A Flavour of the Book: “He wakes up with his face on Frances’s pudenda. This has probably saved him from drowning in her bath water – he had fallen asleep, face down, between her legs…”
The Authortrek View:
This is an intriguing collection of
short stories from Patrick Chapman that comes with a high pedigree, since one
of the tales, Burning the Bed, has already been made into a short film
starring the excellent Gina McKee and Aidan Gillen. Patrick Chapman is highly ambitious – he wants to stretch
the boundaries of the short story.
And since he is prepared to take risks, some of what he attempts does
not come off, such as his characterisation of a work of art in Venus d’Arc. And the finale, Return of the
Empress, which features Clora Lynne, a real diva of an actress who has
never really gotten over her premature exit from the 70s space opera Raven’s
Rebels (which sounds suspiciously like Blake’s 7), doesn’t really
work either, as it feels as though Patrick Chapman has fallen too much for this
rather exuberant and overblown character.
However, some of Patrick Chapman’s best writing comes from the stories
where his prose is that much more subtle.
Happy Hour is a very convincing portrait of how a loving father
is somehow transformed into Public Enemy No. 1 by the legal system. A Ghost is a chilly tale that is
suitably unsettling throughout. It’s
not a surprise to read in the postscript that Burning the Bed, Happy
Hour, and A Ghost have all won prizes, as these are the outstanding stories
of this collection, and are some of the best short stories that I have ever
read. The publishers, Bluechrome,
are also to be congratulated for their stylish presentation of The Wow
Signal.
To find out more about the author, please visit our Patrick Chapman interview.
If you have any more details about
this book or a review you can send it to
authortrekreview@authortrek.com.
We will not publish your email address, or pass it on to other
parties. Please include the author’s name and the book title in the subject
line of your email.
If you have any further queries, then please read the FAQ
first.
Lisez cette page en français avec
Babelfish Lesen
diese Seite auf Deutsch mit
Babelfish
