satire | CW Hawes

Indie April Suggestions – Part 9

This is the last day of April and the last day of Indie April for 2021. However, I have 2 more authors I want to leave with you before the month is out. And while they may be last, they are certainly not least. They’ll help us depart April with a bang.

Alexander Pain

I’ll confess up front, I don’t like the zombie apocalypse craze. That said, I do like the writing of Alexander Pain and he writes about the zombie apocalypse. So that should tell you something right there.

Pain has one novel and several short stories in his oeuvre, and they are worthy additions to your entertainment library. What I admire about Pain’s writing is his ability to take a thoroughly impossible idea — the zombie apocalypse — and make it real.

For example, when reading Zombie Complex: The Battle for Chattahoochee Run I was drawn into the story because of the realistic characters he peoples it with. The same can be said for Neither Seen, Nor Heard. He puts real people into an unrealistic setting and by doing so enables me to suspend my sense of disbelief.

Using humor, pathos, and suspense, he makes the reader accept the implausibility of his world, and that is quite a feat. And he draws our attention to the question, How do I survive in such a world? Or any world for that matter.

Good post-apocalyptic fiction is, at base, philosophical in nature. Everything I value has been stripped away from me. Now what? Who am I? What is my purpose? What is of real importance in life? And Pain subtly poses those questions for us to ponder in the backs of our minds.

If you’re looking for action, adventure, and a good survival story, as well as food for thought, head on over to Amazon and check out the books of Alexander Pain. You won’t be sorry.

Ernestine Marsh

I love a good laugh and the older I get the more I value laughter. Because laughter puts everything into perspective and lightens any and all loads. I hope I die laughing.

When reading one of the things I look for is humor. If it’s present, the author gets a plus.

Ernestine Marsh writes humor, and that is a tough job for the best of writes. In Agonising: The Problem Page Letters of Jean Price and Raine Vincent and In Agony Again, Marsh has created two of the most delightful characters I’ve come across.

Price and Vincent are competing agony aunts, or advice columnists for us Americans. The plots of both books chronicle their battle of oneupmanship, and along the way we are treated to the most ridiculous and hilarious advice to the most incredible and incredulous problems.

The humor is often a mask for satirical commentary on our times. And the satire can be bitingly wicked. Satire and humor that is in league with Voltaire, Twain, and Wilde. Marsh doesn’t pull any punches.

So, if you’re looking for a good laugh with a hefty helping of hilarious social satire, head on over to Amazon and pickup Ernestine Marsh’s books. And prepare to be incapacitated by your funny bone.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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Indie April Suggestions – Part 7

For today’s Indie April showcase, I want to throw the spotlight onto 3 authors who write some of the spookiest stuff out there. So, without further ado, let’s meet these gentlemen.

John F Leonard

John F Leonard is one of many highly talented writers I’ve found on Twitter. He writes cosmic horror (one of my favorite genres), as well as wonderfully spooky stories.

The Bledbrooke Works and Congeal are suspense filled tales of terror. Bledbrooke is something of a prequel to Congeal, so you might want to read it first.

Congeal is a post-apocalyptic tale that is downright chilling. It’s the kind of slowburn horror that stays with you, that continues to haunt you long after you’ve finished the book.

Next on my reading list is his The Dead Boxes Archive, and I’ll be reading it during the daylight hours.

Here are John’s Amazon pages:

Canada

Australia

Germany

Check him out. He’s really top drawer, and fast becoming one of my favorite authors.

Andy Graham

Andy Graham writes masterful tales of chilling terror. I hate reading his stories at night, because, quite honestly, they give me bad dreams.

He has the dystopian Misrule series, The Risen World Supernatural thrillers, and I Died Yesterday, a collection of dark fiction tales.

Graham is an accomplished wordsmith. Begin one of his books and you’ll be biting your nails and saying, “What was that noise?”

I’m currently reading A Demon Risen. But only while the sun is up.

Here is where you can find Andy Graham on Amazon:

Canada

Australia

Germany

Ray Zacek

Ray Zacek can scare your socks off, or make you laugh with his macabre dark humor. And when he turns to satire, it’s funny, biting, and somewhat chilling all at the same time.

Want a scary story? Try Cosecha and Daguerreotype. Satire? Try Fresh Catch: Fiction Sushi. Dark humor? Give The Sisters a read. I love his books and you will too.

Take a look at Ray’s Amazon pages:

Canada

Australia

Germany

He’s a superb storyteller who you will fall in love with. I guarantee it.

John F Leonard, Andy Graham, and Ray Zacek are masters of the art of telling us a good story. They are producing some of the best fiction being written today. Give them a try. You won’t be sorry.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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For the Weekend 4

A delightfully zany slice of life!

Evelyn & Company by Chad (CM) Muller is a comic novel that will tickle your funny bone and have you holding your sides with laughter.

Muller’s humor is at times very sophisticated and erudite, and at other times it is laugh out loud hilarious. There are puns, slapstick episodes, and black comedy as well. And that is one of the charms of this book: the range of humor with which he is able to tell the story.

He calls the book a revenge comedy, and I can go along with that description. I also see it as social satire, at times bitingly so, in the tradition of Voltaire’s Candide.

The storyline is simple, and in truth the book could be called a plotless novel, or a slice of life. Evelyn Portobello, feeling she’s been cheated by the purveyor of a weight loss miracle drink — seen on TV — decides to get revenge. And from there the laughs just keep on coming.

Does Evelyn get her revenge? You will have to read Mr. Muller’s marvelous book to find out. And I certainly encourage you to do so.

It’s not a long book, but you might want to give your funny bone a rest and take the entire weekend to read Evelyn & Company.

Pick up a copy at Amazon. You won’t regret it.

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My 2018 Reading Recap

Today begins a new year. So I thought I’d recap some of the excellent books and stories I read in 2018.

I’m loathe to rank the books I read, and I definitely don’t like to single one out as the Best of the Year. Mostly because tastes change and what I put on top today, I might put in the middle tomorrow.

That being written, 2018 was a banner year because I discovered many wonderful writers and even more truly fabulous books and stories.

What I thought I’d do is look over the 43 novels and novellas, the 5 short story collections and 37 individual short stories, and the 8 books of non-fiction I read and give some a shoutout. Good reads with which to load up your ereader for 2019.

Quite a few of the books I read in 2018 I’ve already promoted on Twitter, featured as my Book of the Week on Facebook, or written reviews for this blog. The rest are waiting for their turn in the limelight.

As a reader, I don’t usually finish a book that isn’t holding my attention. I’m 66 and there are too many good books out there to waste time on the bad ones. After all the actuarial tables aren’t on my side.

I also don’t bother with books touted as bestsellers or award winners. Mostly because the disappointment factor is very high with those books. I’ve discovered true gems amongst the books that are not bestsellers and amongst those that have garnered no awards.

Success is largely a matter of luck, and generally has nothing to do with talent. In writing, as in life, persistence is the key.

Now on to the books!

Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer by Francis L and Roberta B Fugate. This is the best book on writing I’ve ever read. And I’ve read quite a few. The book is about the writing career of Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason. The Fugates had access to the vast archive of Gardner’s notebooks, letters, and papers. The writing advice comes straight from Gardner himself — and the book is full of wisdom. Every writer who is serious about selling his or her work should have this book. And readers interested in the creative process, should also have this book. It’s a treasure trove.

I love short stories and short novels. Too often long works are filled with unnecessary padding — stuff that doesn’t contribute much, if anything, to the story.

However, I did read a couple of hefty tomes in 2018. And neither one had any flab. They were:

Church Mouse by RH Hale

Don’t Dream It’s Over by Matthew Cormack

I’ve previously extolled (and will continue to do so) the virtues of Church Mouse. It’s a powerful novel with exceedingly well-drawn characters. A very memorable read. A modern day classic.

Note: Due to Amazon’s anti-small author policies, Church Mouse is not available in the Amazon US store. The links take you to Ms Hale’s website and from there you can purchase the book at the vendor of your choice.

Don’t Dream It’s Over is one of the best post-apocalyptic novels I’ve ever read. Matthew Cormack, with a deft hand, paints us a world that is not nice — but wherein lies much hope. Hope for a better future than what we might have gotten in the old world.

The book is also one of the most in depth character studies I’ve ever read. You have to read Kazuo Ishiguro to find something similar. An excellent, excellent read.

Now on to the shorter stuff!

In 2018 I made the acquaintance of quite a number of new (to me) writers. Some of these were:

Richard Schwindt

Joe Congel

Seabury Quinn

Stephen A Howells

Ernestine Marsh

Ray Zacek

Simon Osborne

Andy Graham

Zara Altair

Mark Carnelley

John Paul Catton

These men and women will provide you with many hours of great reading pleasure. So let’s look a bit further and see what kind of pleasure they will bring.

Richard Schwindt has 10 works of fiction (by my count) and I’ve read 8 of those works. He’s an entertaining writer, who delivers good mysteries and occult detective tales, along with imaginative fantasy and paranormal reads. His books are infused with humor, and always give me food for thought.

To start, check out Herkimer’s Nose and Fifty-Seven Years (written under his Will Swift byline). Great reads by a great author!

Joe Congel writes traditional private detective mysteries. His books and stories give a nod to the Golden Era of the mystery, while at the same time being very modern reads. If you like the old school mystery, you’ll like Joe Congel’s Tony Razzolito!

The late Seabury Quinn was a very prolific writer during the pulp magazine era. His first published story was in 1918 and his last (I believe) was in the early 1950s. He wrote across many genres, but is best known for his stories in Weird Tales magazine. He was that magazine’s most popular author, and I can see why. The occult detective Jules de Grandin is his most well-known character.

Stephen A Howells has one book published to date, and in my opinion it is a big time winner. The Garden of Jane Pengelly is part ghost story, part love story, part fantasy, and part magical realism. And it is all wonderful! Mr Howells can tug at your heart strings, so have the tissue box handy. You will love this book.

Ernestine Marsh is the queen of the bitingly satirical comedy novel. Agonising is a look at our foibles and how ridiculous we as a species are at times. Ms Marsh wades in with no holds barred and pulls no punches. I laughed with every page I read. I can’t wait to read the sequel, In Agony Again. Voltaire move over.

The work of Ray Zacek can be darkly humorous, or satirical, or just plain dark. I like his stories very much. My favorite to date is Daguerreotype. The tale is a haunting exploration of our dark side and the risk of indulging it. Treat yourself to Mr Zacek’s work. You won’t regret it.

Simon Osborne’s post-apocalyptic novel, Off Grid, begins with an alien invasion — and the aliens don’t want us around. The rest of the book is a story of survival, planning for the future, and deciding how to get rid of the aliens so we have a future. Off Grid is well-written and just plain good.

In the two works by Andy Graham that I’ve read, he gives us wonderfully dark tales. Stories that explore the unseemly part of our psyche and of our soul. An Angel Fallen is especially powerful and memorable. Do check out his work. You won’t be sorry.

Zara Altair writes mysteries set in Ostrogoth Italy a couple decades after the fall of the western Roman Empire. Argolicus is a retired Roman bureaucrat who gets involved in solving murders — in a culture where murder is not a crime! Give the Argolicus mysteries a try. Start with The Peach Widow.

Mark Carnelley has written an intriguing post-apocalyptic book, The Omega Chronicles, where only one person survives the disaster. What would you do if the survivor was you? Definitely worth your time.

John Paul Catton’s work is remarkable for its inventiveness. Tales from Beyond Tomorrow, Vol 1 is a short story collection that explores a variety of themes. A writer decidedly outside the norm. Take a read!

Now on to a few authors who are no stranger to this blog.

If you have a penchant for stories that have the qualities of a fairy tale, then Sarah Zama’s The Frozen Maze is for you. Quite good!

Jack Tyler’s work makes a strong contribution to the good old-fashioned adventure yarn. However, the book that has impressed me the most is his epic fantasy novel, The Stone Seekers. Mostly because it isn’t a Tolkien ripoff. It’s fresh and creative. The book breathes new life into a sub-genre that is filled with hack writing. Do check out The Stone Seekers.

Mannegishi by Ben Willoughby is an inventively dark take on a Native American legend. If you like horror, you’ll like Mannegishi. And all of Willoughby’s other horror tales.

It is no secret that I am very fond of the work of Crispian Thurlborn. And his latest story, Exit, does not disappoint. Thurlborn’s work is imaginative and at times difficult to categorize. It’s often darkly humorous, and written in a style that would make Dickens envious.

Exit is a story that would have made a stunning episode on The Twilight Zone. It’s a good example of dreampunk (you know, Alice in Wonderland) — and it is simply fabulous. Can we actually change our lives? Or are we doomed to live them forever on repeat? Read Exit and then try to answer those questions.

So that’s my reading recap for 2018. Now on to 2019. I’m currently reading Frank Belknap Long’s early Cthulhu Mythos novel The Horror from the Hills. And I’m looking for some good writers to explore this year. If you have suggestions, let me know.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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Agonising

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of – Part 5

A year or two ago, I never thought of social media as the place where I’d find my next book to read. And I’m not talking Goodreads here.

I don’t particularly like Goodreads. The site is clumsy to use. The reviewers are often unnecessarily vitriolic. And there is a decided bias in favor of corporate publishers and their books.

No, I’m talking about Twitter primarily, although I’ve found some very good reads on some of the closed Facebook groups.

Three of the recent authors I’ve run across who write very enjoyable books are RH Hale, Joe Congel, and Richard Schwindt. In the past, I discovered Crispian Thurlborn, Ben Willoughby, and Steve Bargdill.

One of my recent discoveries was Agonising by Ernestine Marsh, who describes herself as “a woman who has written a book”. And what a book it is!

Agonising is written as a series of alternating advice columns between two rival agony aunts, Jean Price and Raine Vincent. Both of whom are characters in every sense of the word. We are treated to delicious humor, biting satire, and an insightful look at human nature. The advice they give to the answer seekers is usually ridiculous and frequently irreverent. And their acerbic comments about each other will have you falling out of your chair from laughter.

With a deft hand, Ms Marsh has pulled back the curtain on the façade that hides the reality of our times and who we are.

Not to overplay my own hand, but if Voltaire were alive today I think he’d be looking over his shoulder at this very worthy competitor.

There’s not much of a plot, but I don’t think you’ll miss it. You’ll be too busy laughing. And what plot there is, Ms Marsh brings to a very satisfying and hilarious conclusion.

Agonising is very highly recommended! And, as of this writing, a mere 99¢.

Comments are always welcome, and, until next time, happy reading!

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Book Review: Evelyn & Company by Chad Muller

One of my favorite comedy reads is Evelyn & Company by Chad Muller. The humor is wacky, zany, intellectual, and virtual slapstick all rolled into one. I reviewed this book over a year ago and thought I would resurrect the review because I’ve rethought how I want to do book reviews: namely, I’m dumping the star system of rating. I think a better approach is to simply tell you why I like the book and if I think you will like it as well. So without further ado, once again Evelyn & Company!

Comedy, I think, can be exceedingly difficult to pull off well in writing. After all, the key elements of timing and pacing are not present as they are in live performance. And then there is the very real fact not everyone thinks the same thing is humorous. Yet there are authors who’ve made comedy writing their bread and butter. Mark Twain, Robert E Howard, Oscar Wilde, Douglas Adams, and John Logsdon easily come to mind.

Some time ago (December 2014 to be exact), I stumbled upon the zany book Evelyn & Company by Chad Muller (aka CM Muller). I bought a copy and laughed my way through it.

The novel is bizarre, zany, and delightful. A crazy romp through the many facets humor has to offer us. Puns, slapstick, innuendo, juxtaposition, satire, black comedy, it’s all there in Evelyn Portobello’s mad, quixotic quest for revenge when she doesn’t get the product she bought that was advertised on the TV.

Who hasn’t purchased something and had it as often as not, not be what was advertised? The item sounded so good and in the end was so disappointing. A scenario that has happened to all of us. That is the basis for Mr Muller’s comic tale. And so the plump Ms Portobello is stiffed on her order of “Magic Morel Shake Mix” and her phone calls and letters go unanswered. Oh, the earthy deliciousness of it all!

Humor operates on many different levels and has a very individual appeal. What Evelyn & Company offers us is a smorgasbord of humor. There is something here for everyone. Some examples we may not get (there were a few I didn’t), but keep reading — for our morsel is waiting.

The story is simple. The perfect slice of life. It begins in the middle of living and in a sense goes no where — a perfect “plotless” novel — but along the way we encounter injustice, love, devotion, romance, protests, strikes, anger, happiness, crazies, fun, and laughter. Yes, lots of laughter. After all, it’s a slice of life.

Evelyn is wealthy but lives in a trailer, expends tens of thousands of dollars to get back the $19.95 she was cheated out of, and then decides to take matters into her own hands. Situational irony at its finest!

In the tradition of black comedy and social satire, Muller has given us a 21st century Candide — by the name of Evelyn & Company.

I heartily recommend this book! Preview it below!

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Cozy Catastrophe Review: The Time Machine

The Time Machine by HG Wells is a classic work of science fiction. The story is often classed as a cozy catastrophe. After recently re-reading the book, I’ve come to the conclusion not only is the work not a cozy catastrophe, it isn’t even post-apocalyptic literature.

I think it far more accurate to call The Time Machine a dystopian dying earth social satire.

So why review it? Because it is so frequently classed as a cozy catastrophe, I think it exemplifies the confusion about just exactly what is a cozy catastrophe. I think The Time Machine bears examination in order for us to clarify what elements are essential for a cozy to be a cozy.

Let’s take another look at the elements making up the cozy catastrophe subgenre of post-apocalyptic literature.

The Amateur
The Catastrophe
A Recognizable Setting
The Small Group of Survivors
A Survivable World
The Building of a New World
The Message of Hope

The Time Traveller, as the story’s main narrator calls the secondary narrator, tells a small group of his friends a story. The story is of his journey to the year 802,701 AD, where he spends approximately a week, and then travels on to a time about 30 million years into the future where he sees the end of the earth.

Even this briefest of descriptions gives us a clue that the story does not fall into post-apocalyptic literature, for there is no apocalypse. There is the Dying Earth and so we could put the story in that category. However, the journey to the dying days of our planet is a very minor part of the story. The focus of the story is that week The Time Traveller spends in the year 802,701 and that, in my opinion, firmly places the story in the dystopian social satire category of science fiction.

The Time Traveller discovers a beautiful land when he finally stops his machine. The land is inhabited by small child-like people who speak a language unknown to him and exist solely on a diet of fruit. They do nothing but eat, sleep, and play. They live in large buildings which are slowly decaying and which they probably didn’t build. They are clothed, but The Time Traveller sees no means of production.

During the course of the story, the Time Machine is stolen, he befriends one of the people, a female named Weena, and learns they are called by the name Eloi. The Time Traveller also learns there is another group of beings that live underground, whom the Eloi refer to as Morlocks. The Time Traveller deduces the Morlocks stole his machine and he makes a brief exploration of their underground world looking for it. In the process, he discovers the Morlocks run large machines and eat the Eloi.

The Time Traveller posits several explanations as to how the future world he briefly visited came about. None of them involve a catastrophe. This is where Wells’s socialism comes to the fore. The Eloi and the Morlocks are the result of natural degeneration due to class conflict. The conflict between the owners of production and workers.

That is the basis for The Time Machine being classed as a dystopian story with a heavy dose of social satire, which takes a side road down Dying Earth lane.

The only cozy elements are those of a survivable world and the recognizable setting. Other than that we have a process of natural devolution in which the human race separates into the roles of predator and prey — with the satire being that the descendants of the working class now literally prey on the descendants of the owner class. There is no catastrophe, no group of survivors, and no desire to rebuild civilization. The Eloi are ignorant of their past and desire nothing but play. The Morlocks apparently clothe them and eat them. No desire to change things there either.

I found The Time Machine, first published in 1895, to be cluttered with Victorian tropes and to be rather dull reading. At least for me, page after page of description with little conflict is on the dull side. True there is the stealing of the Time Machine and the effort to get it back. There is the conflict with the Morlocks, marred by the typical strong man suddenly too easily exhausted and subject to fainting. The science of the possibility of time travel is historically interesting but very dated.

Where the story makes its mark is in the popularization of the concept of time travel as a scientific reality instead of a product of magic or dreams.

I recall the TV show The Time Tunnel, from 1966-67. For me very exciting stuff, even though it didn’t make it to a second season. It’s an example of our love affair with time travel. Along with such movies as Looper, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and Back to the Future. And the current spate of time travel romance novels.

The Time Machine, for all its faults as a story by today’s standards, is still worth reading. While it isn’t the first time travel story, it is the story that made time travel a staple of science fiction and started us thinking about the real science of time travel.

The Time Machine isn’t a cozy catastrophe, but it is very dystopian and does give one reason to pause and think about the growing disparity between the haves and the have nots.

Next week we’ll continue our survey of cozy catastrophe literature with the book that resulted in the coining of the term cozy catastrophe. Until then happy reading! Comments are always welcome.

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Review: Evelyn & Company by Chad Muller

Some time ago, I stumbled upon the zany book Evelyn & Company by Chad Muller (aka CM Muller). I so enjoyed the novel, I have decided to make it my inaugural book review.

Previously, I posted reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. And to be honest, I don’t have anything additional to say. Therefore, without further ado, I give you Evelyn & Company by Chad Muller.

Purchased from Amazon 11 December 2014

Ratings:

Storyline: 4

Characters: 5

Writing Style: 5

Textual Errors: 4

Entertainment Value: 5

(See my Review page for an explanation of the rating system.)

Review:

Evelyn & Company is bizarre, zany, delightful. A crazy romp through the many facets humor has to offer us. Puns, slapstick, innuendo, juxtaposition, satire, black comedy, it’s all there in Evelyn Portobello’s mad, quixotic quest for revenge when she doesn’t get the product she bought from off the TV. Something that has either directly happened to us or what we got wasn’t what was advertised. And so the plump Ms Portobello is stiffed of her “Magic Morel Shake Mix” and her phone calls and letters go unanswered. Oh, the earthy deliciousness of it all!

Humor operates on many different levels and has a very individual appeal. What Evelyn & Company offers us is a smorgasbord of humor. There is something there for everyone. Some we may not get, but keep reading — our morsel is waiting.

The story is simple. The perfect slice of life. It begins in the middle of living and in a sense goes no where, but along the way we encounter injustice, love, devotion, romance, protests, strikes, anger, happiness, crazies, fun, and laughter. Yes, lots of laughter. After all, it’s a slice of life.

In the tradition of black comedy and social satire, Muller has given us a 21st Century Candide — by the name of Evelyn & Company.

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