Kev Harrison is a new writer to me but after his offering ‘The Balance’ he is a writer I will continue to read and seek out, such is the depth of story and stunning prose on offer! ‘The Balance’ is a strange beast it’s like the offspring of the folklore brilliance one expects from the
It was the best Christmas break of my life. We spent most of it in her bed, but we did take the occasional trip off-campus. Under cover of darkness, lest anyone still lurking around after finals see us together, we’d sneak out to the store for ice cream; or to the gas station for the
Ronnie Babes rolled over to the other side of the bed, and through the dark he could see Cheryl standing over him, already in her scrubs, blonde hair in a ponytail. Leaving so soon? he asked. Same time as always, hon. Yeah, but feels like you just got back home. I’ll be back around 7:30.
The best thing about dementia is that you can really wind people up. Take the old woman I sit next to at breakfast. I’ve asked her seven times this morning what we’re having and had seven different responses – a personal record. Yesterday I only got her up to five, but I think she’s on to
The ritual would always begin at 5pm and take exactly five minutes. Molly would signal to her co-workers that she was getting ready to leave by sighing loudly and saying, ‘Right.’ She’d take her mug to the kitchen, wash and dry it, before returning it to its space next to the metal pen pot on
Every once in a while, we come across a novel so impressive and so mesmerising, that we find it offers up our own sense of reflection, or an opportunity for us to consider the stories we ourselves would like to put out into the world. For me, Below Deck was just that. Throughout reading, I
The Earth is healed and humans have been extinct for 500 years. Those two things are connected. In the dying days of human civilisation a scientist created a better species, the Erta. Human-like but with none of their physical and emotional flaws. They are walking problem solvers with one purpose – to fix the Earth.
Reading Stephen King for me is a type of therapy; one that is good for the soul and mind. When I get a new book from him it’s like sliding on a pair of comfy slippers, pouring myself a hot steaming cup of coffee and disappearing for a while into the world and characters he’s
Christopher Stanley is making ever increasing waves in the horror genre and his latest offering of The Lamppost Huggers creates a tsunami of macabre delights, sweeping the reader off their feet and dragging them into the frothing deadly undertow that are his words and visceral imagination, prepare to be scared, entertained and scarred by this
You know how some books just sell themselves? They have that comfy kind of mass appeal – a little light and shade, a little wholesome, a character for everyone? Well, how does a work of autofiction with a semi stream-of-consciousness narrative about a doom-drone band, the specifications of guitar amps, edibles, the echo chamber and
