was saying the quiet bit out loud.💩🥚
#OneTermGovernment
#nzpol

As a friend put it, "hi, welcome to METH - Ministry Environment, Transport, Housing" (also because Meth use is another thing that gotten 'higher' under this gvt)

I seldom watch TV these days, instead I donate to platforms to save me the horror. I hadn't realised how much of a Jennie-May Maiki had become 🤢🤮

I'm the opposite - too much 🌞. This weekend I got sunburnt on the bits of skin I missed with sunblock. I was only outside for 20 mins at 10am!!

Luxon’s reply on last night’s TVNZ interview with Maliki Sherman to her question on whether he would be at Waitangi in 2026.
‘Waitangi ? It’s all drama, soap box stuff.’
Fu¢king racist POS
#nzpol

Book cover for Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike. It shows a burning bank note with an Orc in the centre

Fantasy-Fantasy-Faction's @fantasyfaction.bsky.social final review in the #SPFBO Champions League is for Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike. This comes in 6th place in our ratings. fantasy-faction.com/2025/spfbo-1...

#SPFBO #Self-published #Fantasy #Booksky💙📚 #pukapuka 📚🇳🇿

We've got an election next year so fingers crossed many of them get voted out. Gvt making stupid choices annd now hurting their own. We have MMP so its a coalition of 3 political parties that are racist, evangelical Christian and arse benders for their donors.

Sadly NZ's current gvt are all Trump toadies & the leader of our biggest "left" wing party has become way too centrist. We've recently got a fucking FBI office in our Capital. There’s no way they'd kick the US out of 5-eyes

Meanwhile Luxon gets a $8500 pay rise this year.. #nzpol

Artificial Selection: A Near-Future Science Fiction Mys… From the WINNER of the Green Stories Prize. What do y…

I read 100% of Artificial Selection by Marianne Pickles as a judge in #TeamSpaceGirls for #SPSFC5 Giving this a Y to go forward. See my review at www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

#SPSFC #Self-published #Sci-fi 🪐📚 #Mystery 🔍 #Booksky💙📚 #Pukapuka📚🇳🇿

Pay gap reporting needed: advocates New Zealand women start working for nothing from this week. Although the country’s gender pay gap improved this year, campaigners say there is much...

“New Zealand women start working for nothing from this week.”

“for every $1 earned by a Pakeha man, a Pacific woman would earn 79c, a Maori woman 82c, an Asian woman 84c and a Pakehā woman 93c.”
“This would be the week all women started working for nothing for four weeks.”
#nzpol

Animus Paradox (Digital Extremities, #2) There's a thief on the loose. The Tigres excel at tippi…

Read Animus Paradox by Adam Basset as a judge for #SPSFC5. I enjoyed this & before I knew it, I'd read the whole book. Check out my initial thoughts here www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

#SPSFC #TeamSpaceGirls #Self-published #Sci-fi 🪐📚
#Booksky 💙📚 #pukapuka 📚🇳🇿

Beyond the Last Station: A dystopian novel of love, reb… What if freedom isn’t a place — but a passage between w…

Read 20% as a judge for #SPSFC5 (team Space Girls). This is my initial thoughts and is not a reflection on the views of other team members.
This will be a No from me. My initial thoughts can be found here
www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

Oh, and my flatmate is currently reading these for the first time (even though they've been in the lounge bookcase for yonks) - he's reading book 2 at this very moment

Love this series & luckily with the author being Australian, I got signed copies sent to NZ without astronomical postage

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ "sigh"