COLLISIONS

by A.F.N. Clarke

Mesmerically gripping and profoundly disturbing … a voice that commands attention.in that twilight zone between life and death, a seriously injured soldier faces an even bigger battle to regain his sanity and sense of identity.Collisions draws on AFN Clarke's own near death experience and was published not long after his bestselling autobiography CONTACT.David Trowse, a critically injured soldier is close to the edge of death and to losing his mind. In the struggle to survive he tries to ravel together fragments of his past with the present - both civilian and military - to revive old interests, acquaintances and find the common thread of his life again. But the pieces obstinately refuse to fit; anachronisms begin to jar and old relationships are tangled with new.The pattern that ought to emerge keeps lurching alarmingly into nightmare and horror, as reality takes on aspects of fantasy. The contradictions rush together in a series of increasingly violent collisions, and accelerate to a petrifying climax that casts reality itself in doubt.This is a both fascinating and disturbing book, a look inside the mind of a well-trained killer who is also a creative, caring, soulful individual who has undergone violent, traumatic, life-threatening and heart-wrenching experiences, and is trying to find his mental, emotional and spiritual centre again.For adult readers only - the violence is graphic as is the language frank - but the authenticity of the experience requires it, requires the reader to live each word and feel the fire within. FROM THE AUTHOR"Collisions emerged from the ashes of my own journey grasping for life and a thread of sanity"Though a book of fiction, Collisions is loosely based on my own surreal experience after being medevacked from Crossmaglen to a Military Hospital in Belfast at the end of my second tour as a Platoon Commander with Britain's Parachute Regiment during the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, and then undergoing a series of life-saving surgeries the following year. A nightmare of trying to deal with war, death, family, my own near demise, that twilight zone between life and death and the aftermath. It's the closest I have ever written to what some readers would describe as 'psychological horror',all my more recent novels being more light, fast paced, thrillers, mysteries, dramas or humorous satires - which hopefully is a testament to how far I have come in my own life these days!But Collisions is an important book, because so many soldiers and others recovering from some sort of life and death experience do feel like they are losing their minds and find it hard to mesh two very different realities and experiences of the world into one healthy life.

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 27, 2012

About the author

AFN Clarke is the bestselling author of the nonfiction book CONTACT, which was serialized in a British national newspaper and made into an award winning film by BBCTV. He also writes fiction of various genres. He’s lived all over the world, served in the British army, had a near death experience, lost half his insides and recovered from the physical and emotional traumas of war. A proud father of four daughters, screenwriter, pilot, race car driver, he loves to sail, listen to opera, cook gourmet meals, drink wine, read good books, have heated discussions and travel off the beaten path.

Writing mainly fiction these days, he favors politically charged thrillers, suspense and intrigue, humorous satire and books about the challenges of human relationships, all of which reveal his curiosity about the world and his strong belief in the overwhelming power of love, laughter and of the human spirit.

Books include: The Orange Moon Affair and The Jonas Trust Deception (Thomas Gunn thrillers) Contact, Collisions, An Unquiet American, Dry Tortugas, The Book of Baker Series (Dreams from the Death Age; Armageddon; Genesis Revisited) with more coming soon. Author website: www.afnclarke.com.