KNONK

recommended

Obsession

2025

13 Sept 2026

Beautifully horrific story that gets worse the more you think about it. And I've been thinking about it a lot. A lonely young man wishes for his crush to love him "more than anyone else in the fucking world." And then she does. And she's super weird and creepy about it.

But the real horror sinks in slowly. If she's obsessive, creepy, upsetting, and eventually violent, if she's a monster, what is he?

Highly recommended, one of my favourites this year so far.

Community Sauna Experience

Spring 2026

26 May 2026

Every so often I find that I’m accidentally hip again. An friend invited me out to a “community sauna”: an outdoor, mixed gender, bathing suits type experience that was altogether quite nice and I rather liked it.

It seems I’m not the only one because it turns out that in fact, you can’t move in this city for tripping over a community sauna. I’ve tried two so far, the one in St Anne’s House, which has very chilly dipping pools, and the one on Horfield common, which is less chilly, but wood fired and has a lovely outdoor chill space.

Of course, a sauna is a sauna, but sweating out last week’s sins while chatting with some well-meaning strangers can be enjoyable. Even if you’re not talking, you get to overhear some fun exchanges, such as the earnest young woman telling her beau about the first time she entered into a relationship from her womanhood (she was 21). But private chuckles and pretentious tattoo stories aside, at £10, taking an hour to sweat and chill simply for the sake of your own wellbeing is the kind of affordable luxury I could do with more of.

The audience is on average quite a bit younger than my 46 years, but I’m not a lone outlier and it feels like a welcoming space.

All in all, delightful way to spend an afternoon, Would recommend.

Pride (musical)

Sherman Theatre - Cardiff

18 Apr 2026

We saw the pre-run of the Pride musical (by the writer and the director of the 2014 film) in Cardiff, and it was a hoot.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure at first, it seemed a little by-the-numbers at times, but the second half opened with a bang and really won me over. Adding to the fun was the gaggle of queerlings in the row in front of us who had come wearing “Pits and Perverts” T-shirts and their enjoyment shone as bright as any of the spotlights. The kids are all right.

It will be opening in London on 11 June. Go catch it.

Inception

2010

14 Apr 2026

*rewatch*

Yeah, this one was actually pretty complicated, wasn't it? Wasn't that guy injured? Oh, right, that was a dream.

What to say? Super cool visuals. The gun fights got a little bit tedious? It was weird seeing Elliot Page in a business lady get up.

This is how you do a heist film: set the rules, follow the rules. Throw some surprises in, but don't cheat the audience. Probably my favourite Nolan, out of the ones I have seen.

Kpop Demon Hunters

2025

17 Mar 2026

Yes, fine, I'll cave to the hype!

Actually loved it, it had funny gags, super smooth pop tunes and the message was simple and predictable, but perfectly admirable.

Just so charming it's hard to resist.

Less

Andrew Sean Greer

25 Feb 2026

Delightful. Less is a funny and poetic book about a Arthur Less, a minor American novelist who can’t face either being at the wedding of his ex boyfriend, or staying home for it, so he accepts all the invitations to conferences, teaching positions, interviews, travel writing opportunities and trips he normally refuses and sets off on a journey around the world.
What follows is a series of mishaps and indignities (not least of which is his fiftieth birthday) as well as unlikely hook-ups and encounters with friends and exes. We learn things about the nature of time, and memory, and love. The helpless resignation with which our hero Less meets his misfortune and the loving, yet mocking omniscient narrator give the book a sweet atmosphere, and keep it from being too nostalgic or sappy.
I enjoyed it a lot.

Recommended for:

  1. romantics
  2. gays
  3. vicarious travel enthusiasts

Won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018

What a Drag! Another open mic?

Café Kino

28 Jan 2026

House of Boussé is a trans-forward drag house and they have an open mic in Café Kino that is strange, wonderful, inscrutable, delightful. It feels a little bit culty but like, in a good way.
Drag can be a funny thing to try to define. The open mic is for any short form performance art by trans+ artists. I’ve seen comedy, music, horror, historical, and genre-defining what-is-its on What a Drag’s small stage and personally, I’m ready for more.

Last Wednesday of the month, check at: What a Drag! (IG)
Café Kino is at:

108 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RU England

Accessibility note: the performance is in the basement down some steep steps.

Recommended if you like:

  1. Drag
  2. Trans rights AND trans wrongs
  3. In-jokes

Murder Most Fab

Julian Clarey

20 Jan 2026

finished

Delightful, camp murder comedy about a young man on his way to super stardom who just keeps getting put into situations where he unfortunately has to murder other men. Woe is he.
The character is a lot more sympathetic than I would have guessed from the premise, he's more of a lovable idiot than a magnificent bastard. It's sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, but the story is saved from nihilism by the character's enduring love for a YA summer romance.
Best read of the year so far. (Yes, it's mid January, but still.)

Recommended if you like:

  1. That Gay Shit,
  2. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,
  3. Whore with a Heart of Gold.

Hairspray

2007

19 Jan 2026

watched

Fun watch! Some cool songs, mood-elevating dance scenes, and some real stars in “what are you doing here?” parts, who actually pull it all together.
We have Christopher Walken as a joke-shop owner dad, Michelle Pfeiffer as the evil (former beauty) queen and, yeah, John Travolta in drag?
If you search for “Travolta Hairspray” google suggests asking why’d he do it? And I guess that was sort of my question. He’s a weird pick, for sure. And it’s for sure a brave move for him. But the really surprising bit is that he kinda knocks it out of the park!? Kinda!?
My favourite scene was her and Christopher Walken singing about how much they love each other even though they’re a pair of old farts. Actually touching, but then I’m an old fart.
The Guardian had a two star review, proving once and for all they’re a bunch of fuddy-duddies who hate fun.

Recommended if you like:

  1. That gay shit (in that it's very camp, there’s no gay characters)
  2. Audio-visual Caffeine
  3. Children’s book level civil rights stories

Cut & Paste Collage Club

PRSC

14 Jan 2026

Second Wednesday of the month, check it’s on at: PRSC Events
PRSC "The Space" 17-25 Jamaica Street, BS2 8JP Bristol, UK

I’ve been to PRSCs Collage Club twice, and I’ve had a good time twice. They provide boxes of magazines, newspaper, assorted printed stuff and you can do what you want with them.
This time, I made some mini zine pages. I was planning to make a zine about how Instagram is eating your brain and you should leave, but decided against that at the last minute. With no plan whatsoever, I just cut interesting words out of magazine pages for a while, and made ransom note poetry.
It turned into a zine after all. The vibe at Cut & Paste collage club is chill, you can talk to people or just do your own thing, and it’s on for long enough to really get stuck in, or to drop in for part of it and do something small.

Recommended if you like:

A Home of One's Own: Why the Housing Crisis Matters

Hashi Mohamed

13 Jan 2026

finished

I wanted to dig a little deeper into some of the issues I care about. Rather than watching hypey 20 minute videos on Youtube, why don't I get a book out about e.g. the housing crisis in the UK? So I did that.
Mohamed's writing is clear and damning: political failures across the board have created this crisis and let it fester. This isn't about Thatcher (although it's also about Thatcher), it's about a system that has failed at every opportunity to plan for the future. A Home of One's Own is a fairly quick read, but it touches on the major forces contributing to the lack of affordable, quality housing: the selling of council housing, nimbyism, foreign investment, a planning system that's not fit for purpose. Ultimately, it's conflicts of interest that keep this crisis unsolved: the powerful own houses, and benefit from the fact that others do not.
It deepened my understanding, although it's light on solutions or, you know, hope.
Everything needs to change. Political will is in short supply.
Gift this book to your parents or grandparents who don't understand.

Indie web links

03 Jan 2026

Down here are links to other independent websites. Some of these are bookmarks to myself.

Paul Robert Lloyd wrote a Beginner's Guide to the Indie Web.

James has a List of ideas for a personal website.

Let's revisit melonland that seems like a cool place.

Bury your Gays

Chuck Tingle

24 Oct 2025

finished

I was new to Chuck Tingle, who also has a very sexy(?) fiction podcast where his erotic stories are read by the people of Welcome to Nightvale (get that where-ever you get your podcasts). He’s good. I liked it. Blazed through it on a roadtrip.
Bury your Gays is a very enjoyable, madcap Hollywood horror about the future of entertainment in the age of AI, being out, artistic integrity and the ghosts of the past. Well plotted, great cast, satisfying ending. No notes.

Mr Loverman

Bernardine Evaristo

08 May 2025

Wonderful story of an elderly gay man of Carribean origin, his wie, his lover, his family, and the long, long kept secret that finally boils over. There are so many beautifully sketched minor characters here, church ladies, a punk lesbian, the grandson, they are all worth your full attention, don't miss them.

Barry is the stylish gay grandpa you didn't know you needed. I'll keep my eye out for more by Evaristo.

Updated to add: the TV show is different in some ways, but also very worth your time.

Detransition, Baby!

Torrey Peters

26 Mar 2025

One of my top reads of 2025. The story is about a complex family trying to form: a detransitioned trans woman gets his boss pregnant and is asking his ex (a transwoman) to join them and be the second mother to the baby.
Most of the book is actually the character’s back stories, how they got to be who they are and why this crazy premise actually makes a kind of sense, maybe. It’s very queer, it’s funny and sad and hopeful without sanding down the rough edges.
I don’t identify as trans but reading this felt like a window into trans female experiences that an educational text just couldn't ever offer. And I value it deeply for that.

Recommended if you like:

  1. Queer drama
  2. Trans rights

This is Pleasure

Mary Gaitskill

15 Mar 2025

Ooh, #metoo fiction with some nuance and room for interpretation? In this timeline? My goodness.
This is a novella about a Bad Man that asks: but how bad? Where is the line and when did he cross it?
Reading other reviews I can see they are all over the place. From sympathy for the Bad Man character to full throw-away-the-key condemnation. I think it’s a good book, it’s well written and I feel like I’m better for having read it.

Recommended if you like:

  1. Complexity and nuance
  2. Short books