Book review: Human Terrain by Emily Bullock

If you follow me on Twitter or are a regular reader of the blog you will know that over the past year or so I have been drawn further and further into the web of short fiction. So when Reflex Press approached me about Emily Bullock’s new collection Human Terrain I was very excited to get my hands on a copy.

Human Terrain is a collection of 20 short stories, some almost flash length, which concentrate very much on the human condition; on those things that motivate and bind us. The things that both hold us back and drive us forward.

Within these pages are snapshots of lives. From an elderly man revisiting his childhood home, to the young girls groomed by extremists; we move seamlessly from the everyday to the extreme. And whatever the focus, the content or the characters each story is as vivid and alive with connections as the next. No setting feels mundane, no seems character forced or unbelievable. Here is a writer who has harnessed, embraced and extended the human spirit in multitude ways, harnessing each stories energy and going where it might take her.

Diversity and adversity run through this collection like welcome silver threads. We meet characters who are up against it, who are doing what they need to do to survive both physically and emotionally. We witness self destruction and self awareness in equal measure, but we are invited to view them through a three dimensional, empathetic lens.

This is a sparkling collection with humanity at it’s heart. Beautifully balanced and constructed, it is a perfect short story collection.

Rachel x

Book Review : An Approach to Black by Emily Jeremiah

Over my time as a blogger one of the biggest delights has been discovering indie presses and in turn being introduced to a whole treasure trove of work that I was previously unaware of. A particularly delightful discovery has been Reflex Press. Over the past year I have been lucky enough to read several of their titles and, honestly, not one of them has let me down.

Yesterday one of their newest releases An Approach to Black by Emily Jeremiah dropped through the letter box. Within two hours I had devoured it and was settling down for a reread! This slim little novella packs a mighty punch.

The story centres around a 19th Century Finnish artist, Anna S, who married a fellow artist, Eino. Eino’s career flourished while Anna’s stalled with the arrival of children and it’s associated domesticity. Anna was subsequently committed to an asylum.

In London, in the present day, Anna appears to be little more than a footnote to Eino’s history but two people have taken an interest in her fate. One is is her great- great- great grandson Jonathan, a struggling and rather lost young artist, who has almost stumbled into Anna’s path. The other is Emma, a retired Finnish academic, who is writing a book about Anna.

Both Emma and Jonathan are looking for ways to take them out of their own lives and begin to strike up a friendship as they delve deeper into Anna’s story. Details are sketchy, but Emma particularly is determined to give Anna a story of her own.

This book is beautifully written with precise, sharp prose that perfectly conjures both setting and tone. In both Anna and Emma we see intelligent and talented women who are pushing at the boundaries of creativity, while bearing the burden of complex and sometimes destructive family life.

There is a deep sense of regret and indeed rage around Anna’s story. It is a familiar but no less tragic scenario, whereby a strong and talented women fails to conform to a stereotype or convenient role and ends up paying the ultimate price. It speaks for generations of women denied access to self expression, fulfilment and indeed basic liberty.

Skilfully woven and painted in the most delightful shades, take some time to wander among the images created by this work. It’s is a rare treat.

Rachel x

Book Review: The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing by Hannah Storm

Flash Fiction rules! And for this week Hannah Storm is the Queen! Thank you Reflex Press for sending me a copy of The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing. Released this week it is my absolute pleasure to be able review.

I have made no secret of my deepening love affair with flash fiction and the fact that I can’t cram enough of it through my eyes and into my brain. Good flash fiction is compulsive stuff, tiny morsels of yummy delights that linger on your palate for days, sometimes weeks at a time. The kind of experience that makes your brain zing and then yearn for more. And that kind of flash is exactly what Hannah Storm is serving up here.

What always truly amazes me is the depth that you find in excellent short fiction and running throughout Hannah’s work is a tangible sense of humanity, humility and understanding. This is the human condition laid bare. These stories touch upon all corners of life, they take you to the highest heights and the lowest lows, sometimes just within the space of a few lines. But always they feel so real.

There are many themes that bind these stories together but the thread that seems to bind them all is the lived female experience. The empowerment and definition of women’s lived experiences and a clear acknowledgement of the challenges, abuse and extremes they face. At times these stories feel like spells or incantations. Places where women can see each other, hold out their hands and say ‘I feel that too’.

The arc of experiences and perspectives within this collection are vast. Each reader will naturally gravitate towards individual pieces, each reader will be drawn to stories that chime with them. For myself, wrestling through the first week of the holidays and with reluctant, dare we say difficult teenagers, pieces like ‘Octopus’ and ‘Birth Plan’ hit me with a thump. It is also proving impossible to get beautiful, lost Amy from ‘Birthday Girl’ to stop dancing in the corners of my brain.

This book is masterclass in flash. It’s a master class in knowing how to grab you by the heart and give it a beat stopping squeeze. Congratulations Hannah, you have a triumph on your hands.

Rachel x

Review: Love Stories for Hectic People by Catherine McNamara

People who follow me on Twitter may or may not had noticed that over the past few months I have fallen increasingly and hopelessly in love with Flash Fiction. So when David Borrowdale from Reflex Press asked me if I would be interested in reading and reviewing Love Stories for Hectic People by Catherine McNamara I jumped at the chance.

Flash fiction is an art, a beautiful elusive skill. The ability to encapsulate, convey and develop a story in under 1,000 words is something to be cherished and admired. And within these pages are found thirty three fantastic examples.

The over arching theme is, as the title suggests, love. And it is love in it’s many and varied forms. Here, drawn with clarity, wit, empathy and razor sharp precision are stories of couples the world over. Couples in love, couples in lust and everything in between.

Here are relationships that are at the beginning, relationships in their death throes and relationships that have developed to stand the test of time.

Brevity might be the key in this collection, but each tale has as an impeccable structure, a view point that pans like a camera, zooming in and out, drawing the readers eye to the heart of each matter every single time.

If you are looking for something new, something biting, raw and fresh, then grab yourself a copy and feast away. I promised myself that this would be book to be taken on board in bitesized chunks. Turns out I gorged on it, one glorious tale after the other.

Rachel x

Love Stories for Hectic People by Catherine McNamara is available to order here.

It has been Shortlisted for The Saboteur Awards 2021 Best Short Story Collection.