Submerged

by Garrie Fletcher

Submerged is one man’s journey across a deserted land in search of his family. He is beset by wild packs of dogs, unnerving dreams, and the fear that he could’ve been a better father. It isn’t until he returns to an overgrown city he once called home that he realises his demons are not merely external.

42 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2019

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garrie is in my writer's group and brought along this quite brilliant longish short story one night. Glad to see it in print: a lovely pocket book of 40 small pages. It has added interest for me, as it is set near where I live (well by the end of the story), but in a future where buildings rot as trees grow through them and everyone except the protagonist has disappeared, although packs of marauding dogs beset him as he tries to locate his family. Is he losing his mind? An adventure story really, tense and things remain uncertain. Highly controlled writing but affecting in its fondness for family and human touch among the dangerous unpopulated city landscape.

[Nigel Proctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Submerged' by Garrie Fletcher, his second book to be published by Mantle Lane Press, following 2017’s ‘Night Swimming’, falls somewhere between a long short story and a short novella. It's an intriguing tale with an equally intriguing blend of influences. At times, 'Submerged' reads like blue collar Ballard - Ballard's favoured protagonists were almost always middle-class professionals, Fletcher's main character-narrator is far more of an Everyman - and at other times it feels closer to a zombie movie, with the undead horde replaced by a somewhat mundane but equally unrelenting threat.
There are other oblique influences too and in the unnamed protagonist's "companions" I was both reminded of Rogue Trooper's bio chips in 2000AD's long running, eponymous comic strip and of the telepathic canine in Harlan Ellison's, 'A Boy and His Dog'. And maybe, just maybe, there’s an echo of Iain Banks’s ‘The Bridge’, especially in a scene set on, well, a bridge.
That's not to say 'Submerged' is SF or derivative, it’s neither. What it is is a well paced story, well told, with an effective - and affecting - portrait of a man separated from his partner and children at its centre.
My one quibble - two, actually; I would also have liked a longer story - is with the final "twist", which, to be honest, is closer to a slow reveal, the nature of which is hinted at fairly early on. But then maybe that's the point and 'Submerged' is more about the mysteries and complexities of family life, love and loss than just mystery alone.
Almost short enough to be read over a single coffee, 'Submerged' definitely makes an excellent lunch hour companion. Recommended.

[Antonella Belluardo]

Submerged di Garrie Fletcher è stato un viaggio che mi è piaciuto molto e che mi ha spaventato tantissimo. L'autore ti conduce in una realtà illogica, fatta di insidie e pericoli che emanano significati e sono lo specchio di paure profonde e inquietanti. La scrittura dell'autore è chiara e scorrevole, a tratti ironica e spiazzante. E' un libro in continuo movimento che ti cattura e ti inquieta.

[Emma Purshouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garrie's writing is excellent. A tightly written piece of fiction, with a distinctly dystopian feel. This is a really beautifully produced short story from Mantel Lane Press. I bought it as a bundle of three and enjoyed them immensely. This would be a great gift.

[Nigel Boot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superbly written and wonderfully imagined, Submerged takes the reader into one man's journey through a dystopian, yet familiar landscape. An exhilarating and thoughtful read from start to finish.