Think of Edgar Allen Poe or you might want to think of HBO’s Tales from the Crypt. Alfred Hitchcock’s TV tales might also come to mind when you read Simon Marshland’s 15 short/short stories titled after the first of the strange tales - A Case of Blackrock Mineral Water.
Not all of the stories end with someone saying hello to death and there is at least one (find it for yourself) that actually does have a happy ending. That said, all of the stories do look at life from a far-side point of view and just might cause you to read it again to make certain what you think happened actually did happen. This is not a problem because the stories are short and you will probably read more than one at a sitting.
Plotting is terse and to the point as is required in very short stories. Character development is surprisingly good, again considering the length of the stories. As for style, I would refer you to those mentioned above - Poe, Crypt and Hitchcock.
About the author
Marshland says of himself, “Rolling stone with most of my life spent on the move, living and working in places diverse as East Africa to South America. More recent activities have been based around the Mediterranean ranging from yacht chartering in Greece to fish farming in France. Currently I live in the West Country but admit to itchy feet. But wherever I've been or wherever I am I always write. It has become a habit I find impossible to kick.”
He has published several books including Mr Christopher, Private Lives and Dark Destiny.
Best read at night near a fireplace where the logs are burning while outside it rains and/or the wind is howling. Not recommended for those who insist on reading novels. I can’t help but think it is a shame short stories find it difficult to find their way into print. But for those who want something different I can Highly Recommend A Case of Blackrock Mineral Water. Reviewer: Peter Klein Allbooks Reviews Int. www.allbooksreviewint.com
Title: A Case of Blackrock Mineral Water
Author: Simon Marshland
Pages:52
For more info:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056NU8YY
http://alturl.com/46o9j
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
The 2012 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will get underway in Dubai on Tuesday March 6th.
As the Middle East's largest celebration of the written and spoken word, the five-day event is set to bring 115 authors, writers and speakers from around the world to the emirate.For more information about the festival, visit http://www.emirateslitfest.com/.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Review: Acrocanthosarus: The Bones of Contention
Author: Russell Ferrell
So many kids dream of dinosaurs. Stories of these giant beasts and the magnificence of the time when they dominated the earth fill more fantasies than any age of man. Even this reviewer would pick up rocks, and still does, and examine them for traces of a past of which only dreams can be made. Oh so few people actually do stumble upon remnants of creatures that may have lain the seeds of our greatest legends of prehistory.
Cephis Hall, a self-described country boy, and his partner Sid Love discover an intact femur bone of a rare and massive prehistoric predator on property owned by a major corporation. The author intricately describes the attempts of these two locally known fossil hunters to circumvent the involvement of the corporation that owned the land containing the fossil, but as the importance of the find became known it most assuredly drew the attention of the landowner as well the eyes of those in academia who are naturally skeptical of new finds which question the status quo. This is when the true story begins.
Russell Ferrell has crafted an exquisitely detailed account of the journey of this collection of old bones. It is much to his credit that he doesn’t shy away from the ploys of Cephis to gain some sort of permission at the lowest level possible to carry out his dig. The resulting legal and academic circus caused by Cephis’ shortcuts and short-sightedness is quite accurately and somewhat excitedly portrayed by the author.
Whether or not the reader agrees with the contentions of the author on the ability of fossil and mineral hunters to use public and some private lands for their own purposes, this book does make for an interesting read. It provides ammunition for both sides of the discussion.
This is this author’s first published work and shows a dedication to his craft and a great feeling and passion for his subject. This book is available through booksellers everywhere. Reviewer: John Helman, M.A., Allbooks Reviews. Int. www.allbooksreviewint.com.
Title: Acrocanthosarus: The Bones of Contention
Author: Russell Ferrell
Publisher: Malloy
ISBN: 978-0-615-43814-6
Pages: 448
www.thebonesofcontention.com
So many kids dream of dinosaurs. Stories of these giant beasts and the magnificence of the time when they dominated the earth fill more fantasies than any age of man. Even this reviewer would pick up rocks, and still does, and examine them for traces of a past of which only dreams can be made. Oh so few people actually do stumble upon remnants of creatures that may have lain the seeds of our greatest legends of prehistory.
Cephis Hall, a self-described country boy, and his partner Sid Love discover an intact femur bone of a rare and massive prehistoric predator on property owned by a major corporation. The author intricately describes the attempts of these two locally known fossil hunters to circumvent the involvement of the corporation that owned the land containing the fossil, but as the importance of the find became known it most assuredly drew the attention of the landowner as well the eyes of those in academia who are naturally skeptical of new finds which question the status quo. This is when the true story begins.
Russell Ferrell has crafted an exquisitely detailed account of the journey of this collection of old bones. It is much to his credit that he doesn’t shy away from the ploys of Cephis to gain some sort of permission at the lowest level possible to carry out his dig. The resulting legal and academic circus caused by Cephis’ shortcuts and short-sightedness is quite accurately and somewhat excitedly portrayed by the author.
Whether or not the reader agrees with the contentions of the author on the ability of fossil and mineral hunters to use public and some private lands for their own purposes, this book does make for an interesting read. It provides ammunition for both sides of the discussion.
This is this author’s first published work and shows a dedication to his craft and a great feeling and passion for his subject. This book is available through booksellers everywhere. Reviewer: John Helman, M.A., Allbooks Reviews. Int. www.allbooksreviewint.com.
Title: Acrocanthosarus: The Bones of Contention
Author: Russell Ferrell
Publisher: Malloy
ISBN: 978-0-615-43814-6
Pages: 448
www.thebonesofcontention.com
Monday, February 20, 2012
Male Reviewer has done it again
So here we are again. I thought after the Great Jonathan Franzen Debacle of 2001, no man would ever again dare to suggest publicly that there is an inferior class of books that only women read. Then Douglas Brinkley did it in this morning's New York Times Book Review. In his review of Jodi Kantor's "The Obamas," published in January, he wrote:
Call it chick nonfiction, if you will; this book is not about politics, it's about marriage...
"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-wheeler-johnson/jodi-cantor-the-obamas_b_1287823.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D136959
Call it chick nonfiction, if you will; this book is not about politics, it's about marriage...
"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-wheeler-johnson/jodi-cantor-the-obamas_b_1287823.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D136959
Friday, February 3, 2012
Review of One Small Victory by Maryann Miller
Excellent! That is one small word that hardly describes a novel written with such heart. This is a story of a young mother who is faced with the death of her teenage son. He is not involved with drugs but his friend who was driving was, and this friend survived. The crush of pain left me breathless as I read and tried to imagine how Jenny must feel as she mourns. The description of this period in time was so intense that I had to cry along with her. Yet, Jenny must be strong because her daughter and youngest son need her. As the fog begins to clear she is given the chance to become an informant for the police and help eradicate a major drug ring in her town. These people are selling drugs to the local kids and she has been a witness to these handoffs. But the lies silence and intrigue that is entailed in helping the police turns her son and her best friend away from her. She wonders if it is worth the possibility of losing those most important to her. Is it worth the risk of losing her own life? But with strength and trepidation, Jenny moves forward with her plan. She is a master at changing her identity from doting mother to street walker looking for a fix, but many times she is so close to a degree of danger that no ordinary mother would ever experience. She must go ahead, for her dead son, her remaining two children and for all of the young people in her town.
Maryann Miller is an accomplished writer, weaving her tale of intrigue, romance and determination. She takes her readers on a wild ride of adventure that will not be soon forgotten.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Reviewer: Elaine Fuhr, Allbooks Reviews Int. www.allbooksreviewint.com
Title: One Small Victory
Author: Maryann Miller
Publisher: Books We Love Publishing Partners
ISBN: 978-1-926965-4
For more info: http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/
Maryann Miller is an accomplished writer, weaving her tale of intrigue, romance and determination. She takes her readers on a wild ride of adventure that will not be soon forgotten.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Reviewer: Elaine Fuhr, Allbooks Reviews Int. www.allbooksreviewint.com
Title: One Small Victory
Author: Maryann Miller
Publisher: Books We Love Publishing Partners
ISBN: 978-1-926965-4
For more info: http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Review of The Ordinary Life & Extraordinary Death of Josh Turner
Author: David Treciak
I’m advising readers to read, re-read, and study the ending of this book because it is, in my estimation, pure literary genius. Not an easy job, conveying a dying man’s myriad thoughts and interactions throughout a whole novel in a manner that keeps the reader turning pages, but the author does it with a cerebral, yet tongue-in-cheek style that smacks a little of J.D. Salinger. Yep, it’s that good.
Josh Turner is dying, a painful and slow cancerous death. His mind whirls with amazing insights and he examines his fears and philosophies even as he’s forced into a retreat of Coltrane tapes and morphine. The author tells us this about Josh’s pain, quote: “The beast has come out to play and it’s brought a chainsaw.” Well said, huh? And Josh’s companion on this Jack Kerouac-style journey of the mind toward resolution is a cosmic apparition, a stubborn extra-terrestrial named Max. Between nostalgic, surreal excursions with Max, Josh deals with a continual stream of nurses and visitors to his hospital bed, including a fascinating run-in with a determined evangelist. And there are Josh’s well-meaning friends, colorful characters who have him illegally pigging out on fast food and even sort have him of playing cupid—all done with snappy, engaging dialogue. When you pick up this book, be prepared to be engaged with humor, sarcasm, joy, fear, regret, great chunks of delicious nostalgia, and a wide spectrum of emotions all bracketed by quantum physics, visions of reincarnation, and even thoughts about the Kevorkian solution. Make no mistake: this is a hugely entertaining book, even as it is quite profound.
The author bio tells us that David Treciak is an award-winning writer with a number of stories and screenplays to his credit. He now lives in L.A. but originally hails from Detroit. They say he’s an avid student of life. Yeah, well, that’s self-evident in his writing. They say he tells tales that’ll make us laugh, cry, and scratch our heads in wonder as the profundity of what he has written sinks in. True enough, and like Treciak’s compelling literary style—well said. Highly Recommended by reviewer: Jan Evan Whitford, Allbooks Reviews
Published by: Amberlin Press ©2011
ISBN: 978-0-9836694-0-1
Trade Paperback 197pages
US $15.95
For more info: www.davidtreciak.com
I’m advising readers to read, re-read, and study the ending of this book because it is, in my estimation, pure literary genius. Not an easy job, conveying a dying man’s myriad thoughts and interactions throughout a whole novel in a manner that keeps the reader turning pages, but the author does it with a cerebral, yet tongue-in-cheek style that smacks a little of J.D. Salinger. Yep, it’s that good.
Josh Turner is dying, a painful and slow cancerous death. His mind whirls with amazing insights and he examines his fears and philosophies even as he’s forced into a retreat of Coltrane tapes and morphine. The author tells us this about Josh’s pain, quote: “The beast has come out to play and it’s brought a chainsaw.” Well said, huh? And Josh’s companion on this Jack Kerouac-style journey of the mind toward resolution is a cosmic apparition, a stubborn extra-terrestrial named Max. Between nostalgic, surreal excursions with Max, Josh deals with a continual stream of nurses and visitors to his hospital bed, including a fascinating run-in with a determined evangelist. And there are Josh’s well-meaning friends, colorful characters who have him illegally pigging out on fast food and even sort have him of playing cupid—all done with snappy, engaging dialogue. When you pick up this book, be prepared to be engaged with humor, sarcasm, joy, fear, regret, great chunks of delicious nostalgia, and a wide spectrum of emotions all bracketed by quantum physics, visions of reincarnation, and even thoughts about the Kevorkian solution. Make no mistake: this is a hugely entertaining book, even as it is quite profound.
The author bio tells us that David Treciak is an award-winning writer with a number of stories and screenplays to his credit. He now lives in L.A. but originally hails from Detroit. They say he’s an avid student of life. Yeah, well, that’s self-evident in his writing. They say he tells tales that’ll make us laugh, cry, and scratch our heads in wonder as the profundity of what he has written sinks in. True enough, and like Treciak’s compelling literary style—well said. Highly Recommended by reviewer: Jan Evan Whitford, Allbooks Reviews
Published by: Amberlin Press ©2011
ISBN: 978-0-9836694-0-1
Trade Paperback 197pages
US $15.95
For more info: www.davidtreciak.com
Review of Covert Element by John L. Betcher
America’s war on drugs has touched an untold number of lives and cost national treasure that could have been used in so many better ways. This story of a small town detective’s involvement in this war makes for compelling reading.
The seeds for this episode were laid in a U.S. Special Forces operation some years before in Mexico. The raid was successful in its initial goal, but it set the stage for the problems that would soon face James Becker and his wife in northern hamlet of Red Wing, Minnesota as evil will always fill in gaps and look for new paths of expansion.
This is the third book in a series featuring detective James “Beck” Becker and his wife Beth. If the first two volumes are close to this one in being skillfully crafted and well written they should be worth seeking out.
This reviewer was quite impressed with the detail with which the opening scenes were written. The detail with which the soldiers who carried out the raid provided a plausible reality of how such feats are accomplished relying on limited supply without the fantasies provided to us by Hollywood.
The foundation of this admirable thriller though is the display of the entrepreneurial spirit of the drug traffickers/manufacturers. They know all too well that is far easier and way more profitable to shorten lines of supply. If the drug can be manufactured close to the source of consumption then the risk of law enforcement intervention is greatly reduced. Why bring cocaine from South America when there is just as great a demand for methamphetamine which can be produced in large quantities cheaply near the consumer.
Yes, this is a fictional thriller, but having an exceedingly realistic plotline runs a chill up this reader’s spine which commends this book very well.
Reviewer: John Helman, Allbooks Reviews.
Title: The Covert Element
Author: John L. Betcher
Publisher: John L. Betcher
ISBN: 9781461084532
Pages: 264
Price: $15.95
For more info: http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/john-l-betcher.html
The seeds for this episode were laid in a U.S. Special Forces operation some years before in Mexico. The raid was successful in its initial goal, but it set the stage for the problems that would soon face James Becker and his wife in northern hamlet of Red Wing, Minnesota as evil will always fill in gaps and look for new paths of expansion.
This is the third book in a series featuring detective James “Beck” Becker and his wife Beth. If the first two volumes are close to this one in being skillfully crafted and well written they should be worth seeking out.
This reviewer was quite impressed with the detail with which the opening scenes were written. The detail with which the soldiers who carried out the raid provided a plausible reality of how such feats are accomplished relying on limited supply without the fantasies provided to us by Hollywood.
The foundation of this admirable thriller though is the display of the entrepreneurial spirit of the drug traffickers/manufacturers. They know all too well that is far easier and way more profitable to shorten lines of supply. If the drug can be manufactured close to the source of consumption then the risk of law enforcement intervention is greatly reduced. Why bring cocaine from South America when there is just as great a demand for methamphetamine which can be produced in large quantities cheaply near the consumer.
Yes, this is a fictional thriller, but having an exceedingly realistic plotline runs a chill up this reader’s spine which commends this book very well.
Reviewer: John Helman, Allbooks Reviews.
Title: The Covert Element
Author: John L. Betcher
Publisher: John L. Betcher
ISBN: 9781461084532
Pages: 264
Price: $15.95
For more info: http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/john-l-betcher.html
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