I’ve read a couple of Botur’s short story collections (True and Lowlife) and he’s a masterful practitioner of the form. While the stories in these collections are eclectic, they are connected by both Botur’s powerful and distinctive personal voice and a focus on life at the edges of contemporary society. The Devil Took Her is a little different in that it’s Botur’s first horror-themed collection. That organising principle alone makes it more focused than previous works, but Botur is certainly no one-trick pony and the eclectic nature of his imagination still shines, with the requisite monstrosity of the genre appearing in different guises, from actual monsters (most notably the giant and voracious spirit bird of The Day I Skipped School), through to monstrous people, and on to people trapped in monstrous situations.
In The Devil Took Her, the focus is again on characters operating (or perhaps struggling to operate) on the fringe, isolated from society proper. This makes sense, for isolation is one of the key conventions of the horror genre, and even in stories where the protagonists aren’t physically isolated, they’re psychologically or emotionally isolated; there’s something about them that means they just don’t fit in, no matter how desperately they might try.
Along with the monsters, the tone of these stories is also eclectic. Some are gross and gory, some are haunting, some are creepy, some are threaded with Botur’s trademark black humour. All of them are disturbing. This is not a criticism. I enjoy watching horror movies, or at least ones fueled by good storytelling and genuine scares rather than blood and guts. Watching movies tends to be a social activity and in that environment, being scared can be fun. Indeed, that would be one of the major factors in my judgement of quality — that I enjoyed myself, that I had fun. I know I’m not alone in thinking that.
Reading, on the other hand, is not a social activity and (aside from Underground, the story of an ambitious record label exec’s descent into hell), the stories in The Devil Took Her are not fun. What they are is disturbing. It’s a mark of just how disturbing that my reaction to them was physical. At times, I found myself short of breath, mouth dry, skin literally itching, as if I’d been for a bush walk and brushed up against some evil, toxic plant. At other times I felt sick, my stomach clenched tight, on the verge of nausea. It got to the point where after a few daily sessions I had to take a break from reading because I couldn’t deal with the physical symptoms anymore. Yet compelled, I returned a few days later to finish off.
So, in the end, it’s a challenge to make a judgement call on The Devil Took her. Did I enjoy reading it? Ahhh… no, not really. Does that mean it’s bad? Oh God no, quite the opposite. Would I read it to my kids before they went to bed? No I wouldn’t, but then they’re a little young. Your average older teenager, being the strange, twisted creatures that they often are, could get a real kick out of it. Do I want to read more short horror stories by Botur? Hell yeah, but not today, thanks. I’m more in the mood for something comedic, perhaps even with a touch of romance. I’m just gonna have a squiz in our DVD cupboard. I’m sure there’s a copy of The 40-Year-Old Virgin in there somewhere.
Have you read The Devil Took Her, by Michael Botur, or any of his other books? Let me know in the comments.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
A review of Forever Dreams(The Montana Brides Book 1), by Leeanna Morgan
I was lucky enough to meet Leeanna when she was presenting at a writers’ conference a few years ago. She was bubbly and vivacious and full of good advice. She’s a Kiwi and lives in NZ but writes romances set in and around the town of Bozeman, Montana. She’s a prolific writer and has published more than fifty books in several different but interconnected series. Forever Dreams is her first novel.
It’s about a Kiwi primary school teacher called Gracie Donnelly who travels to Bozeman on a mission to find her long-lost father. Trent McKenzie is the handsome cowboy who works the ranch she’s arranged to stay at while she’s in town and as soon as he picks her up from the airport to bring her home, the sparks begin to fly.
As it turns out, Trent is also searching for someone special; a new wife. Despite her attraction to him, Gracie makes it clear that she’s not interested in filling that role. Until, that is, the couple end up in Vegas together, Gracie gets rolling drunk and they decide that the best way to ice the cake of their Vegas experience is with a spontaneous wedding.
In the cold light of the morning after, that decision doesn’t seem so clever, but rather than letting what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas, they compound the calamity by bringing it back to Bozeman. The pair forge a deal; Gracie will continue with the marriage charade so as to get Trent’s meddling matchmaker of a mother off his back in return for his help in finding her father. If that seems like an unnecessarily complicated arrangement, it gets worse. Despite their utter failure to keep their hands off each other up until this point, they instigate a no-touching rule in their shared marital bed.
It’s a preposterous setup and it’s not helped by having a hero and heroine who are somewhat clichéd — she’s a feisty, red-headed city girl who doesn’t know her ass from a donkey while he’s a strong, silent country boy who struggles to communicate his innermost feelings — but it’s an easy, breezy read with some genuinely amusing touches and a smattering of steamy moments. Besides, who doesn’t love cowboys? And descriptions of wild, Montana mountain scenery? After reading it, I know I wanted to have a holiday in Bozeman.
Have you read Forever Dreams, by Leanna Morgan, or any of her otherbooks? Let me know in the comments.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
This book was suggested to me by one of my subscribers, Tom. Thank you, Tom, for your suggestion. It’s a romantic comedy about a recently divorced romance writer called Jillian Grayson and her developing relationship with her son Rob’s best friend, Brian Nash.
Jillian has done well in her writing career. She owns a nice house with a swimming pool and a tennis court. She first meets Brian when Rob brings him home from college to stay for Spring Break. When Rob heads out, leaving his mum and best bud at home, Jillian and Brian play tennis. They also go swimming. It turns out Brian loves swimming and tennis just as much as Jillian and despite their age difference, an intense mutual attraction soon develops.
Initially, for Rob’s sake, they attempt to keep a lid on their feelings for each other. This proves to be a challenge and Jillian’s best friend, Victoria (who also likes to swim), doesn’t make it any easier. Victoria doesn’t seem to serve much purpose other than being brain candy and the sexually liberated foil to our sexually frustrated protagonist, but with her encouragement, Jillian and Brian strike a deal to become somewhat more than just friends. Soon after, their physical play moves from the tennis court and into the bedroom.
The blurb says it’s a laugh-out-loud comedy. I’ve learned that whenever a book blurb makes this claim, it pays not to believe it. This isn’t because I’m a curmudgeon — it’s because laughter is a social behaviour, while reading isn’t. Like yawning, laughter is infectious and it’s easy to laugh when you’re in the company of others. When you’re on your own, it’s much harder. I love reading comedy, but any author who can elicit an out-loud-laugh from me is doing very well indeed. I treasure the few that can.
Based on my reading of Friends with Partial Benefits, Luke Young is not one of them. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. It’s easy to read, chugs along at a steady pace and there are some genuinely amusing moments in the story, amongst all the swimming and tennis. There’s also a fair whack of sex, and some of that sex gets pretty steamy. Intriguingly, Young has written an expanded version of the book, under a pseudonym and with a different title, with even more (and more explicit) sex scenes. I haven’t read it so can’t vouch as to whether it makes for an improved reading experience. As an author, it seems a little like cheating to me but I guess it’s one way of getting more bang for your buck.
As an aside, in writing this post I did a little browsing to find a suitable image to go with it. The picture below is what you get when you combine ‘tennis’ with ‘sex’ as image search terms.
I get the ping-pong paddle (although God only knows why you’d hold it in this position — perhaps she’s trying to suppress a fart), but what is with the bikini and jandals (flip-flops, for those unfamiliar with the Kiwi vernacular)? I assume she’s supposed to be at the beach, but have you ever tried playing ping-pong at the beach? I don’t recommend it. In a stiff onshore breeze, the ball swirls around all over the place.
Anyway, if you’re the kind of person who’s into sweat, both of the John McEnroe-related and bedroom variety, then Friends with Partial Benefits could be right up your alley. There are also several sequels featuring the same cast of characters, so if you do like it, there’s plenty more to whet your appetite with.
Have you read Friends with Partial Benefits, by Luke Young, or any of his otherbooks? Let me know in the comments.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
A review of Chemical Cowboys: The DEA’s Secret Mission to Hunt Down a Notorious Ecstasy Kingpin, by Lisa Sweetingham
Chemical Cowboys, by Lisa Sweetingham, is an account of the illegal Ecstasy market in the U.S. and around the world in the 1990s. I found it on the discard shelf of my local public library for fifty cents and thought, this looks interesting.
It is. In the mid-nineties, the USA’s ‘War on Drugs’ was centred on cocaine and heroin. DEA Special Agent, Robert Gagne, however, wanted to take his inquiries in a different direction and focus on the growing problem of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or Ecstasy, as it was commonly known. Prior to Gagne’s investigation, Ecstasy was not a priority for the DEA; it was considered ‘kiddie dope’. But as the decade progressed and its popularity exploded to the point where it became the drug du jour for the young nightclub and dance party set, there became a growing awareness of its addictive properties and the potentially tragic consequences of its heavy use.
As the story’s central protagonist, Gagne is one of the few rounded characters in a long and often unsavoury list (we’re talking about drug manufacturers and dealers here, after all), struggling to balance his desire to ‘catch the bad guys’ with the demands of family life. The action bounces around the world, from the US to Israel to the Netherlands and back again. With all this globetrotting and the frantic pace of the story, I found it difficult to keep track of all the players. Not that it particularly mattered; Sweetingham is an accomplished journalist and the book is meticulously researched, yet it’s never boring. I was swept along with the energy of the story, fully engaged, entertained, and informed from beginning to end.
At times, the book almost reads like fiction. Perhaps the most tragic example of this is the story of ‘Club Kid’ king, Michael Alig, a New York nightclub promoter who ends up murdering fellow ‘Club Kid’, Andre Melendez, over a drug debt. Not knowing what to do with Melendez’s body, Alig keeps it in the bathtub of his apartment until it begins to decompose. Worried about the smell, Alig takes it upon himself to dismember the body, placing the pieces into garbage bags which he subsequently dumps in the Hudson River, before bragging about his gruesome deeds to his friends and followers. Initially, nobody believes him, thinking he’s just doing it for attention, but in the end, justice is served and Alig is imprisoned for his crimes. It’s just one of numerous events in the book that prove truth is often stranger than fiction.
I was a student at the University of Otago in Aotearoa in the mid-nineties. I was a rocker rather than a raver (or at least an indie-rocker, my wardrobe consisting of ripped baggy jeans and checked flannel shirts rather than studded jackets and leather trousers), but Dunedin was a small town and entertainment was at a premium so I found myself attending the occasional rave.
One in particular sticks in my memory, held in the crumbling ruins of the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum.
The Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, prior to its demolition and the invention of euphemisms.
Now, you can make what judgements you like about the link between ravers and the mentally ill (it’s all right there in the name). Still, in reading Chemical Cowboys, I found it fascinating to join the dots. Who would’ve thought a crowd of sweaty, swaying youths in fluoro face paint, dancing and waving their glow sticks at each other until sunrise on a remote island at the bottom of the South Pacific, could be directly connected to an international drug-trafficking racket centred on the Israeli mafia? Certainly not me; not at the time, anyway, but now that I’ve read Chemical Cowboys, I know better.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
A review of The Protector (Men of the North Book 1), by Elin Peer.
I finally got around to reading this after it was recommended to me by one of my subscribers, Erica. Thank you, Erica, for your suggestion.
I enjoyed it. Not as much as Erica, I think, but it was a fun read. It’s set 400 years in the future, where some kind of apocalyptic war has resulted in a North America divided into two distinctly different countries. How’s that any different from now, you may ask? Well, in the old United States, south of the Canadian border, lives a futuristic matriarchal society, run by and populated mostly by women. North of the border (including Alaska) is a feudal patriarchal society, populated almost entirely by handsome, burly men with long hair and beards. What’s not to like about that?
Trade between the two countries is highly restricted, and the movement of people across the walled border even more so. So when the ‘Men of the Northlands’ ask for the South’s help in excavating a recently discovered archaeological site, the request comes as a surprise. The South’s decision to send Christina Sanders, a female archaeologist, is even more of a surprise for the men and results in confusion and a gladiatorial competition to find her a bodyguard to protect her from the threat of hormonal, hairy men as she goes about her work. Unbeknownst to Christina, the ceremony that crowns her ‘Protector’ is actually a wedding and the man who wins the competition will become her husband! Will the winner be Alexander Boulder (great name), the handsome, burly, bearded man that has Christina all hot under the collar? Or will it be his opponent, another musclebound yet less hirsute ogre, his villainous nature and lack of moral fibre indicated by close-cropped hair and a smoothly-shaven chin?
Sounds ridiculous? You betcha! So it’s probably no surprise that there are elements of the world-building that don’t stand up to close scrutiny (not the least of which is the fantastical ratio of men to women in the Northlands). Some might also find the implications of the gender politics disturbing, but it would be a mistake to take them too seriously. Peer certainly doesn’t. This is a story fuelled by silliness; just switch your brain off and enjoy the ride.
There’s also a healthy dose of sex. Despite all the ice and snow, Alexander really struggles to keep his shirt on. It’s all too much for the repressed Christina and her feminist sensibilities. She has a sexbot back home in the Motherlands, but it seems nothing compares to the real thing. Boulder may be a beast, but he’s a damn sexy one.
Peer is no Jane Austen and there’s no great art to her writing style. But if you like your romance steamy and you’re prepared to suspend your disbelief (like, seriously), the characters are fun and the story is an entertaining one. And, as Book 1 of the Men of the North series, there’s plenty more to follow up with.
Have you read The Protector, by Elin Peer, or any of her otherbooks? Let me know in the comments.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
A review of Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. by Jeff Tweedy
I’m partial to the occasional rock star biography, so when I saw Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), by Jeff Tweedy,the lead singer and songwriter of Wilco, one of my all-time favourite bands, amongst the pile of books for sale at the 2019 Auckland Writers Festival, I snapped it up.
There’s no guarantee that just because you can write great songs, you can write great books, but on this occasion, Tweedy manages it. As is usual with rock star biographies, some space is devoted to exploring the personality conflicts between bandmates, but there’s a warmth and humility to the writing that is atypical for the genre. There’s no braggadocio to these anecdotes, nor does Tweedy have any axes to grind. He’s happy to admit that he only got to where he is today with the assistance of others, most notably his family. The book includes a couple of transcribed conversations with his wife and children which provide an authentic insight into their family dynamic. It’s a little gimmicky, perhaps, but it works. It also delves into Tweedy’s struggles with mental health, drugs, and addiction in a way that is refreshingly honest.
What I most enjoyed about the book was the personal exploration of both Tweedy’s dedication to songwriting (he tries to write a song every day), and his songwriting process. Tweedy’s lyrics are often open to interpretation, and it’s no wonder when one of the lyric writing exercises he uses is to take a list of random verbs and another list of random nouns and then pair them up. “It might start as gibberish,” he says, “but it’s amazing how hard it is to put words next to each other without some meaning being generated.” Inclined to agree, I thought I’d try it out. Here’s the list I came up with (I swear these were the first words that popped into my head):
Nouns Chicken Refrigerator Tractor Laptop Children
Verbs Run Fry Smoke Swim Love
And here’s the resulting ‘lyric’. Appropriately, for a verse inspired by Jeff Tweedy, I can hear it as an Alt-Country song called something along the lines of The Modern Farmer.
Hangry Laptop fried and tractor smoking, I run inside and scan the refrigerator. It’s empty. Aside from a lone chicken wing, Swimming in brown sauce. I love my children But man, can they eat.
Anyway, back to the book. If you’re a Wilco fan, then I highly recommend it. If you’ve never heard of Wilco but like rock star biographies, you might enjoy it too. Then go listen to some Wilco. They’re awesome.
Are you a Wilco fan? Do you like rock-star biographies? Read any good ones lately? Let me know in the comments.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
While the majority of books I consume come in physical form, I do enjoy a good audiobook, and with a 45-50 minute daily commute to work, I’ve got ample time for listening. I’ve thought about creating audiobook versions of my own stories, but the process has traditionally been a time-consuming and expensive one, so the thought has remained just that. However, with the opening of Google’s auto-narrated audiobooks service on Google Play, I’ve been able to take my first step into the wonderful world of audiobooks.
Hmmm… hard to know. I’d say it’s a toss-up between ‘Geronimo Stilton and the Curse of the Cheese Pyramid’ and ‘Finnegans Wake’.
I thought I’d try a couple of short stories to begin with, just to see how it all works. Google isn’t the only company working in this space, but they’re the first ones to open it up to the indie-author community and while the service is currently in beta, the technology behind it is pretty impressive. At this point, they have more than thirty different voices to choose from in English and Spanish. In English, there is a range of male and female voices with American, Australian, British, and Indian accents. Unfortunately, there are no Kiwi accents as yet, and given the size of the New Zealand market, I’m guessing the wait could be a long, if not interminable one.
The first story I selected to work with was The Art of Cigarette Smoking. Since it’s about a young man and his relationship with a packet of Marlboro cigarettes, I figured a male American voice would be most appropriate. I chose the one Google calls ‘Mike’. All the American voices have names beginning with ‘M’, so I don’t suppose it’s ‘his’ real name, but there is a solid, amiable quality to the voice that I think suits the story, as well as sounding perfectly ‘Mikeish’.
After selecting a voice, the process is pretty straightforward. The voice simply narrates the words from an uploaded manuscript. Mispronounced words can be corrected by either spelling the word phonetically or speaking the desired pronunciation into the software via a microphone. Pauses between words can be extended by typing extra commas, and there’s enough natural variation in the AI technology behind each voice to make it sound human and organic. It even places a rising inflection at the end of words followed by a question mark.
What it doesn’t allow for is EMPHASIS and yes, I tried typing in capital letters but it made no difference. I’m sure this feature will come at a later date, because it would make a big difference. For descriptive passages without dialogue, it’s not overly noticeable, and since The Art of Cigarette Smoking just happens to be a story without dialogue, I was pretty happy with the end result. You can check it out here:
I’m a little less happy with the outcome for the second story I tried, The Golden Cockroach. Since it’s set in Australia and written from the point of view of a young woman, I selected ‘Charlotte’, an Ozzie female voice, for the narration. As much as we Kiwis enjoy taking the piss out of any and all things Australian, it was actually awesome to have this option, and I felt it really helped me to visualise the main character, Nina, and her situation. However, The Golden Cockroach is a story with numerous passages of dialogue, and while overall, the reading is still an impressive one (and again, Charlotte’s voice sounds perfectly ‘Charlotty’), the lack of any emphasis in these spoken exchanges is noticeable. You can check it out for yourself here.
So, is this service a welcome one for indie authors? Absolutely! The audiobook market is a growing one and it’s fantastic to be able to cater to ‘readers’ who want to consume stories in audio form, for whatever reason.
Is it as good as having a real live person performing a customised narration? No, but given the minimal costs involved in creating an audiobook via this process, I think the end product can be sold at a price point that reflects this. Recording a custom-narrated audiobook is an expensive process, and so the end-product commands a premium price. An auto-narrated audiobook needn’t.
Will I be creating any more auto-narrated audiobooks on Google Play? Not at this point in time, at least not until the ’emphasis’ problem is solved, or a Kiwi accent is added to the mix of voices available. Or unless readers tell me they want me to.
Are you an audiobook fan? Got a favourite one? Would you like to hear any more of my stories in audiobook form? Let me know in the comments.
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A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
My upcoming novel, Staking a Claim, is the sequel to Taking the Plunge and due for publication in 2023. Here’s a taster.
Kate perched on the edge of the gantry, her legs bound, looking down. Forty-three metres below, the Kawarau River surged with spring melt, swirling around a jagged rock that burst from beneath the whitewater, black and dangerous. “You ready?” She turned her head towards the voice, stomach clenching. Both young men standing at her back flashed reassuring smiles. On the left, the pasty English one named Simon suggested, “On the count of three?” She nodded, took one last glance at the galloping waters, then closed her eyes. “One… two… three!” Wind whistled. River roared. “I did say three, didn’t I?” “Uh-huh. Loud and clear.” “And she agreed, right?” “Yep.” “Kate?” Her name came dancing on the wind, teasing. She didn’t answer, her feet rooted to the gantry as if encased in concrete rather than stretchy rope. “You didn’t jump.” She shook her head. “Why not?” “I’m enjoying the view.” “But your eyes are closed.” “They are?” As she slowly opened them, the two men came swimming into focus. “Shall we try that again?” asked Manny, brown eyes glinting from his swarthy, Chilean face. She opened her mouth to agree but nothing came out. “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s been weeks since we had an accident.” Simon cuffed his colleague on the shoulder. “Accident?” “He’s kidding,” said Simon, scowling at Manny. “We’ve never had an accident. And we’ve been going since nineteen—” “That’s right, we’ve never had an accident.” Manny’s grin was wicked. “Sometimes the people jumping have an accident, but not us. It always pays to bring some spare underpants.” Simon dug him in the ribs. He laughed, warm and hearty. “I’m sorry. Look, Kate, let’s try it again. You’ll be fine. Everyone’s scared their first time. But I guarantee, once you’ve done it, you’ll be back up here begging to go again.” Kate looked beneath her feet at the rope, swaying in the wind above the raging river. “I’m not sure about that.” “Don’t worry, you’ve got this. On the count of three again, yeah?” She swallowed. “Okay.” “Right then, here we go. One…” She bent her knees and spread her toes. “Two…” She closed her eyes. “Three!” She opened them again, only to discover that the view looked exactly the same as before. The river was no closer, and the world was definitely not upside down. Dipping her head, she noted her feet were still firmly planted on the edge of the gantry. “Umm,” said Manny, “perhaps I didn’t make myself clear, but the idea is that you jump on three. There’s people waiting, you know.” Back on the bridge, the young woman who was next in line gave her the evil eye. “I’m sorry. I really thought I had it that time.” “Kate?” Evan strolled hand in hand with Corbin towards her along the bridge, a camera hanging from a strap around his neck. “What’s going on?” She gave a theatrical groan. “I don’t know. It’s scary up here.” “You’re not wrong,” he said, chuckling. “I was scared too.” “You didn’t look scared.” “Fake it till you make it. Come on, you’ve got this. You were so keen after you saw me go.” “That all changed when I looked down.” “Then don’t look down.” “I tried that. I closed my eyes, but the picture in my head was so vivid that it didn’t make any difference. Even from behind my eyelids, those rocks look awfully sharp.” “You’re not going to hit the rocks.” “I might. What if a gust of wind blows just when I jump?” “Wishful thinking,” said Manny. “We weighed you, remember?” Kate stared daggers at him, but his cheeky grin refused to budge. “Look,” said Evan gently, “if you don’t want to go, it’s okay. We can try again some other time. Right guys?” “Yeah, of course,” said Simon. “I do want to go. It’s just…” “There’s no shame in backing out.” “Oh, I don’t know about that.” Manny gestured across the canyon to the onlookers crowded along its edge. “Look at all those people watching. I’d be ashamed if I was you.” “Manny, you’re not helping,” growled Simon. “No, he’s right,” said Kate. “I didn’t come all this way to turn around and go home without doing what I came for.” “Mummy jump?” Corbin poked his nose through the railings, peering at her. She cast her eyes around the canyon, sweeping from the bungy and cafe complex out over the raging waters to the far side of the gorge, steeling herself. “Yes,” she said, clenching her fists, “Mummy jump.” “You sure?” asked Evan. “Uh-huh.” Her tummy disagreed but she overruled it. “Let’s do this.” “On the count of three?” said Simon. She nodded, swallowing. “Good on ya, Kate.” Evan winked at her before raising the camera to his eye. “Okay then, here goes,” said Simon. “One…” This time, Evan joined in the chorus. “Two…” She rose onto the balls of her feet, knees bent, pulse pounding. “Three…” Then pushed. “You did say you wanted to be dunked, right?” said Manny. “Wait, what?” She flailed, but it was too late, her body past the point of no return, slicing an arc through the crisp canyon air, the wind whipping at her hair. The river rose up to greet her as she screamed towards it, impossibly fast, and her brain barely had time to form the words ‘you bastards’ before a plume of water leapt at her, arms open to grasp her in its icy embrace. The rope at her feet caught and stretched, the bonds tightening, her headlong plummet slowing. When the tips of her fingers touched the surface she yanked them back as if stung. The scream died in her throat and was replaced by the rush of water and a chorus of cheers from above. Hauled back up into space, she saw Evan and Corbin waving down at her. Her heart raced, the pressure in her chest so great that it crushed the coal of terror into a diamond of elation. At the apex of her bounce she screamed again, then fell, dropping with giddy joy. Her shrieks become whoops, and by the time she’d stopped bouncing she was giggling madly. Dangling over the water like a worm on a hook, she was lowered into the boat, the crew scrambling to untie her from her bonds, the indignity of it all swept away in the sheer joy of the moment. She was congratulated and helped from the boat onto the shore, where she made her way breathlessly up the steep path cut into the face of the cliff to the rim above. Into Evan’s arms. “How was that?” he asked, beaming at her. “Thrilling,” she panted. Corbin tugged at her trouser leg and she raised him up, sliding him onto her hip. Her gut did a somersault and the gas rose in her throat, making her burp. “I feel a little queasy now, though.” “Here, come sit down.” Placing a hand on her back, Evan guided her along the gravel path to a low rock wall bordering a well tended garden. She collapsed onto it, her legs tingling, then placed Corbin beside her. Her insides danced again, a bead of sweat running down her temple despite the chill wind. She brushed it away, and squeezing Corbin’s knee, said to Evan, “Thanks for inviting me.” “No problem. It’s good to see you again.” She smiled. “You too.” Two weeks had passed since she’d last seen him. Two weeks where she’d found herself thinking about him far more frequently than she expected given the circumstances of their last encounter — far more than she wanted, truth be known. As if things weren’t complicated enough. And then he’d called, asking if she was free to go bungy jumping on Friday and her answering ‘yes’ had been uttered before her brain was even aware of what her mouth was doing. She’d been nervous on the winding drive over from Cromwell, Corbin chattering away in the back seat, but now that she was here next to him it felt… good. Really good. She liked the way he looked at her with those intense blue eyes, the wind tussling his curling blonde locks, a shadowed stubble crusting his jawline. And the hug at the rim of the canyon, his arms warm and strong around her back — she especially liked that. A whoop from across the canyon made her turn in time to see evil-eyes plummeting from the bridge. “It looks so easy from here.” She lowered her gaze to the gravel at her feet. “I never thought I could be so scared.” “It’s a different story when you’re standing on the edge looking down. You did well.” “Thanks.” “So… ahh, what’ve you been up to?” Fantasising about your naked body entwined with mine? No: TMI. Eating more and exercising less than I should be? No, still TMI. She settled for, “Nothing much. You?” Evan shrugged. “I dunno. Yumiko’s gone.” Hearing the name caused another flutter in her belly. “Where?” “Back home to Canada, so Noemie says.” “What about Jamie?” “Him too, back to Oz, thank God. Licking his wounds like a dog, no doubt.” “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think? He did say he was in love with her.” Evan gave a bitter snort. “The only person Jamie loves is himself. I’m not worrying about him. He’ll be fine, believe me.” “But you worry about Yumiko?” “Yeah, but she’s gone, and I don’t blame her after the way I treated her.” Sighing heavily, he added, “Anyway, it’s all in the past now, isn’t it? Time to move on, embrace the future.” “Yes,” she said simply. But what will that future look like? They sat in silence for a while, surveying the scene on the bridge as Manny and Simon prepared the next jumpers, a couple this time, legs bound together and hugging each other at the edge of the precipice, anticipating their leap of faith. Her belly burbled again and she frowned. Surely it shouldn’t take this long to settle. “Mummy, I’m hungy,” said Corbin. Maybe that was the problem. How long had it been since she ate lunch? “Let’s get something to eat, then,” said Evan, standing. “Wanna ride?” Corbin giggled as Evan lifted him onto his shoulders. “You coming, Kate?” She nodded but the frown stayed put. “Just give me a moment, I feel a little…” The words faded as she clutched the leg of Evan’s jeans, pitched forward and threw up, splashing vomit all over his shoes.
FREE BOOK!
A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
At times, writing can be a lonely job. One thing that makes it a little less lonely is the encouragement of other writers, whether they live down the road or on the other side of the world. Since I met him online a few years ago, friend and fellow writer, M.D. Neu, has been an inspiring and supportive figure in my writing journey. M.D. is an award-winning, gay fiction writer from San Jose, California. His most recent novel, TAD, was published in September last year. Here’s a little teaser.
When Tad pushes the boundaries of his duties too far, his angel wings are stripped and he is sent to New York City to live as a human. Lost and alone, he meets Doug, and the two start a friendship that will last a lifetime. But nothing is simple when you’re dealing with a former Angel of Death and a Drag Queen. Could these two cause our world to end? Or will they manage to keep the future secure?
In a guest post for this month, M.D. writes about his inspiration for the novel’s two main characters.
TAD — The Angel of Deathis something unique to me, as are the cast of characters. For the story, I focus on two people: Doug, a hairdresser and drag queen, and Tad, a former Angel of Death. Despite how fun these characters sound I realized there was potential for them both to be silly and over the top, but for the story I wanted to tell, I needed them to be grounded.
They couldn’t be caricatures; they had to feel real and they had to read as real, like people you might know. Also, we follow both characters throughout their lives. They had to change and grow as they got older, which meant they needed to be fully fleshed out. I had to have a life arc for both Doug and Tad, which was something I’d never had to do before, so it was fascinating to work on. It wasn’t perfect, but it gave me a starting point for each of them and as the story progressed I was able to change and modify bits of it as I needed.
The character of Doug starts out at the age of twenty-one, so he’s in his prime, he loves to party and have a great time, but he’s also somewhat irresponsible and unsure of himself. I based his character on two of my drag friends from when I was in my twenties. They were both full of life, but each of them had hints of sadness behind their bright smiles. One lived on the streets for a while and the other had some mental health issues which plagued him for a while. I was in a position to see how both these conditions affected them over their lives. So with Doug, I needed to ensure he had real-world issues that would affect his life as he got older. Some of his ‘baggage’ helps him, while some of his issues are a hurdle he must live with and deal with for good or bad.
With Tad being an angel (and not just any angel but an angel of death), unlike Doug, I didn’t have any point of reference. However, I believe that angels surround us and look after us. There are too many things that happen in our world which we can’t fully explain and I think this is due to the influence of angels. So pay attention to the people you pass on the street, because you never know…
I wanted Tad to be honest and open. He needed to almost be like a child who we watch and see grow up. And just like a child, Tad can be shortsighted and stubborn. At times he acts spoiled and struggles to understand that his actions have consequences. Major consequences, which he has to learn and grow from. Tad is modeled on the idea of a teenager who doesn’t fully understand the world but thinks they do. That was fun to play with. He changes a lot throughout the story but everything he does makes him a better person, which I enjoyed seeing in his character arc.
With the characters of Doug and Tad, I wanted to explore how our character flaws affect us throughout our lives. Because I’m no longer in my twenties I can see how the choices I made back then have affected who I am now. I wouldn’t go back and change my past because that is what got me to now and has given me the life and friends I have, which I’m happy with. It’s the same for Doug and Tad — they may not like everything that happens to them or the choices they make, but in the end I don’t think they would change anything. Although maybe they would… you’ll have to read and see for yourself.
A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
My reading tastes are fairly eclectic. Recently, I heard the term ‘genre slut’ used to describe such a person, and I guess I’m happy to own that. I’ll read pretty much anything—romance, crime, thrillers, science-fiction, fantasy, literary fiction, western, action, humour—you name it. I’m not particularly fussed about the age of the target audience either. I’m just as happy reading a well-written YA novel as something targeted at adults. Heck, I’ll happily read a book aimed at pre-schoolers if the pictures are attractive and the story’s a good one.
Since 2016, when I began to take my writing more seriously, I’ve also read a fair bit of non-fiction related to the craft of writing and the business of indie-publishing. Outside of that, my non-fiction reading is very rare indeed. In the last two years, for instance, the number of non-fiction books I’ve read that weren’t related to writing amounts to exactly two. One of these was Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow, by Yuval Noah Harari.
I discovered it while perusing the shelves of my school library during an English lesson. The somewhat cryptic title piqued my interest, so I put down my copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and had a closer look. On the back cover, the blurb contained the following headings:
WAR IS OBSOLETE—You are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in conflict;
FAMINE IS DISAPPEARING—You are more at risk of obesity than starvation;
DEATH IS JUST A TECHNICAL PROBLEM—Equality is out, but immortality is in.
I was hooked.
The book is 500 pages long. I always get a little nervous when starting a book of this kind of length, especially if it’s non-fiction. It’s a considerable time investment to make, and time is one thing of which I don’t have much to spare. I’m not one of those people who will stay with a book until the bitter end—generally, if a book doesn’t keep me hooked I’ll toss it, especially so if it’s non-fiction. Life is too short to read boring books.
Are Organisms just Algorithms?
Thankfully, Harari’s writing is eminently readable and he does a fine job of translating complex ideas into accessible prose. The book covers a lot of territory, diving both into humanity’s past and projecting into its future. Essentially, it argues that modern science has more or less determined that humans are the sum of their biological algorithms, and thus not so far removed from the algorithms that shape our digitally connected lives.
In a world where dataism is poised to overtake humanism as the ‘religion’ that makes the world go round, and where digital algorithms are already better than biological ones at many things and are speeding to surpass them in the areas where they are currently lagging, the book ends by posing the question of what will happen when digital “algorithms come to know us better than we know ourselves.”
I, for one, like to think optimistically about the future. I can’t wait for our algorithmic overlords to come and take my job over, so I can kick back and write books, grow sunflowers and play guitar all day. But I can’t help thinking that once the algorithms are better than me at not only teaching but writing books, growing sunflowers and playing guitar, then it would be hard to blame them for questioning my usefulness. I’ve seen The Matrix.
Are organisms just algorithms?What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
FREE BOOK!
A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.
