Yes, the dashing young men in uniform, on secret missions to save the world, whilst simultaneously managing to sweep swooning – but feisty and apparently quite sexually liberated – off their feet, before ending up in a loving, and raunchy, marriage.

Much as the above sentence can be read as Laurens' formula for her best-selling Regency romance novels, and formula it is, it does nothing to explain why these books are so much damn fun to read.

In The Brazen Bride, readers follow the story of Logan Monteith, one of the four British officers tasked with getting an important document from India to England, while avoiding the dreaded Black Cobra – a blood-thirsty gang of thugs and assassins.

Caught by three of them on his ship to England, Logan is wounded but manages to kill his attackers just as his ship goes down with all hands – except him, although he does manage to get bashed on the head and lose his memory.

Washed ashore, he's rescued and rehabilitated by the lovely Linnet Trevission – lady of a manor who isn't too shy to take what she wants; innuendo intended.

As he recovers, Logan grows to love the estate, its people, and – of course – the fiery Linnet. Cue descriptions of her burnished red hair, passionate nature and feisty personality.

However, as his memory returns, Logan realises that he has to leave his new-found home and make the perilous journey onward to hand over his vital document.

Luckily Linnet won't be dissuaded from helping him out; ensuring their romance continues spiced by discoveries, attacks and declarations of intent.

What makes Laurens' books a cut above the usual run of the mill Regency romance, is that she manages to add some action to her stories. The thread of the Black Cobra attacks and the reason behind the men's journeys allows the reader to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story.

The last officer is still on his way, and Laurens' next book The Reckless Bride will tie all the stories together and catch the baddies for good – I can't wait.

The book won an Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel, was short-listed for the Australian Shadows Award and won a Highly Commended from the FAW Awards.

Now Brown has released The Good Daughter, a novel that doesn't fit into her first genre, but is as well-written and beautifully constructed as the first.

Interestingly it was a freak accident on a farm – she broke her back – that set Brown on her literary path, and despite being confined mostly to a wheelchair and caring for two young children and a farm, she has already finished a third book, with a fourth on the way.

Prolific, yes, but Brown's writing is also very good.

In Red Queen two ordinary men, brothers, find themselves isolated on a hidden property – loosely based on Brown’s own land in rural Victoria – after a deadly virus has broken out across the globe.

The tensions of a sibling relationship are heightened when an unknown woman enters their lives; the elder brother, Rohan, is cut from the typical cloth of a working class Australian man. He is taciturn, separated from his feelings and overly protective of Shannon, the younger brother.

Shannon is a dreamer, he still yearns for his dead parents and the carefree university life he had before the "Red Queen" virus arrived. Rohan, on the other hand, quite likes the hardship of proving himself a man in their daily struggle to survive.

The interloper upsets the brothers' uneasy balance; naturally adding sex to the mix – the boys have been in the bush for a long time, after all.

Brown cleverly mixes these three characters, giving away only small pieces of information so the reader is left waiting to know more, totally unconcerned that there are only three characters in the story.

The plot twist in the denouement is surprising, although a little too altruistic. But Red Queen is the sort of book one can happily describe as literary fiction, while at the same time recommend to your friends who only read thrillers.

The Good Daughter, Brown's second book, is similar in its tight plot, limited character pool and outback Australian setting, but entirely different in its perspective.

Rebecca is the daughter of the title, a teenager from the wrong end of town with a slightly unhealthy interest in the richest boy in the district, Zach.

She also has her mother's reputation to live up to – should she choose her dead mum's rather loose ways or the same woman's heroic acceptance of death from cancer?

Zach has his own problems; his family may be rich but his mother is crazy according to his gruff, aggressive farmer father. And Zach's beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, insanity runs in the family.

Added to the mix is a bastard – Zack's father's by-blow. Suave for the small country town, Aden is a charming rogue who's out to get what he can.

Then Zack's mother disappears, and the last person to see her is Rebecca.

The Good Daughter is a portrait of modern, country Australia: The isolation, the small-town nosiness and censure, the lack of work, the drugs and the depression.

But it also shows some of what can be good about the same place and people – acceptance, warmth and family.

Still, for first time readers of Australian fiction, The Good Daughter doesn't paint a particularly rosy picture.

Brown is obviously a writer to watch. She is part of the Australian tradition of strong female authors who centre their work in their daily lives, but manage to turn the ordinary into the sublime with just the placement of a few words and an ability to look into the dark of the human psyche.

Red Queen and The Good Daughter by Honey Brown are published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books Australia, and are available from good book stores and online.

There's DS Logan McRae, the burnt-out bitter Aberdeen cop with major issues; a very nasty piece of work in sex predator Richard Knox; sundry evil shites – crime bosses, thugs, snitches – and an irritating hard-nosed boss in DI Steel – a lesbian with a filthy mouth, pregnant wife and a thing for pissing Logan off.

All the elements of a good crime thriller are set up in the first pages of Dark Blood. Knox is being released into 'protective custody' in Aberdeen, having been released from jail in Newcastle.

The cops hate the idea of importing a dirty sex maniac, but they can't do anything about it. He comes with a cop of his own, DSI Danby from Northumbria Police, a man with his own agenda.

To top it all off, Logan is having nightmares left over from the last major case he worked on, may be an alcoholic and is probably about to loose his live-in girlfriend.

Oh, and the local crime boss is calling him up and giving him money, only he can't think what he might have done to help him out.

McBride's writing is like those fabulous crime series you get on the BBC, it's all accents and local references, slang and grunts, so it can be a little hard-going for some readers. But if you skip past that, Dark Blood is a bit of a page-turner.

The disparate storylines eventually come together is a tightly-woven plot of betrayals, murders and random connections, before arriving at a fairly satisfying end.

If you enjoy a good thriller, and have a hankering for cold, grey, blustery Scotland, then Dark Blood is perfect.

There's just enough characterisation to keep you interested in what happens to Logan and DI Steel, but not too much to take away from the action.

Dark Blood by Stuart McBride is published by HarperCollins and is available from good book stores and online.

Dead in the Family is the tenth Sookie Stackhouse 'Southern Vampire Mysteries' series – although just about everyone will know them better as the 'True Blood' books from the extremely popular HBO series of the same name.
For those who haven't read the books, and have only seen the couple of seasons on HBO in Singapore; don't read on, this is full of spoilers as the books are up to number 10, while the TV show has barely even started.
For fans who started with the books, and not the TV show, Dead in the Family is fantastic; the characters continue to develop, the plots twist back over the whole series and Sookie is still stuck in her weird love/hate relationship with Eric.
Yes, Eric. I know, I know; if you've only watched the HBO series, you'll still think she's got a thing for Bill the Vampire; or, if you've seen the beginning of the latest season in the US, then you'll be wondering about the werewolf Alcide.
Sorry; Dead in the Family is way past all those relationships. Not only has Sookie moved on, so has her brother Jason, Bill (kind of) and Sam the shapechanger. There are also impossibly beauty Faeries as distant relatives – which kind of explains why so many women want to sleep with Jason and why the vampires adore the taste of Sookie – as well as all sorts of other supernatural creatures.
Sookie is still recovering from her injuries from the 'Faery War' that occurred in the previous book, Dead and Gone, as well as the deaths of a number of people she loved.
On top of all this; Bill is fading away having been damaged by silver and now Eric's maker (his real maker not the fake one in the TV show) has turned up with a rather insane child vamp who may, or may not be a member of royalty.
As usual, Harris manages to keep all the various plots in place, make her supernatuals seem as understandable as her humans and adds a nice bit of love, romance and sex to spice it up. There is also the prerequisite blood and violence; but not at the expense of a good story.
I started with the books years ago, and while I find the HBO show fun to watch, there's no way it can encompass the nuances of Harris' text; the humour and the psychology of both humans and supernatural creatures.
So, if you've only seen the TV show; make the effort to get hold of all ten books, I promise you won't be dissapointed.

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

Books like The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley, Down to A Sunless Sea by David Graham and Flood by Stephen Baxter are part of a growing eco-thriller genre that is making inroads into the science fiction world.

Like the books mentioned, Sunshine State is not a non-fiction tome written by a crusty scientist or a crazy environmentalist, it's a novel that combines a couple of issues that are of central concern in this day and age.

One: The terrible impact of the dirty wars occurring repeatedly around the world; and Two: The apparent increase in terrible weather systems that are devastating certain parts of the United States' coast.

Miller's book is a kind of 'mash-up' of these two themes. Mark Burrows is a member of the British secret service. He's trying to get out; his wife is pregnant, his best mate is dead and he feels like he's dying a little every time he goes on another mission.

Mark came to manhood in the heat of various deserts, a part of the UK's dirty wars. He followed orders, and followed them well, but now he is beginning to question whether or not his entire life was wrong.

Out of the screaming blue sky of a London engulfed in a major, long-lasting heatwave, Mark is given his last mission – to head for the "Storm Zone" in the US and track down his best mate; the man who is supposed to be dead.

The reason why Sunshine State is so scary is because it is completely believable. The references to Hurricane Katrina – which has already occurred – are factual spices to the future-present recipe of Miller's book.

The Storm Zone is a swathe of destroyed country that's taken out most of Louisiana, southern California and other southern American states. The cities are gone, the people are mad, scared or locked tight behind giant walls and the army uses the whole area as a "training zone".

When reading about the Storm Zone – with its micro-communities of hippies and clubbers; Apocalyptics waiting for the world to end, drug runners and the Queer Liberation Army escaping from zealous born-again Christianity – you can see the ideas have all come from things that are happening now in America and around the world.

Interspersed with Mark's trip into the insanity that is the Storm Zone, are excerpts from interviews he had with a psychologist after his last disastrous mission with his former best friend, Charlie Ashe. These fragments give the reader an insight into what Mark is really all about; how he became the “invisible man” of British intelligence.

There's a defined strand of militant religiosity also running through Sunshine State. First, the Muslim terrorists that Mark and Charlie kill by the thousands in the desert and then the creepy, Pastor as the President of the United States and his white, gun-totting "Witch Hunters".

Miller carefully paints no one religion as being any worse than the other; but they both appear to be mad in his rendering. It is the militancy that stands out; true believers of both faiths are painted more gently.

Sunshine State is a great read; it's intelligently written, it's set not far into the future so non-science fiction lovers will enjoy the action and the themes give you a disconcerting feeling that what it's talking about could really happen.

While Sunshine State might not scare everyone, it will certainly make you think a little more seriously about recycling your rubbish... just in case.

Sunshine State by James Miller is published by Little, Brown and is available from good book stores and online.

SJ Parris is, in fact, the author Stephanie Merritt, a well-known British critic and journalist who has written for The Times, the Daily Telegraph and who was also the Deputy Literary Editor at The Observer. She's also published three books; two works of fiction and a memoir about depression.

With Heresy, the author has moved into new territory by creating an interesting new character with both depth and human foibles writ large.

Although the "murder mystery set in ancient times" concept isn't exactly new – in fact, the publishers suggest in a book blurb that readers who liked The Name of Rose or CJ Sansom's work should buy this book – Heresy is an interesting take on the idea.

Bruno is a mass of contradictions. Although he spent years in an Italian monastery, he has an inquiring mind and doesn't toe the line. Heresy opens with a humorous explanation as to why Bruno is no longer a monk.

But the real meat of the story comes years later as Bruno, now safe from the Inquisition in England, ends up working for Sir Francis Walsingham, spy-master for Queen Elizabeth I.

Sent to Oxford, the university is considered to be rife with rabid Catholics, Bruno's political investigations are interrupted by a series of murders, so he switches track.

Helped by a beautiful young woman – he's no longer a monk, remember – and a series of letters implying that each death is linked to heresy of some sort, Bruno attempts to track and catch the murderer.

From the opening scenes of Bruno's youth, to the action-packed conclusion that includes hidden priests, secret loves, burly henchmen and scheming aristocrats,

Heresy is a good read. The pace is fast, the historical detail is not overwhelming – although the background information on religion in the period is a bit tedious – and the characters are well-developed.

Merritt / Parris has a nice turn of phrase, although some of the cadence and terminology may be a little modern for purists, it makes for an easier read.

The "Medieval thriller" genre is not new, there are the popular Hugh Corbett mysteries by Paul Doherty and Michael Jecks' Medieval West Country Mysteries series as well as Peter Tremayne's prolific Sister Fidelma series about a nun in 9th century Ireland.

But Merritt / Parris has given the genre a little more bite with her former monk who believes in extraterrestrial beings and astronomy, and who is neither 'holier than thou' nor a complete rake.

Heresy is a good start to what could be a substantial series of solid, fun, historical thrillers. Only time will tell if Giodarno Bruno will become as popular as some of the other characters in this genre.

Heresy by SJ Parris is published by HarperCollins and is available from good book stores and online.

Jeanne Kalogridis' The Devil's Queen traces the life of a young girl, orphaned and taken in by relatives only because of her name and bloodlines. As the great granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Catherine was a valuable trading piece in the politics of the 14th century.

Generally unloved and manipulated by everyone from her distant cousin, Giulio di Giuliano de Medici, Pope Clement VII, to her closer relatives like her aunt Clarice Strozzi (nee de Medici), Catherine never really had a chance to be herself.

During a rebellion in 1527, when the family was pushed out of Florence, Catherine was imprisoned twice, treated relatively harshly and threatened with death repeatedly. She was still only a child.

After the fall of the rebels, Catherine was taken to Rome where her marriage was arranged to Henry, Duke of Orleans, the second son of King Francis I of France, at the age of fourteen.

From the time she moved to France, Catherine suffered from being ignored, being hated and being scorned as her husband openly took lovers and eventually flouted his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who controlled Henry almost completely.

All of this, and much, much more, is generally known information about Catherine, but what Kalogridis has added is a touch of the supernatural and the macabre.

During Catherine's time there were a number of well-known and influential men who dabbled in the esoteric arts of magic, astrology and alchemy – despite them being banned by the Roman Catholic Church.

In The Devil's Queen, Catherine is befriended by Cosimo Ruggieri an astrologer and magician who eventually followed her to France; and meets Monsieur de Nostredame (Nostradamus) who remains, even now, a powerful figure.

Kalogridis gives Catherine an esoteric bent, a belief in the real power of magic and the ruthlessness to ensure her children are born, live and survive. There's lots of blood and violence involved, and an eventual denouement that may, or may not, be true.

The problem with historical novels of fiction is the existence of facts and general knowledge about these personages; particularly those of great fame.

However, Kalogridis manages to imbue Catherine with a real honesty, a realistic personality and adds enough fiction to ensure the reader is never bored.

If you don't like novels full of politics, long names and plots within plots, The Devil's Queen is not for you. This is a tightly woven story of a historical period seen through the eyes of a lonely, abused and desperate woman; one who had to grab her future with her own hands to ensure she stayed alive.

The book follows her story through the birth of her children and the death of her husband and her heirs, until the reign of Henri of Navarre – Henri IV or Henri the Great, the first Bourbon monarch.

Catherine lived to the age of 69 and was considered to have been the most intelligent person to ever sit the French throne. Still, The Devil's Queen does her justice in many ways.

Kalogridis' research is impeccable, as is her eye for detail and her ability to add personality and warmth to long dead people and times. Despite the historic detail, The Devil's Queen does not drag, it is fast paced and absorbing.

The Devil's Queen is a solid historical novel with just enough fiction to add spice and titillate the reader.

The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis is published by HarperCollins and is available from good book stores and online.

What separates Ryan's work from the usual genre is her ability to not only add romance to a zombie novel, but to also give the reader emotional insight into what it would actually feel like to see your loved ones return as something less than an animal.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth was a great book; it received praise from fans and critics alike so I was excited to read the "companion book" to see if Ryan would live up to expectations.

And she has. The Dead Tossed Waves continues years after Mary has found sanctuary of a sort in a seaside town, fenced off from both the zombies and the forest where they roam.

This time the action centres on Mary's daughter Gabry who is about 15 years old and just becoming interested in boys – one boy in particular.

As often happens with teens, the boy and his friends convince Gabry to do something she really knows she shouldn't, and the consequences of this one act direct the path of the plot.

This is Ryan's true skill; she takes a common, everyday occurrence like teens doing something they shouldn't, blends it with moral quandaries and coming-of-age motifs and then adds zombies.

Obviously the zombies can represent just about any modern day ill – drugs, teenage pregnancy, crime – but the addition of a fantasy trope means the Young Adult readers this is aimed at won't take too much umbrage.

Gabry proves herself to be resourceful, strong and weak by turns, petty and generous, smart and stupid – just like any teenage girl. She discovers things about her past that rock her world, yet she manages to both understand her mother as a person and woman, while realising that Mary did the best she could.

Ryan's prose leads the reader into noticing the little things, people's mannerisms that give away their inner thoughts, the way the sea appears to a girl locked in a society of rigid rules and how easy it is to fall in love.

The Dead Tossed Waves is beautifully written and shows that while fantasy and genre fiction may not be nominated for a Man Booker Prize, it can be good literature.

The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

Should one attend the major "headline" act of DSquared² F/W 2010 at the Tent@Orchard, featuring the work of Canadian cult twins, Dean and Dan Caten, or should one support up-and-coming, regional stars like Bhubawit Kritpholnara (Roj) from Thailand's ISSUE label, at Blueprint?

I chose to attend Blueprint — admittedly because I didn't get an invite to DSquared² — and was pleasantly surprised by both the venue, the Pit Building, and the organisers, Mercury Marketing.

Blueprint is a stand-alone three-day fashion trade show created to showcase regional fashion to the rest of the world. There are 36 local and 18 international labels on offer to 110 buyers from top retailers like London’s Liberty department store and American luxury retail chain Neiman Marcus.

Blueprint is also part of the Asia Fashion Exchange (AFX), a joint effort by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, SPRING Singapore (SPRING) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Wednesday night's event was graced by Minister of State (Trade and Industry, and Manpower) Lee Yi Shyan and MPs Michael Palmer and Zaqy Mohamad. All showed their support for local designers by wearing clothes from Singapore fashion house, Raoul.

"I always appreciate the opportunity to support local designers whenever possible. Blueprint is off to a great start and its success as a premier Asian fashion event will strengthen Singapore's gateway position in the global fashion industry," Mr Lee said on Wednesday after opening Blueprint.

The featured designer was the aforementioned Bhubawit Kritpholnara (Roj), who launched his Second ISSUE line, a diffusion line of his main label, ISSUE. Roj is the same designer who shot to stardom after his work was featured in the final episode of America's Next Top Model's cycle 6.

As the show started, with thumping tribal tracks spun by local DJ and fashionista, Ginette Chittick, I hoped for the best. But, unfortunately, was rather disappointed.

Overall the show came across as being very derivative, but in a needless way. It was the styling of the garments that let it down, not the garments themselves.

Seriously, if Roj foregone the full-face lace masks — a la Lady Gaga — and the tribal tattoo print body suits — a la MAC Cosmetics for Rodarte — the lovely printed silks in dresses, trench coats, caftans and shifts would have stood out better. The actual pieces themselves are beautiful enough to stand on their own; particularly some delicately pleated gowns.

Rodarte style tribal tattoos as seen at the Second ISSUE show at Blueprint opening night event. PHOTO: Sion Touhig for AsiaOne

Gaga-esque outfits (above and below) from Second ISSUE at Blueprint opening night event. PHOTO: Sion Touhig for AsiaOne

However, there was a bit too much glitter and a few too many layers. And for some, as yet to be explained, reason; the models all did one more round of the catwalk, in the dark, with small flashing lights in their mouths! I have no idea what it was supposed to mean, and it added yet another unnecessary bit of play-action to the show.

Roj, designer of Second ISSUE, with a model wearing one of his creations, at the Blueprint opening night event. PHOTO: Sion Touhig for AsiaOne

Second ISSUE was followed by a number of "head-lining" designers with a limited number of outfits each in a "Showcase Designers Installation" including Eugene Lin, based in London, Johanna Ho from Hong Kong, J. JS Lee based in London and Singapore's Vice & Vanity jewellery line.

Again, I was mildly disappointed. The lines while mostly well-made, were also very derivative. I realise that Blueprint is a showcase for commercial designers to a certain extent, but at the same time I was hoping for something that would make me say "Wow!".

J. JS Lee outfit at the Blueprint opening night event.
PHOTO: Sion Touhig for AsiaOne

Headpiece from Vice & Vanity on show at the Blueprint opening night event. PHOTO: Sion Touhig for AsiaOne

There was a lot "-esque" type clothes on show; Celine-esque, Chanel-esque, Stella McCartney-esque and even, again, Gaga-esque necklaces and weird head ornaments. There were some lovely pieces, nonetheless; a particularly beautiful draped wool dress from Eugene Lin; and J. JS Lee's fitted jackets were well-cut, if a little too long.

All in all, the event went well; I'm sure other attendees loved many of the pieces I didn't; beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.

There are a number of shows on Friday and Saturday, with Saturday, May 1, also open to the public for the first time. From 2pm people can view the TaFf Showcase: presenting PARCO Incubator designers and Star Creation winners; the Singapore Showcase – Emporium Edition with future collections from Singapore designers AWOL by Alfie Leong, Abyzz by Desmond Yang, benWU by Ben Wu, and Vice & Vanity; Dada ism 3D 2010 – a special hair show with dada-influenced hairstyles and J Maskrey, a London designer known for bling.

The Blueprint Emporium, also on May 1, allows ticket holders to purchase limited edition and past season samples the designers from 2pm to 1am. Tickets cost $48 or $53 at the venue. For more information, go to the Blueprint website.

Like Stephen Baxter's Flood, The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley is scary because it could really happen. In Flood, global warming destroyed the world; in Buckley's book, bird flu does.

And like Flood, it's not really the flu that we have to be worried about – sure, it kills lots of people and is terribly contagious – but, it's the people we know that we have to really be aware of.

The book opens reasonably enough; Ann Brooks is an ordinary mother of two middle-school aged girls, her marriage is dissolving and she has to start work again. Sure, she's a got a bit of a skeleton in the closet but it's nothing particularly terrible.

Her husband, Peter is a research veterinarian, who – surprise, surprise – works with wild bird populations. There's bird flu around, particularly in parts of Asia, but it's not yet reached America. Then, it does.

In a matter of days, hours even, the world that Ann knew comes crashing to a halt, and she has to worry about more than just getting a divorce.

What makes The Things That Keep Us Here so compelling are the small details of how one would survive if the modern world suddenly just stopped.

In Ann's town it's the weather that has the greatest impact as a massive snow storm brings down electricity and phone lines. Then the mobile service disappears and news becomes scarce.

In our world of instantaneous communication and too much information, it's scary to realise just how terrible it would be to have to live as our ancestors did – chopping wood for fires, washing irregularly, seeing and talking only to those who live in our homes.

It is also scary to realise that none of us is really prepared. Do you have canned goods, fresh water, a way to heat things, candles and endless batteries in your house? Not to mention basic medical supplies and the knowledge of how to use them.

As Ann's world becomes more and more circumscribed she has to make difficult choices about who is more important: her own children or their father, the man she never stopped loving and who is now back in her life.

Then, of course, there are the terrible things that people do when pushed to the edge. Quite early in the story Ann comes up against the worst of human nature as two people help themselves to others' shopping in the frenzy started by the closure of the schools.

Later, as life becomes more and more difficult and supplies dwindle, Ann discovers that not only is she tougher than she thought, but that she can be as hard as the worst among us.

The Things That Keep Us Here is a great book. Although a little slow-paced at the outset, it soon heats up and the everyday quandaries of people trying to survive keep you glued to the pages. You want to know who survives, and just as importantly, how they do it.

If you're even slightly paranoid, this book is going to make it hard for you to sleep at night. The recent round of H1N1 should have been warning enough, but sometimes, it's not enough just know about something. The Things That Keep Us Here shows us what could really happen – it might be fiction at the moment, but you just never know.

The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley is published by Orion and is available from good book stores and online.