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Stepping Forward
On August 25th 2010, Carl Doyle vanished into thin air right in front of his friends.
Since he left, Alan Darcy has had to put up with the public interest. Life goes on, changed forever. People blame him for Carl disappearing: friends, the media, the authorities. The first chance he gets, he flees the country.
Over a year later, Carl returns as mysteriously as he disappeared. With no recollection of where he's been, who he is or why he left, he can only wait for Alan to come back home, and attempt to remember his life before stepping forward in time.
Since he left, Alan Darcy has had to put up with the public interest. Life goes on, changed forever. People blame him for Carl disappearing: friends, the media, the authorities. The first chance he gets, he flees the country.
Over a year later, Carl returns as mysteriously as he disappeared. With no recollection of where he's been, who he is or why he left, he can only wait for Alan to come back home, and attempt to remember his life before stepping forward in time.
74 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2011
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November 9, 2017
Categorising this lively novella is tricky as it could be called SF except that no science is involved, while no fantasy magical system is described and if it's metaphysical, no explanation is sought. So I'm sticking with urban fantasy.
While a small group of student friends are talking in an electrical shop, one of their number vanishes in front of their eyes. Jumping back and forward through a year or so, we see how this affected the pals, which is a good aspect to explore. We also see that when a man mysteriously appears elsewhere, it's accepted that this is the same person although he has no memories and cannot explain the gap in time. Plenty of material here for discussion.
I'm pleased that the book is set largely in Dublin and relates to experiences of the day.
The original matter was written in 2010 and published in 2016. If the author wants to keep a record of his creative writing in 2010, that is fine. For a wider audience I would recommend revising the book with the aid of an editor or a more mature awareness of the craft of writing. The first page, two paragraphs long, uses the word 'the' 22 times. More than once I found five uses of 'it' in two sentences. Faint is twice spelt as feint. Pronouns are so frequent as to be confusing. I feel the book could have been so much better. Of course, I am very picky, and some readers will not mind.
The author has also produced fantasy works based on Irish legends, which I look forward to reading. I expect like any author, his works have improved as his career has progressed.
I purchased a copy normally during an SF convention. I was not asked to write a review. This is an unbiased review.
While a small group of student friends are talking in an electrical shop, one of their number vanishes in front of their eyes. Jumping back and forward through a year or so, we see how this affected the pals, which is a good aspect to explore. We also see that when a man mysteriously appears elsewhere, it's accepted that this is the same person although he has no memories and cannot explain the gap in time. Plenty of material here for discussion.
I'm pleased that the book is set largely in Dublin and relates to experiences of the day.
The original matter was written in 2010 and published in 2016. If the author wants to keep a record of his creative writing in 2010, that is fine. For a wider audience I would recommend revising the book with the aid of an editor or a more mature awareness of the craft of writing. The first page, two paragraphs long, uses the word 'the' 22 times. More than once I found five uses of 'it' in two sentences. Faint is twice spelt as feint. Pronouns are so frequent as to be confusing. I feel the book could have been so much better. Of course, I am very picky, and some readers will not mind.
The author has also produced fantasy works based on Irish legends, which I look forward to reading. I expect like any author, his works have improved as his career has progressed.
I purchased a copy normally during an SF convention. I was not asked to write a review. This is an unbiased review.
Displaying 1 of 1 review