Simon Snootle and Other Small Stories by Lorin Morgan-Richards
| Simon Snootle and Other Small Stories by Lorin Morgan-Richards | |
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| Category: Short Stories | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A bijou boutique book of wry whimsy that could go further - although I fully expect its creator to do so. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 68 | Date: January 2009 |
| Publisher: A Raven Above | |
| ISBN: 978-0615270524 | |
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I have never been in the market for hand-made, very limited bindings of books, so it was a surprise when the book reviewing gods offered this for me to review. Everything here has been done by the author - the binding, in veggie-friendly 'leather', the artwork, the decision to limit this to 250 copies (as it stands...) and more.
Inside these firm covers is a wee little item, containing seven wee little stories. They're of the gently absurd, wry, dark whimsy you come across now and again. So we find a boy who likes nothing better than to delve inside of, and nibble away at, school bus seats, to emulate the friend he has at home. Here's a bush with light fingers, as it were - stealing things from passers-by, and finding some form of comeuppance. Elsewhere, the melancholy will see dead birds, and a young man will live at the bottom of a cistern.
All well and good, if that's your choice, but the brevity of the stories do not allow for a great deal of growth. Yes, this is a blunt world, where we can be introduced to a man at the top of the page only for him to die by the foot. However I was seeking a little more - sometimes the dismissive endings were too abrupt for my personal taste.
There is of course the exception that proves the rule - the man and woman who meet despite being complete opposites have an unexpected conclusion together, which is certainly the best laugh of the book just because it is so blunt.
I liked the novelty of such a boutique book in my hands, although I wish someone had proofread the punctuation a little more closely. These small stories offer a glimpse of an author's world and his Edward Lear-styled pictures and absurdity, and hopefully are a stepping stone for him to produce something longer, and as a result more substantial. Either by his own hand or more conventionally...
I must thank the author for my review copy.
Other whimsical short stories can be found in Bears of England by Mick Jackson, while The White Road by Tania Hershman reveals a mistress of the very concise and brief.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Simon Snootle and Other Small Stories by Lorin Morgan-Richards at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Simon Snootle and Other Small Stories by Lorin Morgan-Richards at Amazon.com.
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