Normally this review is reserved for full-length books or at the very least, novellas. It seems such a waste to devote the time necessary for writing a review to anything under 60,000 words. It seems equally a waste to even consider reading anything less than a novella, after all, the details of a story are found within the many pages that give us new and more interesting characters as each page progresses to the next one and the next after that until we have read an entire lengthy book filled with all the myriad characters who have provided such great entertainment for those who cannot live without the added benefit of seeing the world through the eyes of fictitious people who never lived and present such outrageous adventures of various types for us to live vicariously through them. Right?
Recently I discovered a small - and by "small" I mean miniscule - something akin to the speck of dust upon the flower that Horton discovered one day and seemed at first to be beyond his notice - work that piqued my interest. It was only 6,840 words long. Barely a short story by my estimation and that is the estimation that counts for this review, correct? And yet I decided to give it a try, for no reason I could relate or understand. I downloaded it and decided someday soon I would get around to reading it. Yet as I sat at my computer completing other tasks I found myself thinking back to that "speck on the flower" and like the storybook elephant, found myself looking closer at what I held before me, which for my purposes meant that I opened the downloaded eBook and began reading.
At the beginning of the story is a poem written by the author of the - er - short story. Oh, less I forget entirely, the author for this piece is Madeline Claire Franklin and the story being discussed is A Lover and its Ghosts. I began reading this poem and as I have need to do when reading poetry, slowed my reading to a crawl in order to better enjoy the cadence of the rhythm of which the words are written. Normally I am a speed reader - well, not the type who reads an entire page in about a second or two, but I definitely read far faster than the average serious reader, always in a hurry to find out what happens next so I can get on to the next great adventure still waiting for me to discover it. I read the words of the poem and marveled over the beauty and the rhythm of the words as they themselves sculpted a setting well worth the purchase price of the story itself. Although I myself write poetry and lyrics for songs, I seldom read the poetry of others. I did this time and found I enjoyed the story told within this tiny carving of words.
I went on to begin reading the story and found the words, though written in prose, were as lyrical as the introductory poem. Interesting. No matter how I exerted my effort in reading I could not alter the rhythmic cadence I found settling within my mind as my eyes moved across the page, absorbing all that was there for me to drink in. The picture painted by these words was one of love and wonderment and entertainment as well as bringing in a tale of passion and sorrow and loss and hope fit only for those writers of ages past who we now proclaim in college classes for those students of literature whether they want to hear or read about these past classicists or not. I could not have ceased reading had my home suddenly burst into flame or the ground beneath me suddenly begun quaking and breaking apart, the roof above me threatening to cave in and smother me until I breathed my very last.
The enjoyment I felt as I scrolled through each new page brought wonderment to my mind and imagination unlike anything I have felt in - well - since I normally read horror, science fiction, fantasy, and a bit of mystery and crime drama - I can't honestly say I have ever felt exactly as I did while I read Madeline Claire Franklin's less than 7,000 word piece on the tragedy and hope of romance and loves found and lost. This was something new to me. I found that I truly enjoyed what I experienced. Not that I would ever give up the excitement and danger of reading the genres I have grown to adulthood (somewhat) reading and enjoying, but for short instances I certainly will carve out a bit of time to cleanse the clutter from my mind by reading such wonderments as A Lover and its Ghost, if ever again I can find such a work, that is. Perhaps Ms. Franklin has more of such waiting to be discovered? I'll have to go look. Now.
A Lover and its Ghosts by Madeline Claire Franklin - a small writing that carries a breadth and vastness of enjoyment for everyone.
Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to discount the value of these indie-published shorts, eh?
Recently I discovered a small - and by "small" I mean miniscule - something akin to the speck of dust upon the flower that Horton discovered one day and seemed at first to be beyond his notice - work that piqued my interest. It was only 6,840 words long. Barely a short story by my estimation and that is the estimation that counts for this review, correct? And yet I decided to give it a try, for no reason I could relate or understand. I downloaded it and decided someday soon I would get around to reading it. Yet as I sat at my computer completing other tasks I found myself thinking back to that "speck on the flower" and like the storybook elephant, found myself looking closer at what I held before me, which for my purposes meant that I opened the downloaded eBook and began reading.
At the beginning of the story is a poem written by the author of the - er - short story. Oh, less I forget entirely, the author for this piece is Madeline Claire Franklin and the story being discussed is A Lover and its Ghosts. I began reading this poem and as I have need to do when reading poetry, slowed my reading to a crawl in order to better enjoy the cadence of the rhythm of which the words are written. Normally I am a speed reader - well, not the type who reads an entire page in about a second or two, but I definitely read far faster than the average serious reader, always in a hurry to find out what happens next so I can get on to the next great adventure still waiting for me to discover it. I read the words of the poem and marveled over the beauty and the rhythm of the words as they themselves sculpted a setting well worth the purchase price of the story itself. Although I myself write poetry and lyrics for songs, I seldom read the poetry of others. I did this time and found I enjoyed the story told within this tiny carving of words.
I went on to begin reading the story and found the words, though written in prose, were as lyrical as the introductory poem. Interesting. No matter how I exerted my effort in reading I could not alter the rhythmic cadence I found settling within my mind as my eyes moved across the page, absorbing all that was there for me to drink in. The picture painted by these words was one of love and wonderment and entertainment as well as bringing in a tale of passion and sorrow and loss and hope fit only for those writers of ages past who we now proclaim in college classes for those students of literature whether they want to hear or read about these past classicists or not. I could not have ceased reading had my home suddenly burst into flame or the ground beneath me suddenly begun quaking and breaking apart, the roof above me threatening to cave in and smother me until I breathed my very last.
The enjoyment I felt as I scrolled through each new page brought wonderment to my mind and imagination unlike anything I have felt in - well - since I normally read horror, science fiction, fantasy, and a bit of mystery and crime drama - I can't honestly say I have ever felt exactly as I did while I read Madeline Claire Franklin's less than 7,000 word piece on the tragedy and hope of romance and loves found and lost. This was something new to me. I found that I truly enjoyed what I experienced. Not that I would ever give up the excitement and danger of reading the genres I have grown to adulthood (somewhat) reading and enjoying, but for short instances I certainly will carve out a bit of time to cleanse the clutter from my mind by reading such wonderments as A Lover and its Ghost, if ever again I can find such a work, that is. Perhaps Ms. Franklin has more of such waiting to be discovered? I'll have to go look. Now.
A Lover and its Ghosts by Madeline Claire Franklin - a small writing that carries a breadth and vastness of enjoyment for everyone.
Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to discount the value of these indie-published shorts, eh?
* * * * *
Following a cheating husband and his tarty blond, PI Tiffany Waters witnesses the explosion of the lover’s motel. The police find only one body: the husband. Now Tiffany must save her husband from a mystery man demanding her photos of the lovers’ meeting. But how can two copies of the same photo be different? How can the blond in the photo blink? “Your Cheatin’ Heart” is 7,693 words.
Sandy Miller is working the graveyard shift at a convenience store. He doesn't realize the reality of the term, "Graveyard" shift.
There on the dock three boys have carved tributes to Emily’s beautiful older sister. Both her girlfriends’ names have been linked to a boy’s there as well. Do you have to be pretty for a boy to like you? It seems so for the new boy, but Emily helps him overcome his problems anyway. What happens later is her reward.
Charlie Sheen has substantially increased the value of his own currency. People are watching him. Whether or not people like what he says or does is not important at all. He has a lot of value because he is a shining light in the darkness. People are attracted to that. Wherever he goes and whatever he does, people will follow. And in a marketing machine like Hollywood, that translates into money.
* * * * *
From Jacob M. Drake
Darkness in the Light (Forever Darkness) by Jacob M. Drake
Buy: $4.99
Rebirth of the Gods: Book One - The Powers That Be by Jacob M. Drake
Parallels (The Many Worlds of the Solarian) by Jacob M. Drake
Buy: $3.99
The Complete Book of B.A.B.E.S. by Jacob M. Drake
Buy: $5.95 (Two complete books in one volume)
Pumpkin Jack Skull and Other Tales of Terror by Jacob M. Drake
Buy: $2.99
.
XKALIBUR (The Many Worlds of the Solarian) by Jacob M. Drake
Buy: $2.99
Dark Angel: Fallen by Jacob M. Drake
Superion (A Coming of Heroes) by Jacob M. Drake
Buy: $2.99
From Jackson Williams
Buy: $5.99
Buy: $2.99
* * * * *
No comments:
Post a Comment