What do you think?
Rate this book
Thirteen: a collection of odd tales by B. A. Spicer
‘Thirteen’ is a mix of literary fiction, murder mystery, science fiction and magic, including eight previously unpublished stories.
Excerpt from A Lapse in Concentration:
There wasn’t much that I didn’t know about Daniela French, but, in the end, there’s always something unpredictable that slips past during a field observation. Usually such surprises are insignificant. Sometimes, however, the moment you miss holds the key to something deeper. Something with consequences. Then we have to wonder whether all that we thought we knew is valid. In the context of my current assignment, I would have to admit that my observational skills were at fault. I lost concentration. It happens.
Excerpt from A Lapse in Concentration:
There wasn’t much that I didn’t know about Daniela French, but, in the end, there’s always something unpredictable that slips past during a field observation. Usually such surprises are insignificant. Sometimes, however, the moment you miss holds the key to something deeper. Something with consequences. Then we have to wonder whether all that we thought we knew is valid. In the context of my current assignment, I would have to admit that my observational skills were at fault. I lost concentration. It happens.
141 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 21, 2015
4 people want to read
About the author
B.A. Spicer
14 books74 followersBev Spicer has been writing full-time for eight years, from her crumbly Charentaise house in France. In a past life she gained a degree in English and French Literature (Keele University) and a PGCE in English methods (Queens' College, Cambridge).
She has lived in Bridgnorth, Cambridge, Rethymnon (Crete), Mahe (Seychelles), and now lives in Charente Maritime with her husband and youngest son. The next place she wants to explore is probably Spain. Her husband is very tolerant, and secretly enjoys chaos.
Bev has been a teacher, blackjack dealer for Playboy, examiner for Cambridge ESOL, secretary (various sorts - most boringly 'legal'), lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, and a Sunday checkout girl for Tesco (who allowed her to deliver surplus bakery products to the homeless – ‘every little helps’).
She loves people, reading, writing, speaking French, astronomy (quantum theory addict), gardening, travelling, and hates housework, cooking, drizzle and honey.
Bev publishes under the name Bev Spicer for her lighter books and B. A. Spicer for more literary work.
She has lived in Bridgnorth, Cambridge, Rethymnon (Crete), Mahe (Seychelles), and now lives in Charente Maritime with her husband and youngest son. The next place she wants to explore is probably Spain. Her husband is very tolerant, and secretly enjoys chaos.
Bev has been a teacher, blackjack dealer for Playboy, examiner for Cambridge ESOL, secretary (various sorts - most boringly 'legal'), lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, and a Sunday checkout girl for Tesco (who allowed her to deliver surplus bakery products to the homeless – ‘every little helps’).
She loves people, reading, writing, speaking French, astronomy (quantum theory addict), gardening, travelling, and hates housework, cooking, drizzle and honey.
Bev publishes under the name Bev Spicer for her lighter books and B. A. Spicer for more literary work.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 4, 2015
There is nothing predictable about this collection of strange tales.
The stories in THIRTEEN: A COLLECTION OF ODD TALES run the gamut from speculative fiction with a scientific edge to Gothic fiction to darkly humorous detective fiction. Nor are Spicer's characters any easier to pin down. They live in ambiguity and don't behave or react in the ways we might expect, like the loving mother in "Angels" whose grief leads her to the unthinkable, or the young lover in "The Visit" who, on a weekend holiday with a fascinating woman, somehow dreams every moment of their getaway before it happens.
A couple of the stories go past "odd" into truly dark places. "Night Caller" had me checking that my windows and doors were locked tight. I couldn't stop squirming as I read "Flashforward". I kept hoping that somehow a last-minute miracle would reverse what we know from page one can never be undone.
Taken as a whole, the tone of the collection is meditative, exploratory. It's almost as if Spicer set each story loose in its own glassed-in habitat and stepped back to see what would happen. What results is a wonderfully imaginative collection that never quite shows you its true face.
The stories in THIRTEEN: A COLLECTION OF ODD TALES run the gamut from speculative fiction with a scientific edge to Gothic fiction to darkly humorous detective fiction. Nor are Spicer's characters any easier to pin down. They live in ambiguity and don't behave or react in the ways we might expect, like the loving mother in "Angels" whose grief leads her to the unthinkable, or the young lover in "The Visit" who, on a weekend holiday with a fascinating woman, somehow dreams every moment of their getaway before it happens.
A couple of the stories go past "odd" into truly dark places. "Night Caller" had me checking that my windows and doors were locked tight. I couldn't stop squirming as I read "Flashforward". I kept hoping that somehow a last-minute miracle would reverse what we know from page one can never be undone.
Taken as a whole, the tone of the collection is meditative, exploratory. It's almost as if Spicer set each story loose in its own glassed-in habitat and stepped back to see what would happen. What results is a wonderfully imaginative collection that never quite shows you its true face.
Displaying 1 of 1 review