Krispy Whispers by Melvin Burgess

Krispy Whispers by Melvin Burgess
Buy Krispy Whispers by Melvin Burgess at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Short Stories
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
Summary: Experimental flash fictions which had their original genesis on Twitter. Funny and slightly surreal, they are stories that all fans of Burgess will want to read - they fit perfectly with his "give anything and everything a full-hearted go" ethos. And we love him for that.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 95	Date: June 2013
Publisher: Amazon Media
External links: Author's website
ISBN: B00DAC68EM
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A woman stops you in the road and gazes fearfully into the pram. "Your babies are not human," she says. Then she runs off.

Ooh! Alien changelings! Cuckoos in the nest? Are they really? Really, really, really? Can you be sure? So begins the first story in Krispy Whispers, a series of flash fictions by Bookbag favourite Melvin Burgess. You also get a girl dreaming of riches, a lonely woman who finds a pet and gets a boyfriend too closely together for mere coincidence. And a priest who actually meets God. And a very worrisome monster. Concentrate hard. Because you'll need to keep up...

Ok. I don't want to say too much. This is flash fiction. If I give you more than tuppenceworth, I'll have spoiled it all. These stories began as an experiment on Twitter - I love Twitter and won't hear a word against it - and have eventually morphed into this collection, illustrated by George Morris and available for the paltry sum of £1.50 on Kindle. The blurb describes them as quietly disturbing moments that highlight the surreal within the banal and I couldn't have put it better myself. They are slightly weird, slightly surreal, slightly naughty, slightly unexpected and utterly enjoyable to read. They're also slightly disjointed, for which we probably blame the Twitter genesis, but it really doesn't seem to matter. Even slightly.

This is what Melvin Burgess does best. He pays attention to what's going on around him. He likes innovations. He likes interacting. He's prepared to give anything a go. And he isn't daunted at all if everything doesn't work out as planned. Books, and the ways in which we read and create them, are changing. And reading Krispy Whispers makes you feel as though you are part of it. And you are! You are paying attention, too.

Three cheers for Melvin. That's what I say. Go and download Krispy Whispers. It costs less than a dead tree Sunday paper, for heavens sakes.

The Kissing Game by Aidan Chambers includes some fantastic pieces of flash fiction, and the stories in Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan are challenging and unsettling, just as you'd expect.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Krispy Whispers by Melvin Burgess at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.

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