April 26th saw the creation of four more masterpieces, summarised in 50-100 words. As follows:
Chief Matthews (title JM, text NM)
A post-modern, post-imperial modern comedy classic, this best-selling work challenges liberal sensibilities with its shaggy dog story of the life of Evan Matthews, a Welsh blackface entertainer popular in the 60's. As his act becomes unacceptable to domestic audiences in the 1990's, Matthews resigns himself to an impoverished and obscure retirement. His relationships are beginning to suffer when he is contacted by a tribe in Swaziland who wish to commission a new TV series, so popular are his vintage exploits. In a bizarre twist, his African fans do not realise that Matthews is white. The bulk of the novel follows the exploits and farcical misunderstandings of Matthews and his family's new life in Africa as he adapts to his celebrity, and his comic and accident-prone attempts to keep his true ethnicity under wraps.
Income Support (title NM, text JM)
This bawdy farce is a must read for all of you who loved 'The Fully Monty'! It's a blow-by-blow account of long-term benefit claimants in Swindon who decide to turn their talents to pornography. Their x-rated bonk-buster 'In-Cum Support' offers an unusual view of sex in a relationship between a man with permanent erectile dysfunction and his long-suffering lover.
A graphic, horny and comic account of real sex that manages to tell a few home truths about life on the economic scrap heap in the 21st century.
Exemplary Service (title NM, text JM)
A first-person account of strong emotions, set in a boy's boarding school in the 1930's. A sensitive attempt to convey the hopes, frustration and bitterness of Evelyn, the school's matron, born without a face and with a foot-long tongue. Despite her ill-treatment by boys, other staff members and parents, she devotes herself to her job, spurred on only by her unshakable attachment to the repressedly homosexual headmaster. Eventually they marry, but Evelyn is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Curiously life-affirming.
Plan Living (title JM, text NM)
A poignant historical novel set in the terrifying period of purges and executions in Stalin's Russia of the 1930's. The narrator, a veteran of the 1980's Samizdat dissent movement, brings to vivid life the world of Vitaly Antochick, a hero of Soviet Labour working in a steel plant in the Dometsk basin, the minutia of factory routine interspersed with the drama and humiliation of his exploitation in the nascent Soviet media. The novel turns on Vitaly's growing isolation from his wife and fellow labourers, as he seeks solace in the arms of a young party member, with tragic consequences. "A tear-jerker with powerful political relevance for contemporary society" (Soviet Worker).
Friday 27 April 2012
Friday 13 April 2012
Rum Blazer
Rum blazer: a writing game for two or more. Everyone invents, or takes from a written source, a title for an imaginary book: a word, phrase or sentence. Pass the title to the player on your left, who has to write a precis for the imaginary book / blurb to go on the back cover. Here are the ones we did yesterday (not sticking to the rules by making up our own titles):
Rum Blazer (title NM, text JM)
This touching parable features an autistic child and the intense but controversial world of his imagination. His fantasy ego, 'Rum Blazer', both shocks and seduces in equal measure. Despite his mother's efforts, Figaro descends into a darkness from which only his dentist can save him. A riveting read!
Rum Blazer (title NM, text NM)
The shocking saga of a man born into privilege, operating in the shady interstices of legality, sexuality and alcoholism in a seductive and nightmarish Barbados.
The interconnections of the Bullington Club, colonial prostitution and organised crime are laid bare through the exploits of Tarquin Meriwether, an old-Etonian blackballed from the Board of the City firm he thought was his entitlement, as he lives life to the full, cocking a big snook at the establishment that bred him.
Santa Theresa (title NM, text NM)
The heart-breaking but ultimately life-affirming story of an autistic girl from the slums of Barcelona, rejected by her family and the world in which she grew up for her physical and mental disabilities, who rises to world prominence and finds love of a higher order after her encounter with an Olympic diver, who is horribly injured after health and safety lapses at the Barcelona Olympics, and is miraculously healed by her prayers. A novel of the recent historical past suitable for committed Christians and sports followers.
Fresh Peach (title NM, text JM)
Breaking controversial new ground, this experimental novel by an exciting young author explores the limits of personal identity, destiny and the body. The voice is that of a mole on Julie Burchill's thigh: suspended between two moments defining her lesbianity, the mole (the 'Fresh Peach' of the title) offers a searing commentary on local politics in Hove, and the 'green' movement.
Learning Music (title JM, text NM)
A profound document of human experience, this fictionalised memoir tells the story of the poignant relationship that develops between an Aboriginal tribal elder and an orphaned European boy growing up in the Australian outback in the 1970's.
A classic coming-of-age story that makes an important contribution to the emerging canon of Gaia literature.
55% (title NM, text JM)
Did you know that 55% of the UK population harbour host parasites in their bloodstream? Starting from this little-known fact, the author explains what it really means to be subject to a cross-species onslaught from micro organisms. This clear tome explains an awful lot of health problems, from migraines to menstrual pain, headaches to heart disease.
Rum Blazer (title NM, text JM)
This touching parable features an autistic child and the intense but controversial world of his imagination. His fantasy ego, 'Rum Blazer', both shocks and seduces in equal measure. Despite his mother's efforts, Figaro descends into a darkness from which only his dentist can save him. A riveting read!
Rum Blazer (title NM, text NM)
The shocking saga of a man born into privilege, operating in the shady interstices of legality, sexuality and alcoholism in a seductive and nightmarish Barbados.
The interconnections of the Bullington Club, colonial prostitution and organised crime are laid bare through the exploits of Tarquin Meriwether, an old-Etonian blackballed from the Board of the City firm he thought was his entitlement, as he lives life to the full, cocking a big snook at the establishment that bred him.
Santa Theresa (title NM, text NM)
The heart-breaking but ultimately life-affirming story of an autistic girl from the slums of Barcelona, rejected by her family and the world in which she grew up for her physical and mental disabilities, who rises to world prominence and finds love of a higher order after her encounter with an Olympic diver, who is horribly injured after health and safety lapses at the Barcelona Olympics, and is miraculously healed by her prayers. A novel of the recent historical past suitable for committed Christians and sports followers.
Fresh Peach (title NM, text JM)
Breaking controversial new ground, this experimental novel by an exciting young author explores the limits of personal identity, destiny and the body. The voice is that of a mole on Julie Burchill's thigh: suspended between two moments defining her lesbianity, the mole (the 'Fresh Peach' of the title) offers a searing commentary on local politics in Hove, and the 'green' movement.
Learning Music (title JM, text NM)
A profound document of human experience, this fictionalised memoir tells the story of the poignant relationship that develops between an Aboriginal tribal elder and an orphaned European boy growing up in the Australian outback in the 1970's.
A classic coming-of-age story that makes an important contribution to the emerging canon of Gaia literature.
55% (title NM, text JM)
Did you know that 55% of the UK population harbour host parasites in their bloodstream? Starting from this little-known fact, the author explains what it really means to be subject to a cross-species onslaught from micro organisms. This clear tome explains an awful lot of health problems, from migraines to menstrual pain, headaches to heart disease.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)