Karst in Stone: karst landscapes in New Zealand by Jill Kenny & Bruce Hayward

Geological Society of New Zealand guidebook 13, $12 Reviewed by SIMON NATHAN

Karst landscapes are some of the most unusual in New Zealand – distinguished by steep cliffs, sinkholes, caves, fluted rocks, and disappearing streams. Peter Jackson is fascinated by karst landscapes (although he may not use that technical term), and they appear many times in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They have also been a favourite subject for many artists, including Leo Bensemann.

Karst is caused by the action of water which has corroded easily dissolvable rocks such as limestone and marble. This booklet gives an overview of karst landscapes in New Zealand, and discusses how they form and the need for them to be treasured.

Read more »

Craig Sisterson takes a look at some recent bestsellers.

New Zealand readers love their crime and thriller fiction. Although we’ve been a little slow to embrace the fantastic, high quality writing now being produced by some of our own local writers, we certainly devour titles from international authors. A quick glance at the weekly bestsellers lists shows that crime and thriller titles not only regularly top the International Adult Fiction bestseller list, but in fact often take up the majority of the Top 10 positions. We love our fictional crime tales, that’s for sure.

In the past few weeks there have been new releases from several of the biggest names on the international crime and thriller writing scene. But which of these five international stars are continuing to produce high quality crime and thriller fiction that is well worth reading, and which are relying more on reputations or past glories?

Here’s a quick round-up.

Read more »