Kiwi crime queen Vanda Symon talks to Craig Sisterson about accidental heroines and playing with swords.

There's the boy who kills sheep and gouges out their eyes. There's the young man who wishes literally to eat his girlfriend but who angrily denies he is a Hannibal Lecter figure.

Paul Torday produces an intriguing page-turner that won't fail to surprise.

This work of speculative fiction arrives on New Zealand shelves with the degree of hype usually reserved for angst-ridden teen vamps or boy wizards.

Graham Beattie reveals his top pick of his past month's reading.

To some they're ugly scrawls that desecrate the urban landscape, to others they're street art. Paula Yeoman looks at the graffiti debate.

American sci-fi author Paolo Bacigalupi tells Stephen Jewell how his ruthless corporations’ environmental impact could be mirrored in real life.

Paul Auster writes splendidly about disaffected, damaged people, usually alienated from society in some way, often isolated, physically and/or psychologically.

After an interregnum of six years following the "retirement" of Justin Paton (the quotation marks are an intriguing addition by the publisher) in 2004, during which "guest editors" steered the ship, Landfall has a permanent editor again.

How much you'll enjoy this novel from American actor and comedian Steve Martin will depend on how engaged you are with recent art history.

Unfinished business is the theme of the new novel from best-selling author Kim Edwards.

An enterprising Australian seller is hoping to reap a huge windfall from a set of books by NZ author Witi Ihimaera.

Just as her on-screen love affair with 'Westie' culture came to an end, Robyn Malcolm has made the move in real life.