Videos Featured

Book Star Ratings Are Broken — Do This Instead

Let's face it — the star rating system for books is a hot mess. In this video, I give you four big reasons why I don't use star ratings for books, followed by my own personal rating and reviewing system that you can adopt or adapt for yourself.

Books Featured

Review: ALPHA by K. D. Marchesi

ALPHA, the debut novel by K. D. Marchesi, has finally been unleashed, and Rian has a howlin' good time reading and reviewing it. So put your paws in the air 'cause this one gets a little wild!

Podcast Episodes Featured

Episode 31: Interview with ALPHA Author K.D. Marchesi

A wolf-PACKED episode to celebrate the launch of Kris’s debut novel ALPHA with a spoiler-free interview with the author himself. We also discuss a few of the biggest gaming news stories. Plus our Read Watch Play lists, what’s Coming Right Up, and the spin wheels are back for Backlog Roulette!

Videos Featured

Books & Bevvies - EXODUS: The Archimedes Engine

Books and Bevvies is a Genre Blender quarterly series where Kris and Rian hold a mostly casual (though occasionally in-depth and overly critical) discussion about their chosen buddy read with their beverage of choice in hand.

Videos Featured

Our First Genre Blender Vlog!

Rian and Kris ventured out to Margaret River for a quick weekend getaway. Of course they went book shopping! Featuring wonderful Australian wildlife and a few tonnes of carbs! Check out what they managed to read while on vacation!

Videos

Live Out Your Tavern Dreams with Travellers Rest!

Travellers Rest has captivated Kris's attention for over 100 hours now! Just what makes this cozy tavern sim so charming?

Videos

Gettin' Spooky With It! - Exploring Horror Subgenres

As spooky season approaches, Kris and Rian scare themselves silly discovering how many horror subgenres there are. From everyone’s favourite slashers to the supernatural, psychological, and many more, stick around as Rian gets a horror genre education and the pair discuss their favourites.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 30: You Can’t Do That To Me In These Episodes!

The Genre Blender podcast has a new format, and Kris and Rian are excited to tell you all about it. The duo share their Read-Watch-Play updates and discuss some news after a hectic month. Stick around to the very end to see a brand new segment that should be as useful as it is entertaining.

Announcements

We're evolving! Upcoming changes for Genre Blender

We're undergoing a few changes here at Genre Blender and wanted to formally announce them to you in this handy-dandy explainer. All good things, we promise!

Videos

Overcoming 'Big Book Phobia' with Stephen King's The Stand

What do you do when the next book on your TBR is 1,211 pages but you’re intimidated by big books? Rian talks about this conundrum and how he overcame it while reading The Stand by Stephen King.

Videos

The King of Horror: Newbie vs Constant Reader

Join Kris and Rian for a lively chat about Stephen King from the perspectives of a wide-eyed newbie and a Constant Reader with years of experience. They swap stories, share their favourites and TBRs, and suggest some underrated King gems.

Videos

Cozy Horror - What makes Grimshire utterly addictive

Grimshire has had Kris in a chokehold since early access released in July of 2025. He cannot stop playing this cozy horror hybrid that hits all the right notes. Want to know what it's all about? Stay tuned as Kris dives into why this genre combo absolutely works!

Podcast Episodes

Episode 29: The Rise of Retro Gaming

Kris and Rian get a healthy dose of nostalgia in this gaming-focused episode with a discussion about retro gaming, emulation, and gaming handhelds.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 28: Cozy Gaming with Tiny Bookshop

What’s better than curling up with a good book on a chilly day? Why, becoming a bookseller and moving to the seaside with your tiny bookshop, of course! Kris and Rian played several hours of the latest cozy gaming phenomenon and, as usual, they have some thoughts.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 27: Art and Morality in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Rian reads Kris’s current favourite classic book, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and the pair go on a meandering deep-dive discussion about its themes, which are fascinatingly prescient.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 26: It’s Our First Birthday!

Happy Birthday to us! Genre Blender turns one year old, so Kris and Rian celebrate with a cold beverage or two while taking a look back over the past year, and forward into the next.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 25: KPop Demon Hunters Roundtable Discussion (with Jack and Michael)

KPop Demon Hunters has become a worldwide phenomenon, and Kris and Rian—with returning special guests Jack and Michael—hold a roundtable discussion to find out what makes this animated action musical film so special.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 24: Mid-Year Freak Out Tag

It’s the middle of the year! That means it’s time for Kris and Rian to do a check-in for their book, video game and movie plans and goals. Find out just how much our hosts are freaking out throughout the 13 questions for this tag.

Articles

Flowers for Algernon: Sometimes Books Are the Best Teachers

There’s a science fiction thought experiment that's been bouncing around in my head for many years: if you could use a cable to connect your brain directly to someone else’s brain, to temporarily experience everything exactly as they experienced it, would that change the way you

Podcast Episodes

Episode 23: The Slow Death of Physical Media (with Special Guest Michael)

Michael joins the podcast to talk about the state of physical media across all our favourite types of entertainment, from movies to games to books, and what the future might hold as digital-only inevitably takes over.

Articles

A Dose of Tropey Goodness from The Midnight Library

I’ve just finished listening to The Midnight Library on audiobook, written by Matt Haig and narrated by Carey Mulligan. I won’t pretend I’m not still wiping a couple of stray tears from my eyes, despite the book possibly being the tropiest of tropey books that I’ve

Articles

Problematic Female Characters in Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood is the third book by Haruki Murakami that I’ve read, the others being Kafka on the Shore and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, so I’m by no means an expert on Murakami’s oeuvre. I am, however, what you’d call an

Podcast Episodes

Episode 22: Memorable Queer Characters in Books and Video Games

Part two of our Pride month episodes! Kris and Rian share the LGBTQIA+ characters from books and video games that have stuck with them the most.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 21: Memorable Queer Characters in TV Shows

Happy Pride Month! To celebrate, Kris and Rian talk about their favourite and most memorable queer and LGBTQIA+ characters in TV shows over the years. This is part one of two-part series.

Podcast Episodes

Episode 20: Arthouse and Auteur Cinema

Kris and Rian get inspired (thanks, Jack!) to talk about arthouse and auteur cinema. After some hazy definitions, the duo discuss why these styles of film-making are important, and share some of their favourites.