Friday Reads Feb 2014
Ages back I said I would report back on books I’ve read by indie writers that I have enjoyed and I didn’t. Not because I didn’t find any I liked but because there are so many!
I thought I’d slip in a few today of my more recent ones. They’re all very different.
For what I’d call soft sci-fi, why not try Kay Sluterbeck’s Educating the Human? It’s the story of interspecies communication and is funny and touching. Light enough for a comfortable read, it does bring up some less than comfortable thoughts but is an entertaining shortish read.
For something with a bit more bite (haha) try Gev Sweeney’s Salutaris. A very original and different take on the rather tired (unless you’re Anne Rice, that is) vampire trope, it delves quite deep into the human psyche and into matters of the spirit.
For a quick, spooky read, try Suzie Grogan’s trio of ghostly tales, The Marrow Scoop and other The first two are close enough to the style of M.R. James for afficionados to enjoy, while the third is in the author’s own voice.
For anyone with a desire to go on a dark journey, Sam Pennington’s A Very Ordinary Madness will draw you in but heed the trigger warning if you have a sensitive nature; it contains some harrowing scenes of self harm and scenes from a mental ward. The voice Sam uses is so authentic and powerful, reading it you are rooting for the charismatic main character to make it through wrestling with his demons.
There are more but I think that will be enough for the moment. It’s a very personal selection of books that have appealed to me recently. Have a great weekend!
PS: all books are available on Amazon.com. Go into the URL for each book , find the .co.uk and replace it with .com (or .de or .ca or whatever) and then hit enter. It will bring you to the right page for the book in your country. If not, then enter the author name and book title into the search bar on Amazon and find it that way.
Zen and the Art of Tightrope Walking 