Books by ABCtales authors
Tony Cook writes:
Warsaw Tales is the first compilation put together by James G. Coon - our very own justyn thyme (http://www.abctales.com/user/39657). James moved to Warsaw a couple of years ago and he's quickly surrounded himself with a very talented group of writers. Some are ex-pats and others are native Poles writing in English. This gives a fine balance of 'outsiders looking in' and 'insiders re-considering their own space'. The feel of life in Warsaw as the city climbs erratically out of the Soviet days is expressed as frustration, beauty and relief. There's a real sense that this is a place on the move - but it's two steps forwards and one step back. The drink soaked atmosphere of the bars, the appalling state of the plumbing and the grand Soviet Realist architecture all play their part in this snapshot of the city.
Particularily enjoyable are 'My Polish Widower' - a wonderful short story by Karen Kovacik and the poetry of Jennifer Robertson and Andrew Fincham as well as our own justyn's story of his upstairs neighbour who hammers a hole in the floor.
If you've never been, as I haven't, then you'll gain a real feel of the place and if you intend to go then this is the book you have to read before you board the plane. I highly commend Warsaw Tales to you. Copies are available from:
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Bobblehat 2000, editor, Social Spider superstar and office sharer whose real name is David Floyd has a great book of poetry out. Here's the Amazon description:
' War In The Playground' is the debut collection from one of north London's worst dressed poets. With his sardonic antennae lurching wildly between random targets, Floyd waffles on about war, insanity, vegetables and statues of Buddha, though not necessarily in that order.
David Floyd is a left-handed vegetarian who was born in north London in 1980. He started writing poetry in his GCSE Maths class as a protest against simultaneous equations.
A former film critic for the 'Morning Star' and library assistant at the University of North London, he has had poems published in a range of strangely named small-circulation small press magazines.
You can buy 'War in the Playground' for 75p (plus a £2.75 marketplace charge) directly from David at this Amazon marketplace link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/offer-listing/-/1870841921...
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Hidden Capacity ~ a poet's journey by Frances Macaulay Forde
http://www.francesmacaulayforde.com
Poems written: on trains between Perth city and suburbs ~ attending university ~
about lost love returning from her youth. Frances recently married on a jetty
surrounded by ocean and yachts, spent 14 months in Ireland ~ now back in WA near her children and that jetty. Self-published Ireland, 2003.
Now, who says, love, lust, romance, dreams and all that great stuff isn't possible after 50?
From the back of the book:
"¦a unique book¦ triumph finally achieved... chapters of a journey towards
emergence¦
from the Preface by
(Prof) Glen Phillips ~ Australian Poet
Bloodied by life's battles but finding (as always) succour in words; Frances
Macaulay Forde began a Creative Writing degree at the age of 48. 'Hidden
Capacity' is her first book and is in three sections.
'The Return of Rainbows' conceived during her seemingly audacious presence at
University, explores self-doubt, gradual achievement, general delight and the
constant challenge of new experiences.
'Rail Tales' insightfully reflects aspects of a different kind of journeying
during her studies, inspired by and actually written in the landscape of suburban
train travel.
After graduation, a chance meeting with an old flame rekindled memories and
presented the choice to love in the afternoon of her life. 'Exploring
Possibilities' moves through the emotional roller coaster of fear, doubt,
curiosity, desire, hope and the eventual decision to risk romance again.
Frances blends serious observation with informality, humour and erotic surprise,
knowing the rules of the page but choosing sometimes to set the words free ~ to
share her hidden capacity:
http://www.francesmacaulayforde.com/Books.html
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Judith Eydmann (our own poetjude) reviews "It's Been Emotional by Karl Wiggins
"As well as traversing the globe, Karl Wiggins' life has been an exploration of the diverse landscapes of the human psyche, a journey recounted here with great humour if a bit rude at times.
Have you ever woken up and wondered how you got home from the pub? Well Wiggins reveals all in "the booze taxi" - my favourite chapter, which literally floored me in hysterics. But cutting through the expose of the foibles of life are moments of love, elation, tenderness and pain. The emotions that are familiar to us all are laid down here in the vehicle of a tempestuous life. Slices of human existence done to a turn! A read you will not regret.
After reading my first book, *Cab Driver, *many people have commented that I must have other stories from my tempestuous life that have nothing whatsoever to do with driving a cab.
So here they are. This is not an autobiography, although at first glance it may appear that way, more a dip into a free-spirited lifestyle that has been - and still is - very emotional.
Having earned myself a reputation for saying the smartest things at the dumbest times, this book lays all my ghosts to rest:
www.pabd.com/2004/books/cab_driver
www.pabd.com/2005/books/its_been_emotional
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'I'll Show You Tyrants: The Selected Poems of Jon Stone' is full of Roman
Emperors, pirates, bird spirits, spies, whimsy, loneliness and longing. It's also a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the dead poet genre, with the author (our own jack cade) part-mythologised as a deceased legend.
Patrick Osada, writing in Reach, says: "Stone has clearly made an impact with this precocious and playful collection."
Daisy Bowie-Sell, writing in the Event, says: "A feast of linguistic exploration and excitement. Stone brings moments to the mind with such voracity and individualism that they transport the reader into poignant, dark and mysterious world."
'I'll Show You Tyrants' is 205 pages, including an introduction and illustrations, and costs £7.99.
For more info, samples and articles, check out the offical website at:
www.tyrants.co.uk/tyrants
Order from:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904781454/qid%3D1143053669/203...
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Wicked Baby by Tara Hanks
It's 1960, and a seventeen year-old girl is alone in London. While working as a dancer in a club, she meets a jaded society doctor who introduces her to rich and powerful men.
But Christine Keeler is much more than just another empty-headed beauty. Privy to secrets that threaten the heart of government, she is hunted down and forced to tell the truth as she sees it.
'Wicked Baby' is a novella based on the events of the Profumo Affair, a tale
of innocence corrupted that dares to imagine the complex desires and motives
behind a very English scandal.
Reviews:
The most unique work of 'faction' that I have read this year. Binnacle Press
Blends the efficiency of journalism with the immediacy of fairytale¦convincingly portrays the atmosphere of the dawning of the Sixties. Alwyn Turner, author of 'The Biba Experience'
This is as fine an introduction to the Profumo Affair as you are ever likely
to meet. Tregolwyn Book Reviews
Extremely well researched and written and, although it is fiction, stays
close to real events. Publish And Be Damned
Buy it (and get a free extract) here:
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Tony Cook writes:
Brother, what strange place is this? and other stories by Tom Saunders is a rare and special treat. These are stories that take snapshots of life - times and places differ, tone and shade constantly change - but each story remains with you long after the reading. These tales put you inside the lives of each of the characters and in doing so they give an insight into those lives that is so much more than the words on the page. I have read this collection twice and no doubt will read many times more - and that's not usual with me.
Buy it now at:
http://whatisthisstrangeplace.blogspot.com/
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Saving the World and Being Happy by R. Eric Swanepoel charts Nathaniel Papulous's life from lovelorn schoolboy and computer nerd to head of the all-powerful International Hope-ist Movement. He wins, loses, and regains the love of the beautiful Rosemary, and succeeds in bringing the greedy multinational corporations to heel, thus "saving the world".
Opening in the portentous style of Victorian biography, this humorous novel recounts the misadventures of its hero, taking sideswipes at such issues as celebrity culture, muzak and product placement without losing sight of its main themes: the concentration of wealth in the hands of a corrupt few and the related increase in global poverty, the divided nature of the political left, and the means by which the latter may be united and so democratise the world.
Buy it now at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/141371756X/ref%3Dsdp%5Famz%5F/2...
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Karl Wiggins is one of our oldest and most loyal members. He has two books out:
Review of It's Been Emotional by Judith Eydmann
"As well as traversing the globe, Karl Wiggins' life has been an exploration of the diverse landscapes of the human psyche, a journey recounted here with great humour if a bit rude at times.
Have you ever woken up and wondered how you got home from the pub? Well Wiggins reveals all in "the booze taxi" - my favourite chapter, which literally floored me in hysterics. But cutting through the expose of the foibles of life are moments of love, elation, tenderness and pain. The emotions that are familiar to us all are laid down here in the vehicle of a tempestuous life. Slices of human existence done to a turn! A read you will not regret.
Buy it now at:
www.pabd.com/2005/books/its_been_emotional
Karl's other book Cab Driver is a gem. Enter the often ludicrous and sometimes violent world of the London cab driver; you never know what to expect next, and over the years he's got himself into some scrapes.
He's met and befriended many characters along the way, and their stories deserve to be told. He also drove cabs in South-Central Los Angeles, home of the Infamous Bloods and Crips. Read the true life adventures of a white English boy as he struggles to make a living amongst "gangstas" who are arguably the most violent in the United States.
"A seriously enthralling book which captures the imagination. Karl's style is easy on the eye whilst challenging your view of human nature."
Binnacle Press - 2004
Buy it now at:
www.pabd.com/2004/books/cab_driver
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Glasgow Kisses by John Thomson (known here as Gilbert).
"With interests as diverse as philosophy, theology, history and football, John Thomson's first collection of poetry "Glasgow Kisses" veers from the tragi-comedy of "Urban Heroes" to the darkness of pieces like "Ropes and Demons".
In a kaleidoscope of human eccentricities, beauty is blended with the mayhem of city life."
His Amazon review:
"Reviewer: eyewrist from Scotland
With Glasgow kisses John Thomson paints a haunting yet tender picture of Glasgow and the lives of some of its inhabitants, as the perfect backdrop to these snapshots of an imperfect humanity, the city herself is laid bare.
These poems ring with subtle images of desperation and love. His poems are clean; sparse, they cut to the bone, put simply this is book for anyone who has ever loved a city, a person, a memory.
Glasgow Kisses will stay with you, long after you have put it down."
Buy it now at:
http://www.bluechrome.co.uk/store/shop/item.asp?itemid=92&catid=
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Memory, Loss and Longing by Martin Togher (our own martin_t)
Memory, Loss and Longing draws together Martin Togher's work from the last decade. The poems include musings on North London events and people, as well as contemplations of his childhood and lost friendships.
Amazon reviews:
Anthony Edwards (Norfolk, England):
What a unique person Mr Togher is! Half-Irish, half-English and half-wildman of Hackey, his poems arouse, engage and almost physically excited me and they certainly fully entered me - and I mean that in a very real and meaningful sense. After reading his anthology I want to meet the poet, perhaps take him out for a round of drinks, sing a few old army songs, clap my hands and then play golf. I sense I could beat him (over 18 holes), but he would make it memorable.
johncurran:
I don't read poetry normally. I received this as a gift. But the poems are fascinating and frank. It was an engrossing read. It was also that unusual thing - a book that alters your mood as you are reading it. I liked it a lot.
Buy it now at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0955128803/qid%3D1143746691/026...
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If you are an ABCtales member and you want to promote your book here then please contact tcook@abctales.com. Please supply a link or an address for the purchase of the book - and, if possible, a review.