Category: Laura Besley

Book reviews – Catching up or three for the price of one!

Since contracting Covid last month I have been struggling to keep up with life. Reading, working, parenting, blogging, writing – just generally living(!) seem to have taken up more time than usual!

However, I have been reading and some of the words have encountered have been nothing short of amazing!!

So in a bid to catch up on this blogging life I am hoping you will forgive me this 3 for 1 post. And indulge me in this celebration of three cracking titles that have kept me company on these dark Autumn days.

First up is one of my favourite all time poets who I have been reading in a very different form. Huge thanks to Clara Diaz from Fleet for sending this bang up to date adaption of Antigone by Hollie McNish my way.

Anyone who has encounters Hollie’s poetry will know that she isn’t a woman to mince her words and that her finger is firmly on the pulse of women’s rights. And Antigone continues in the same inspired vein. This reimagined Greek tale is littered with references and parallels to modern society and politics. It is witty, accessible and sometimes downright shocking. Having been performed at Storyhouse Chester in late October, I can only hope there will be another chance to catch this one soon.

Amazing read number two is the latest collection of flash fiction by Laura Besley. Published by Irish Indie publisher Beir Bua Press (Un) Natural Elements is ready and waiting to blow your literary socks off!

Each of these stories has it’s origins in the daily Twitter writing prompt #vss365 – Very Short Stories 365. Having followed and interacted with Laura on Twitter for a while now I can tell you she is the absolute master of these tiny tales!

In this latest collection Laura brings together her work and divides them into their written themes. Each is unique and each has the Besley sting in it’s tale. Humour, grief and wry aside wait around every corner; these stories might be short but man! Can they pack a punch!

And last but by no means least is the wonderful collection of short stories Safely Gathered In by Sarah Schofield. Published by Comma Press this is a collection of stories that will haunt you in all the right ways.

Each tale probes at the heart of what it is to be human and examines the things that make it’s protagonist tick. Sometimes heart breaking and sometimes surreal, each is a story that will stop you in your tracks and make you think.

As an added bonus I was lucky enough to chat to Sarah about her work as part of The Northern Connection Podcast’s Northember series. This episode is coming soon and is one not to be missed!

So thank you fellow bookworms for allowing me this catch up and for forgiving a girl when life gets in the way!!!

Until the next time …

Rachel x

#Blogtour Review: 100neHundred by Laura Besley

The qualities I admire in fiction are vast but variety and pin point accuracy are pretty high on my list. Over the past few months I have increasingly been scratching these particular literary itches by devouring flash and micro fiction. In all it’s many forms !

My introduction to flash fiction proper was somewhat delayed, but finally came in the form of Laura Besley’s wonderful book, The Almost Mothers. My reading was delayed due to my own tardiness and the fact my teenage daughter pounced on the book the minute it was delivered to our lockdown abode!

But when I finally got my hands on the collection I was just blown away. And so when Saira Aspinall from Arachne Press approached me to ask if I would like to be part of the blog tour for Laura’s latest collection 100neHundred I nearly bit her hand off!

100neHundred is a collection of 100 pieces of the best not just flash, but micro fiction, all exactly 100 words long. The stories are divided equally into ‘seasons’, each season filled with colour, emotion and gloriously diverse subject matter. Each piece of writing is a pearl, unique and unexpected all woven together by a ribbon of ingenuity and skill.

Laura has created beautiful snapshots, each one alive with precision and emotion. Each story excels in it’s originality, each one a complete tale, each carefully crafted without a word to spare. The skill of creating an engaging story, alive with meaning, that both fulfils and leaves the reader wanting more is something to be admired. To be able to produce a series of these stories, is nothing short of mind blowing!

This collection is diverse and genre defying. It is as book filled with every kind of emotion. It will make you laugh, make you smile and sometimes make you cry. Laura is a master of commanding few words for maximum impact. From the thoughts of a grieving mother, to realms of outer space, this volume becomes a beautiful, engaging and colourful journey.

It is one I recommend you take.

Rachel x

And as a special treat…

It is my pleasure and absolute privilege to be able share one of Laura’s stories with you here. A special shout out for publication day!

Death in Suburbia

Nice neighbourhood, I think, driving down the quiet morning streets.

My partner opens the door. ‘No blood, no murder weapon. Wife’s in the kitchen. Completely distraught.’

‘Morning to you too.’

The husband is slumped in a chair, dead.

‘Any sign of forced entry.’

‘Nope.’

‘Overdose on alcohol, pills?’

‘Wife said he was clean living.’

I take a closer look and notice a piece of paper in his shirt pocket. I slip on some gloves and carefully prise it out.

Stop contacting me, Dad. It’s too little, too late.

‘Get the pathologist to check his heart,’ I say.

‘It’s probably broken.’

Page 49 – 100neHundred by Laura Besley.

And there is more…

For more reviews and reactions, check out the rest of the Blog Tour below…