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 | While I can appreciate the convenience of e-readers, I much prefer reading in print. But I do have an unloved Kindle and the app I can use with my slightly-more-convenient touchscreen on my laptop. From time to time I download books and then forget to read them; this Christmas I thought I’d try and catch up. Read on for my mini reviews – and apologies for mentioning the C-word in January! I know that the modern Christmas begins at the end of November, so people are heartily sick of it well before New Year but, while I’m a confirmed humbugger, I stick to the old-fashioned notion that Christmas runs for twelve days ending January 6th. |
Two self-published novels
I’m a little embarrassed at how long it’s taken me to read Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle; it must have been waiting inside my Kindle since it was published in 2014. In my defence, I had read a previous prepublication version of this coming-of-age comedy set in the New Forest in the scorching hot summer of 1976. It was great to discover that this version is just as entertaining but with the first-novel wrinkles smoothed out. As nineteen-year-old Harry Spittle navigates between bullies and attractive young women at his summer job in a hotel restaurant, and his sister’s sexual awakening and his parents’ probable divorce at home, you can’t help hoping things will work out for him, even if he encounters multiple obstacles along the way. As the jeopardy escalates, it actually gets quite scary. Luckily, he survives, and we can catch up with an older Harry in the author’s latest book.
I’m a little embarrassed at how long it’s taken me to read Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle; it must have been waiting inside my Kindle since it was published in 2014. In my defence, I had read a previous prepublication version of this coming-of-age comedy set in the New Forest in the scorching hot summer of 1976. It was great to discover that this version is just as entertaining but with the first-novel wrinkles smoothed out. As nineteen-year-old Harry Spittle navigates between bullies and attractive young women at his summer job in a hotel restaurant, and his sister’s sexual awakening and his parents’ probable divorce at home, you can’t help hoping things will work out for him, even if he encounters multiple obstacles along the way. As the jeopardy escalates, it actually gets quite scary. Luckily, he survives, and we can catch up with an older Harry in the author’s latest book.
Lizzie wants a keepsake to remember her grandmother, but she doesn’t want a dusty old hat. Talking to her, and transporting her to a cabin that’s apparently been in the family for generations does nothing to change her mind. But when her boss’s day-old baby is taken from the hospital, the hat convinces her that together they can rescue the missing child. Before she can put her trust in him, however, he’s got to transform himself into a style more suited to her outfit and catch up with the digital revolution that’s taken place since he last left the box. The Hat is a playful riff on the classic detective story, and like nothing you’ve read before! But I should have expected something zany from the creator of Lisa Burton Radio character interviews.
Two dystopian novels from Inspired Quill
With my own dystopian novel, Snowflake, in the pipeline, I was curious to read a couple from my publisher, Inspired Quill. These two are also classed as sci-fi – which I rarely read or write – but it’s worth crossing the boundary into another genre now and then.
With my own dystopian novel, Snowflake, in the pipeline, I was curious to read a couple from my publisher, Inspired Quill. These two are also classed as sci-fi – which I rarely read or write – but it’s worth crossing the boundary into another genre now and then.
Letters from the Light is an Australian sci-fi fantasy adventure, in a vivid world where only the elite have access to light. While some toil underground in darkness, blinded in infancy so they won’t stray, royalty parties above ground. While the Rats plot revolution, a wide cast of characters tease the reader as allies become enemies, and enemies friends. Expect lots of alternative world building, jeopardy, nods to diversity and touches of humour: I particularly liked the notion of a verdant Sydney Arbour.
David Mills has spent a decade on the breadline when he’s badgered into joining a new artificial-reality job-finding scheme. The dreamscape he wakes up in is pleasant enough and, for the first time in years, he forges a connection with a female friend. But he’s no more successful in finding work than in the real world where he’s ready to return when his fortnight’s up. Two things stand in the way of that, however: he’s loath to leave Christine and his body has been mislaid. Then a butterfly-shaped virus invades the system. Set in 2070 England, Citizen Zero creates a horrific near-future echoing present-day inequalities, which reminded me, before things got especially scary, of recent reads Connect by Julian Gough and Joanna Kavenna’s Zed.
Two short fiction collections
I don’t read enough short stories but, as I’m about to make my self-publishing debut with a short e-book of prize-winning shorts, there couldn’t be a better time to immerse myself in some on my screen.
I don’t read enough short stories but, as I’m about to make my self-publishing debut with a short e-book of prize-winning shorts, there couldn’t be a better time to immerse myself in some on my screen.
Hinting at Shadows is a collection of very short fiction, mostly around 99 words but some speaking volumes in only six. Grouped around themes of mental health (including the wonderful “Go Ask Alice” about hearing voices and “The Importance of Forks” about OCD); relationships (often lost or murderous) and addictions (to drugs, alcohol, banal TV) that keep the shadows at bay, they’re dark and witty, with touches of humour (such as the burnt-out guardian angel and the partner ditched when he ‘replaced all her chocolate with carob’). Some I recognised from the Carrot Ranch, but well worth a second (or third or fourth visit).
A bird donates its feathers so that stories can be written. A girl shows an older woman how to see. A boy encounters death too early when his friend dies at the quarry where the local children play. After Ever is a collection of stories, mostly expanded from various flash fiction prompts, some of which I recognised, others were intriguingly new. The witty title (shared with a story around the midpoint) is a nod to the recurring theme of writing, and the fractured fairytales, as well as a longer story, “The Quill’s Magic”, in fairytale style, told in episodes that punctuate the other tales. My favourite phrase of the collection: ‘out on the playground where the real schooling happens, mastery is measured in marbles’. My favourite story: the dark flash fiction “Harvest Tours”.
If you read e-books, now’s the time to subscribe to my newsletter! You’ll be assured of a free copy of my self-publishing debut, Somebody’s Daughter, with five short stories, three of which took first prize in an international competition. You’ll also have the chance of winning one of three signed paperbacks of my next novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, about a brother and sister separated for fifty years. Click on the image to sign up.
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