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Dead Dogs & Splintered Hearts
“Read everything with his name on” – Tony Parsons
“A little bit of Fellini/Fitzgerald in feeling” – Oliver Stone
In these 24 short stories, author Tom Ward invites you inside a world at times heartbreaking, occasionally violent, and often perverse.
Featuring: a sophisticated assassin, celebratory Parisian cabaret dancers and a magazine cool enough to literally explode minds, and diving into: love and shattered hopes in the South of France, the ghost of Norman Mailer, a disgraced Father Christmas, and cannibalistic school teachers, there’s something here for everyone to enjoy, or at least be offended by.
And that’s before we’ve even touched on: Lithuanian beauties, fingers cut to the bone, a bag of eyeballs, Mexican evenings with dishonoured famous cyclists, Charles Bukowksi’s pub, and the latest in scientific seduction techniques.
Oh, and there’s the occasional dog, as well.
Includes the GQ Norman Mailer Award-winning ‘Four Night Stand’
“A little bit of Fellini/Fitzgerald in feeling” – Oliver Stone
In these 24 short stories, author Tom Ward invites you inside a world at times heartbreaking, occasionally violent, and often perverse.
Featuring: a sophisticated assassin, celebratory Parisian cabaret dancers and a magazine cool enough to literally explode minds, and diving into: love and shattered hopes in the South of France, the ghost of Norman Mailer, a disgraced Father Christmas, and cannibalistic school teachers, there’s something here for everyone to enjoy, or at least be offended by.
And that’s before we’ve even touched on: Lithuanian beauties, fingers cut to the bone, a bag of eyeballs, Mexican evenings with dishonoured famous cyclists, Charles Bukowksi’s pub, and the latest in scientific seduction techniques.
Oh, and there’s the occasional dog, as well.
Includes the GQ Norman Mailer Award-winning ‘Four Night Stand’
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
157 pages, ebook
Published August 18, 2016
2 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 13, 2017
A fun and quirky collection of 24 short stories ranging from broken hearts and murdered dogs to staying in a house haunted my Norman Mailer. Some of the tales end abruptly and leave you wondering if you've missed something, bust in most it is easy to see the point of the yarn. Some read more poetically while others leave you disturbed. Apart from the typos in the text, this is an excellently written book that I enjoyed immensely. Now my partner wants to read it! I shall look out for other books by this writer. Bravo.
August 21, 2016
In this collection of 24 short stories, writer Tom Ward drops us into a world of love, death and dancing. Though held together by the book's general theme (pooches and broken hearts), the subject matter ranges from Parisian cabaret and a house disturbed by the ghostly presence of Norman Mailer, to a predatory sports master and an intern frantic for the latest craze in magazine literature. Ward presents a fascinating mix of delicate prose and unconventional narratives that tackles relationships head on and doesn't take any prisoners.
Reading this series of diverse tales, I was aware that some, such as 'The Sweetest Meat', and 'A Walk in the Park' were well crafted and clever, though a little predictable in their structure. Others however, like the haunting 'Glass Flowers' with its lyrical, almost poetical style, and the ridiculous but witty 'The Intern and The Exploding Magazine', made me think this guy really knows what he's doing.
There are many masters of the short story form whose work occasionally has me wracking my brains as to the actual point of their tales. Similarly, a few of Mr Ward's narratives finished abruptly, leaving me wondering if I'd missed something. One or two even had me thinking they'd been written by someone else, but maybe that's the point. Tom Ward clearly has a ton of talent and I'll be very interested to see what he offers up next.
I was offered an electronic version of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Reading this series of diverse tales, I was aware that some, such as 'The Sweetest Meat', and 'A Walk in the Park' were well crafted and clever, though a little predictable in their structure. Others however, like the haunting 'Glass Flowers' with its lyrical, almost poetical style, and the ridiculous but witty 'The Intern and The Exploding Magazine', made me think this guy really knows what he's doing.
There are many masters of the short story form whose work occasionally has me wracking my brains as to the actual point of their tales. Similarly, a few of Mr Ward's narratives finished abruptly, leaving me wondering if I'd missed something. One or two even had me thinking they'd been written by someone else, but maybe that's the point. Tom Ward clearly has a ton of talent and I'll be very interested to see what he offers up next.
I was offered an electronic version of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews