If this was a residence, it would be a garret in a boarding house in a part of town that was once architecturally significant and dignified but is now decrepit and largely abandoned. With the door nailed shut and a sulphurous smell. (In fact, I'm sure Machen could do better than "sulphurous"...)

When Jimmy Buffet sang “Son of a son of a sailor”, he could have been singing about this particular Buck Reilly Adventure.

Abby Slovin, author of Letters In Cardboard Boxes, fills us in on what inspires her and how Letters came about.

If these were turned into movies by people who actually gave a crap about them, then they'd make pretty good films but still probably wouldn't hold up to multiple viewings the way the comics do.

The second-wave rite-of-passage story (ie late twenties as opposed to late teens) has been done a lot lately. But if you want a solid example of the genre, go with Another Broken Wizard. Dodds has done an outstanding job painting a poignant, utterly unselfconscious depiction of growing up.

If this was a car, it would be a grey 1933 Bentley convertible with an Amherst-Villiers supercharger (installed against the advice of MI5 mechanics), NO machine guns and NO freaking ejector seats (though there could well be a bottle of single malt in the glove box).

If you've found yourself here at Illiterarty, chances are, you love reading. You probably consider it to be one of your interests, maybe even one of your passions. But maybe you haven't considered what a gift it is that you can read at all, that this passion you have, this joy, is something that given a different set of circumstances is something you may not even know.

Isn't it about time you were reminded?

Letters in Cardboard Boxes is a very realistic, well developed character study, that deals with fairly full and complex family dynamic issues in a sensitive and undramatic way, and is really given extra dimension by virtue of it's web-based publication.

If this was... Wine, it would be that Cab Merlot I so freakin' elegantly analogise in paragraph three.

Inspired by Iris Krasnow’s

THE SECRET LIVES OF WIVES

On-Sale October, 2011

Why did all my friends hate this movie? Except Johnny, and he doesn't count. I thought it was AWESOME.

Steplings takes the reader an empathetic journey through the trials and pitfalls of teen years while exploring blended families and the odd relationships bred within them.

-If this was any more ready to be turned into a film, it would be about a pair of hard-punching renegade cops who break the law to get results.

You'll wish you could see Dial L for Latch-Key in a theatre near you immediately after reading this little gem, because then you'd be sitting in a theatre laughing with other people, as opposed to snickering quietly to yourself alone.

That's right folks, after a ridiculously long hiatus we're back in the book review game. Stay tuned!

With almost text-book precision, Jonathan Tel captures the essence of the perfect short story in this loosely woven collection of heartbreaks, secrets, humanities and mundanities, backdropped by the mysterious Beijing.

A light-hearted romp through the big boys of serious topics - Whom God Would Destroy examines the subjects of religion, psychiatry, the mentally ill, and alien conspiracies in a sniggeringly hilarious meander through some cunning plot twists and a whole new understanding of the universe as it is.

If this was lunch, it would be a Wendy's hot dog with everything.