Cliff James's Blog

Very chuffed that my longtime favourite newspaper, Morning Star, has reviewed and recommended my latest book The Kindly Ones:
"The Kindly Ones by Cliff James, Lethe Press is an extremely well-written account of the damage done to a society that cannot reconcile faith and reason at an individual or aggregate level.
"Highly recommended."
Here's the link to the full review:
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a...

Wow, blown away by this incredible review of The Kindly Ones from Monster Library! 😲
https://www.monsterlibrarian.com/TheC...

"Instead of opting for a story arc with peaks and valleys, the book opts for a slow, calculated pace, and relies on creating an overall atmosphere of unease that persists throughout the story, and it does it extremely well. Much of it is due to the author’s phenomenal way with words; the writing is art in story form. If the 19th century masters of British literature had decided to go wild and write horror, The Kindly Ones is what one of them might have produced. However, like reading Dickens, this is best read slow, so nothing is missed and the author’s meaning is understood. The book is an AP course on how to write well, and could be enjoyed for that alone.
"Incredible writing aside, The Kindly Ones is still a good enough story that most readers should enjoy and appreciate it...
"If you’re looking for an unusual book that paints a picture instead of just telling a story, The Kindly Ones is for you. Recommended."
The Kindly Ones
The Kindly Ones is published by Lethe Press.

https://www.monsterlibrarian.com/TheC...

Now that his new, dystopian novel The Kindly Ones is available to buy, Cliff James reads an extract from Chapter Two of the novel - video on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/UnNZHEz3uOE

The Kindly Ones
Cliff James

"‘Natural justice is to prevent one man from harming or being harmed by another,’ Rhea read aloud. It was such a pithy formulation that she wondered whether it could really be that simple, if that were all there was to it. She had harmed a man once, sharply, bloodily, in the back without seeing his face, and she had done it to prevent him from harming Francesca. When she thought about it now, that terrible night in the last house, she knew she had only done what was necessary. And she would not hesitate to do it again to prevent anyone from harming her girls or the boy, her true kin. It had not been revenge, not an eye for an eye, but she still felt that it had tainted her, spoiled her forever. She hated the man for that: not just for what he would have done to Francesca but for what he had driven her to do, in effect for what he had done to her. She read the consoling sentence again. To prevent one from harming another, that is justice. She sighed and put the book down. That would have to do for an answer today..."

It's out! The Kindly OnesThe Kindly Ones is now available from the Lethe Press website, from Amazon, and very soon to order from all good bokshops (ISBN 9781590216903).
* If you want to read the book, you can say so on The Kindly Ones page on Goodreads. Simply visit the following page and click "Want To Read" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
* Once you've read the book, you can tell the world whatever you thought of it by adding a quick review on the same Goodreads page!
* If you want to go one step further and tell your friends about The Kindly Ones, feel free to share these posts 😁

For the launch of the new book The Kindly Ones, Cliff James got to talk with the brilliant Andy Taylor on the Voices of Awareness podcast.
The Kindly Ones
The podcast is available on Spotify now... Here's the link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qdP...

The Kindly OnesCliff JamesAt last, it's out! The new novel by Cliff James, The Kindly Ones, is now available to buy from the publisher, Lethe Press (follow the link below), and Amazon. It should soon be available from all bookstores including your local bookshop. ISBN 9781590216903

Here's what they're saying about it...

"... the narrative raises pressing philosophical questions about ethics and altruism while conjuring fascinating characters and an eerie setting." - ​Publishers Weekly

"[A] post-apocalyptic, queer-spiced thrill" - Patrick Gale

"Cliff James is a rising star of contemporary British literature celebrated for his exquisitely observed characters & beautifully weaved, nuanced story-telling.
The Kindly Ones is a story for an extinction rebellion era set at the edge of extinction. It's about homelessness, displacement, shelter & survival. It's about growing up where death looms daily. It's about human compassion & religious ridiculousness. It's about acquired family & family bound by blood & faith. It's about intimacy, tenderness & humour and it's about disorientation, discomfort & despair. It's about fragility & resilience. It's about slavery & injustice & violence. And within the chaos & destruction blooms love." (Andy Taylor, Voices of Awareness)

To order a copy, follow this link to the Lethe Press website: https://www.lethepressbooks.com/store...The Kindly Ones

Calling all #bookreviewers and #bookbloggers!
A limited number of #AdvanceReaderCopies of my new novel The Kindly Ones will be available for #bookreviewers very soon.
If you are an interested bookreviewer please message me for an advance copy
The Kindly Ones will be published by Lethe Press in September 2021 (with a beautiful front cover!)
The Kindly Ones

Trigger warning:
My enemy is Patriarchy. With everything I write, I aim to expose the violent dynamics inherent within Patriarchal ideology. Consequently, some reviewers may be disturbed by some limited portrayals of violence and abuse in The Kindly Ones.

 #dystopianfiction #dystopia #speculativefiction #queerspeculativefiction #queerbooks #LGBTQfiction #ARCs

Decent article in The Guardian today about a main theme of the book Life As A Kite: the abuse of Bishop Peter Ball:

"Cliff James said Ball boasted of his connections. “He kept mentioning his friendship with Prince Charles in a flippant way, [as] anyone would talk about a friend – but he’s talking about Prince Charles,” he said.

“Here he was having a friendship with someone as low down as me … The next minute he’s dropping into the conversation, ‘oh, he’s counsellor to royalty’. It just reinforced his specialness and the idea he was impregnable.”
Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...

Delighted to find a lengthy article in the Brighton Argus newspaper about the new book, Life As A Kite. The article also provides a sensitive write-up about the abuse perpetrated by Bishop Peter Ball, as disclosed in the BBC Two documentary "Exposed: The Church's Dark Secret". The link to the article is below-
Thanks Brighton Argus!

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18157...

A new video reading by the author Cliff James from the Epilogue of his new book Life As A Kite. In this excerpt, Cliff recounts how he heard about the death of Bishop Peter Ball on World Humanist Day.
https://youtu.be/EPBOMHKSS8M