Jason McInytre's 'Thalo Blue'

Synopsis:

Sebastion Redfield is being hunted. A young man on the brink of true adulthood, Redfield experiences the trauma of his life when a trespasser breaks into his home. The psychiatrist assigned to help him recover from the break-in begins to unravel a more disturbing truth about his ordeal: that someone or some thing has been hunting him.

Review:

McIntytre’s novel 'Thalo Blue' is an example of a heavy beauty; stunning and exquisite in places, it transports you into an almost metaphysical world. We travel the novel through the eyes of Sebastion; it is a painfully beautiful, almost unbearably sensuous world but one which is equally tinged with a latent element of extreme violence. With his character, I found myself completely absorbed in the intensity of the expression and moment. Sebastion’s story is of haunting and recovery and all of the complexities that come with a dark and haunting damage to the soul.

I wouldn’t call ‘Thalo Blue’ an easy read – it makes demands on its readers, and at times you find yourself having to surface for air. The protagonist, Sebastion, is explored with a depth that is almost intrusive, offering a semi voyeuristic experience. Through Sebastion’s eyes, other character’s are reduced to sensuous experience rather than human connection and, perhaps this is my only minor criticism – the resultant effect is that as a reader, you feel locked to the protagonist in a way that is at once compelling and stifling. An absorbing, chilling read which plays with the reader.

McIntyre is clearly going to be a name to watch; a talented writer with a very promising future. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

4.5 /5

Get your copy for only $2.99 at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39353#longdescr

'The book chain is dead; long live the book shop!'

When my local Borders store in Kingston on Thames closed, I was more sad than an individual aught to be over the closure of a bookshop. The thing was, that bookshop had become an integrated part of our family routine; a weekend pleasure that all of us looked forward to.


Little did I really understand at that moment, it was the very first death knell of the superstore book chains. I hadn't even heard of a Kindle six months ago, not alone did I realise how the world was on the cusp of a reading revolution. Curiously, it just so happened that I read an article in 'The Times' about writers publishing their work onto this Kindle malarkey. Well, hey, I thought - that sounds a little radical, but I like it - and so I set about uploading my first e-book, thinking that it would be a weird little eccentricity.


Then BOOM. e-books and Kindles in particular hit the Christmas market and all at once, like a house of cards, the mainstay, superstore book chains started to wobble. Increasingly I saw newsflash after newsflash of Borders stores closing across the States and here our very own superstore bookchain, 'Waterstones' is having a serious wobble and everyone is watching with bated breath, not entirely hopeful it will survive. Where after all would us 'real' book lovers still purchase our beloved 3 for 2 paperbacks?


Now rather than lamenting this, I have been gripped by a sudden excitement, what if a result of the closing of the book superstore, we saw the mass Resurrection of the indie bookshop? As e-books become an increasingly wide form, maybe even the 'norm (and I tell you, I am now a complete convert to the Kindle) 'Real' paperbacks will become like scare and beautiful treasures, found in little havens of literary wonderfulness. The return of the indie bookstore would be a triumph, books becoming once more precious and beautiful objects; the actual store a place to spend indulgent afternoons, drinking coffee out of miss matched mugs, ordering books only later to collect them wrapped in brown paper and string, talking to the staff who are like an extended family, meeting for poetry readings and children's readings.


So , I hear you say, that is all well and good but isn't the flaw in this argument that 'real' books are dying and that your comments about e-books prove this. I don't agree with this linear logic. I will not read less paperbacks, I will just read more e-books. I can never imagine giving up the intense pleasure of handling, opening and reading a paperback; stroking the cover lovingly. So let's raise a salute 'The Chain Bookshop is dead, long live the Indie Bookshop'

#flash fiction 'Tired'

With tired eyes, she looked up at the fading sky on which seemed were written words; words which only the birds could read and speak. The dying light, was a half-light shadow, weak and unsubstantial, as vague as certainty.


This day, above all others had been the worst. It had started bleakly, with the slow drizzle of rain and the far off distant sound of police sirens, startling the sleeping bodies from their beds. Strange how the world kept going when inside everything was disintegrating. But, that was after all, what grief was - something, that once having been paraded ceremoniously by a train of black cars, and crowned with funeral wreathes, was internal and invisible to the rest of the world; whose only thought was, 'By the grace of God, thank goodness it was not us.'


No it had been them - and they'd never thought it would be.

Phantasmagoria

Heart sorrow full, followed by pale phantoms

He winds his way through darkened avenues.

Far in the distance, the echo-yap of

A hell hound’s bark shatters the silence.

This citadel of restless, walking dead,

Holds not the warmth of a beating human heart;

Save one.

The fading heart of Lillibet.

Suddenly, the fear of being alone,

Is outweighed by fears of being shadowed.

There is blood on the moon, cries from the ground,

For in this place only the dead are found.

Mumford & Sons - 'Sigh No More' = beautiful

Sigh No More



Raw, with deep heartbeats and rhythms, 'Sign No More' is a beautifully painful album. With evocations of REM, Iron and Wine, Bright Eyes, this album has a sense of loss and pain which comes with a general dissatisfaction with life and the complexities of human relationships.
Blue grass, West Coast American Folk tones with a rocky overtone; harking back to a much mellower age.
This is the music of youth and too much red wine. Instant time travel. My favourite song has to be 'Blank White Page' which is truly beautiful.

The Well by Peter Labrow

Genre: Horror
Readership: Adult / YA 15+

Synopsis:

Fourteen year old Becca Edwards and her stepbrother boyfriend have fallen into the dark of an ancient, cursed well. With their parents away and their relationship a secret, they are left with the horrifying thought that maybe they may never be found.

As a community rallies together, a stranger, darker force is at work and what seems the stuff of rural folklore, is very much alive and present.

But, the supernatural monster is no the only threat to the small rural village, as amongst their community lives the most terrifying and feared of modern monsters. The problem is, he looks just like any of them.

Review:

A great tale with a whole cast of interesting characters and complex relationships. I thought Labrow really encapsulated the whole 'English' small town community and enjoyed the way that he took time out of the main plot to spotlight on the domestic relationships of others connected to the story.

This is clearly a well researched piece and there were a lot of practical details interwoven around the psychological exploration of the situation which made it all highly believable.
It was a definite page turner as all the strands of the story came to an exciting and fast paced climax.

The issues surrounding the supernatural were eerily described and he established a sense of disquiet at the end of the novel, so that, although satisfied with the resolution, the reader is left knowing that the story is really far from over.
Labrow deals with a modern fear with a lightness of touch that whilst allowing us into the mind of a vile human being, there is no sense of over indulgence.

4.0/5.0 - A good read, support this writer and go and buy his book.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Well-Peter-Labrow/dp/1446764389

Friday Flash Fiction: Remembrance of whole heartedness.

It may be fifteen years on. We may have only been children on the cusp of our adulthood but I remember; I remember the way your hand swept down my back and how you passed that invisible barrier, holding my cheek in the palm of your hand.

That was exactly were you had me all along.

I remember looking at you, under the sweep of my over massacred eyes and I wanted you in ways that were alien and beautiful. Even now, I recall the dress I was wearing and the feel of the thin vintage lawn cotton against my thighs. It was the time before vintage was cool.

I thought you were beautiful.

It was the school awards evening. You were down for the maths and science prize and I for English.

We had fascinated each other for months
.
My entire days were distracted, my life a complete pitching and heightening of emotions, based on a smile, a look, an accidental meeting. It was because of you that I failed – didn’t meet my glittering potential. Maybe if I had spent less time thinking of you, of the ways different light might fall on your naked body, or how you might look sleeping in the early hours of morning, I might have not spent so much time expecting.

I should have written less poetry, painted less paintings; read more text books.
Drank less Gin.

There were fleeting moments. Missed opportunities. I should have been bolder.

There was a night we drove one hundred and twenty miles down a winding country lane. I thought I was going to die. You laughed and turned the stereo up. It was the kind of night when the stars are screaming out their brilliance and everything has sharp edge to it. The same kind of edge as a knife – and as I ran my life down the edge of it, the thought of it all ending in a mangled crashing of our entwined bodies was sweeter than longevity.

I pushed towards the climax of our fate but you were somewhere else at that moment.

Two years into our exhausting, painful dance, you turned to the friend and said, “Please tell her I’ve loved her all along.”

That was the moment you finally broke me past healing.

Cover release for 'Immortal Beloved'

So here it is and I'm so excited.

Due out in August 2011, 'Immortal Beloved' is the action packed sequel to 'The Forest of Adventures'. #2 sees a complete change of direction and location for the characters. A book of two halves, 'Immortal Beloved' deals first with the cataclysmic events at the end of 'The Forest of Adventures' and then moves into a classic race against the clock, as Mina finds herself having to set on a quest to save the heart of Blake Beldevier.

The second half of the novel is set amongst the temples and pyramids of Egypt and blends the mythologies of English Folklore, Christian scriptures and Egyptian Mythology.

It is a journey that transcends life and death, and neither Blake or Mina are the same after the dark and terrifying events.

A reworking of the Eurydice myth, 'Immortal Beloved' is a much darker and magical novel than the first and sees the hero and heroine having to face the consequences of their actions in the most torturous and significant of ways.

The novel explores the idea of justice and redemption and is also an exploration about the beauty and importance of real friendship; of having people in your life that choose to love you despite your failings.

You can read the opening extract of 'Immortal Beloved' at this {link} and you can learn more about 'The Knight Trilogy' at the official website http://www.theknighttrilogy.com.

Book One, 'The Forest of Adventures' is currently storming up the amazon charts with a 5* rating UK and 4.5* USA. It is currently 4.2* at Goodreads and 4.5* at Librarything. You can get your e-book copy for Kindle and other e-readers for just 99c at Amazon.

My Feminist Ephiany

Through the wonderful platform that is Twitter, I picked up a tweet about the 'Glasswoman' writing competition. In my current spirit of Carpe Diem (and my genre quest), I followed the link and came to an amazing women's' writing competition. (link attached at end)

Women's writing has always been a love of mine when studying Literature. I remember the profound effects that 'The Awakening', 'The Yellow Wallpaper' and Virginia Wolf's work had on me.

The whole point of Women's Writing (A genre name I'm still not too sure about) is that it explores the voice of female experience. It is a deeply personal form of writing which explores the real situations and relationships that women live.

When I sat in front of my blank screen, I wondered how this process might start. Would I look at the lives of other women and put down on paper their trials and tribulations? Would I pick an event in my life and write about that?

That would have been a natural starting point, but I never really saw myself as having a 'woman's experience' - (Boy was I blind!) In a post-feminist society, in a generation where bra burning and protests belong to my mother's generation, I didn't feel I had a 'feminist' voice.

Yes, I've put up with the crap that comes with being an academic professional in a patriarchal society, and yes I still see first hand how I have been passed over for higher management roles, genuinely, because I was not a man and was in danger of having more children - and yes I have seen how poor maternity health and care are for women of a middle economic income; falling between two sets of privileges - and yes I have had to balance being an inadequate mother, inadequate manager, inadequate housekeeper (because not all plates can be spun without wobble at once) BUT ..... see my point - latent feminist rage.

As I have been bumbling along, continually convincing myself that we are now living in a world of equality, I have blinded myself to my feminist voice. Slightly ashamed of it because of the connotations that have been built around it; moaners, whingers etc.

What I discovered through the medium of Women's writing was, that unlike the rant above, it allowed me to express my observations in an exploratory, artistic way rather than raw outpouring of emotion and pent up resentment. The beauty of words and the skill of constructing imagery and syntax, calmed these passions into something, I think is quite beautiful and deeply moving.

Dylan Thomas' line is to "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" and I applaud his sentiment entirely but would, perhaps advise the adaptation, "Write, Write against the dying of the light" - in this way, the light is far more prone to turn and listen.

Over 150 people have downloaded 'The Emergence of Julia Gray' in a week; a response I could never have anticipated. So it seems there are still those willing to open their hearts and ears to the cause.

You can get your FREE copy at

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/45635

GLASSWOMAN COMPETITION LINK
http://www.sigriddaughter.com/GlassWomanPrize.htm

Wow - I won!

Today has been a very good day in my writing life because I won Indie Horror short story competition with my short story 'The Venus Club.' The whole experience of entering this contest and getting such positive, kind and constructive feedback has been incredibly positive and it will be a memorable step on my writing journey.
Thank you to all of my lovely writer friends who I have met on Indie Horror and to all of those very kind people who voted 'The Venus Club' the winner.
Congratulations also to my fellow winners,

2nd Place – Welcome to the Neighborhood by AnnaReith

3rd Place – Rite of the Sanguine by ravencorinncarluk

Such brilliant, interesting, gruesome and thought-provoking stories and an honour to have won amongst such talent.

You can read my entry and other brilliant stories at http://http://www.indiehorror.org/ and if you would like your own e-reader copy then it is 99c at smashwords [link]

Take a break from your comfort zone.

I am a very certain type of writer; I'm clear as to what I DON'T DO. I like certainties, and I like my very comfortable comfort zone. However, I've challenged myself to go a little wild and write a short story for as many different genres as I can in 6 months. (shortstory = something I'd never actually done until last month - as "I don't do shorts!")

I've found this challenge to be a surprising source of creative energy. It all started with an entry into the #cannibalcookoff @indiehorror's blog. The title of the piece is 'The Venus Club'; a 5,000 word tale about a secret society of lady cannibals wh live and dine in Victorian London . I discovered immediately that I got a real kick out of structuring a short story and the disciplines involved in keeping a word count under control, and yet still creating complex characters and plot. 'The Venus Club' = Horror genre - TICKED.

Second, came a go at Speculative fiction piece, a 5,000 short based on the idea that the human race had slowly dwindled (to give the reason would be a *spoiler*!) and was being supported by ARTs Artificial, Robotic Transforms. 'Inverse Fall' = Sci-Fi - TICKED.

Thirdly, on some crazy creative wave, I wrote a 10,000 short, epic fantasy (loving that oxymoron) set against the backdrop of Medieval tyranny and reworking of a classic fairytale. 'The Ice Princess' = Epic Fantasy - TICKED.

What this exercise has done for me so far, is given me a real mental and creative workout. I've explored; new sentence structures, vocabulary, imagery and characterisation; all of which are now influencing my edit of #2 of The Knight Trilogy, 'Immortal Beloved'. It's worked my skills and already I can see that my writing is stronger for it.

Also as a result, I have the outline of a new Young Adult novel called 'Beautiful Freaks', for which I already have a 15,000 word count and a wonderful group of critical writer friends who are critiquing it as I go. http://www.beautifulfreaks.weebly.com/

So what next? Well, in no particular order I'm going to go for; Steam punk, psychological crime, memoir and romance - and I can't wait to know what discoveries I'm going to make.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD COPIES OF YOUR FREE STORIES @SMASHWORDS [link]