BOOK REVIEW: Rusticles by Rebecca Grandsen

Rusticles was a pleasantly literary read after months and months of genre books, something to wrap my mind around and dig my teeth into. It's a series of short stories interconnected by themes and locations and just a general, overall mood of melancholy, my favourite of which is Dilapidated Flamingo, a story about a boy trying to feed a mysterious flamingo that keeps appearing in his garden. Like the other stories, character is key. There's a mystery or mysterious event occurring, but it's the emotions of the characters that are explored, with the events being catalysts for character development.

"I'm starting to think it knows I'm watching. I was at my window and it appeared from beneath, like it had been hovering around the backdoor waiting for its moment. It opened its wings right there, waving them around a little, putting on a show. Its feathers were all bent and drooping and its neck looked like someone had kicked it sideways. The flamingo proceeded to prance around the decking, its faded pinkness and rotten skinned legs making me feel sorry for it."

I don't want to talk too much about the stories, because each one is like a little gem waiting to be mined and best discovered on a one-to-one basis. What's paramount is the writing, and the confidence to take risks with it (one story has no punctuation but has a wonderful rhythm). Early on there was a vague feeling of the writing riding the cliff-edge of trying too hard, but you soon realise there is a solid understanding of how to develop a sentence or a paragraph. The writing is tight, pleasingly devoid of passive tense, and when you get a long, complicated sentence, it's followed by some shorter ones. The prose rises and falls poetically.

Check it out! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35643268-rusticles

DailyFlash: Crawling the sands

Inside the forward cockpit was a beep. The metal detector had detected something large; it stretched long and metallic left-to-right, or perhaps right-to-left, before them. Walker brought the crawler to a stop and the last few track revolutions dug into the sand before finally halting.

                He sent Caia out to investigate. She dropped to the sand, blower on back and sand-boots on feet, and walked forward, sweeping the blower in arc before her. The sand swirled up and became a red mist around her. She pulled the scarf around her face a little tighter.

                A shiny green surface appeared just below her. The more sand she cleared the clearer the pipe became, arching over to the other side. She removed her hands to touch it and felt vibrations running through her arm, and when she placed her ear to the cool metal, the sound of gushing water bellowed.

This flash fiction was inspired by the world of Neon Sands, the first in a trilogy currently accepting nominations on Kindle Scout. Like this world and want to read more? Please vote for Neon Sands on Kindle Scout and get a free copy!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/M0AVK7KHQVAB

DailyFlash: Youth on Fire

Where the residents of Halbrook Street were in agreement was the need for extra policing. You can't turn the lights off and close youth centres and remove apprenticeships and not expect school leavers and younger not to get up to mischief! It was common sense. Worse, unnecessary. And yet, here they were, barricading themselves in at night in fear of youth-on-youth 'games' - the reality being streets on fire and music blaring loudly from bluetooth speakers connected to phones. No need for street-lighting with substance fires cutting up the streets like road-markings.
     Damn this fucking State, pushing blame onto the parents for their own failings! Greedy fatcat politicians, tearing it all down just to build it all back up again, lining their own pockets. Look at the kids out there with nothing to do but smash mailboxes and crush the souls of anyone who dares to walk the streets! Laughing, dancing and drinking in the orange glow, leather jackets and denim two-piece blends and halter necklines. We don't blame them. We want to join them. Maybe not too long from now we will.

DailyFlash: Torn

Something elastic stretches from inside the broken flesh, pulled by the coyote's clenched jaw and bared teeth. It snaps with a wet slap and splats blood on his stained muzzle (from years of successful scavenging). Each rebirth recalls the faint red dye of blood around his chops, his human eyes betraying his heritage as he morphs. He licks his lips and looks down at the drifter, soft guts spilling from the torn flesh of the belly. Blood seeps into the yellow sand and between the copse growing by the side of the deserted highway. A tent sits empty 20 metres away; what was once the drifter's is now his until the desert sun calls his name again, demanding that the scavenge continues.

Free Download Week - Hereafter & Other Short Stories

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073Q67J4S

28/8 - 1/9

Hereafter & Other Short Stories - Now available

You can grab my collection of short stories on Amazon now (free on Kindle Unlimited). Check out a preview:

Hereafter & Other Short Stories

I haven't done much shouting about this new title from me yet - the release date is the 25 August and it is currently on preorder on Amazon.

Grab it here!

There's also an ongoing Goodreads Giveaway live right now if you wanted to request a free paperback copy!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Hereafter and Other Short Stories

by Adam J. Smith

Giveaway ends August 26, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

If you'd like a review copy, hit me up at aj.smith@writeme.com.

Get ready for a Goodreads Giveaway!

In 3 days time I'll be opening a Goodreads Giveaway for 5 paperback copies of Hereafter & Other Short Stories - be sure to enter!

Within those pages will be something for everyone: the yearning of lost love and youth within the boys left to fend for themselves in the wake of the Lisbon suicides; the transformative effects of the Frontier; coming clean with your need to strip to your Birthday suit; the horror of discovering that Big Brother has lost control; how easy it is to tie yourself up in the intricacies of time; and a story to show what can happen when possessions start owning you.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Hereafter and Other Short Stories

by Adam J. Smith

Giveaway ends August 26, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Review copies available - Hereafter & Other Short Stories

Hereafter & Other Short Stories, an eclectic collection, is due for release on 25 August. If you'd like a review copy in return for your honest Amazon and Goodreads review, drop me an email at aj.smith@writeme.com.

Reviews are the lifeblood of indie authors. We love 'em and hate 'em and sit endlessly perched on the edge of our seats for 'em. Or maybe just me.

More about Hereafter: https://www.amazon.com/Hereafter-Other-Short-Stories-Smith-ebook/dp/B073Q67J4S/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Book Preorder: Hereafter & Other Short Stories

Exciting news, folks. You can now preorder my upcoming collection of short stories. You know you want to! Here's some links:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546448780
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073Q67J4S

The release date is the 25 August. If you do grab a copy - THANK YOU! Please remember to add a review, for better or worse, as these are the indie author's lifeline!

Discover how the boys grew into men forever influenced by the suicides of the Lisbon sisters. How the Frontier is transformative for a group of modern families. How sometimes the urge to strip to your birthday suit is a force you have to release. How even Big Brother can be murdered, and how easy it is to tie yourself up in time. Finally, discover what happens when possessions own you. 

Take the journey through an eclectic array of short stories designed to make you think and wonder.

The proof copy of Hereafter lands!

Putting pen to paper again as I read through the proof of my next book: a collection of eclectic short stories to suit many tastes, I hope. Then it's onward to set a release date, get it on pre-order, and offer review copies! Maybe then I can finally settle down and crack on with my next full length manuscript, Neon Driver, which is evolving in my head by the day. It's going to be epic!

New book coming out

Hi all - I'm pleased to announce I'm in the final proofing stage of my next release; a collection of eclectic short stories. Here's a sneak at the cover:

It will go on preorder soon. Additionally, review copies will be available. If you're in the UK you could even get a hard copy! Drop me an email at aj.smith@writeme.com if interested!