Time. Wow.

by Neil Clark

A love story spanning 65 million years. A kid with a skyscraper growing on his head. The fate of a note sitting in a jacket pocket for decades. A rumour of a black hole hiding in the ocean. In Neil Clark's stunning debut collection, the cosmic and the mundane collide, drawing the reader through breathless twists of fate and exposing the poignant truths hidden where you least expect them. Clark's succinct and imaginative prose glints like old starlight on a new diamond ring.

89 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2020

Reviews

[Sarah Tollok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen man, time and space and love and death are all very big concepts to think about yet they also unavoidably affect us all. They are very real and can be downright scary. Neil Clark's short stories and micro fictions makes those big concepts relatable and personal, all while not sacrificing any of the awe factor. It's like covering your eyes with your hands and peeking out from between your fingers at a super nova. Even when you only see little bits of it at a time, you still gotta say, "WOW!"

Also, you should follow this author on twitter. He regularly posts tweet-sized stories that take my breath away and that remind me to take the time to look up at the stars.

[Laura Besley · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I accidently drove my lawnmower down a black hole in my garden.”

Anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of reading Neil Clark’s flash fiction before, can immediately rectify this by buying his collection, ‘Time. Wow.’ (Back Patio Press, 2020).

Clark’s writing is distinct and quirky, filled with space and stars and black holes, but that doesn’t detract from the more serious themes he explores in these short and super-short pieces.
“The last transmission from Earth was nine hundred and eighty-four years ago. They told us humankind was doomed.”

My favourite story was ‘Glue’, which is about loneliness and the unexpected connections we can make with people who are only in our lives fleetingly. “Our conversations are a million tiny dots, but over the years, they’ve become a huge canvas you take a step back and see something whole and beautiful.”

I feel that sums up Clark’s collection: a million little letters, but when you take a step back, you see something whole and beautiful.

[Cassondra Windwalker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tantalizing window into the wildly creative mind of Neil Clark, this collection of micro-fiction is equal parts poignant and daring, heart-rending and breathtaking. There's no point in the reader attempting to prepare herself for what might transpire next: Clark is more than willing to leap into in and out of the speculative and the mundane without a moment's warning. These tales of the fantastic have the unexpected impact of peeling back and laying bare the heartbreak of the ordinary. It's time for Clark to give us a novel next. His fine craftsmanship and mastery of the art of words combined with the courage of his ideas could not possibly disappoint.

[b · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply amazing. Great book. A Night Sky of Stars out of Five.

[Barbara McVeigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Neil Clark!

[M.K. Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a poetry book, but Neil Clark is the poet of our time. The way he weaves words into the fabric of our universe is magical. You never want the story to end.

I highly recommend this book of short stories and micro fiction. I know it can sometimes be hard to take a gushing review seriously, but, honestly, I've never been so mesmerized as when reading Neil's stories. I will be a fan for life. In each story Neil explores an emotion, theme, or topic related to time or space. You may not know what it is at the start of the story, but Neil brings you effortlessly along until you land softly at it's conclusion and you understand what it was all about.

My favorites out of this book are definitely Different, Seam, Skyscraper Head, Scars are Decoration, and Talk.

The only bad thing I have to say about this book is that it had to end 😭. I will be eagerly awaiting Neil's next book.

[Tyler Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neil Clark is from another planet. If, he were to write under the pseudonym, Cleil Nark, you'd know it was Neil. By the way space is a device, not a concept, by how he makes you sad, then teaches you how to get over it. By, how, in the same way the supposedly-last-words of the rover, Curiosity, "My battery is low and it's getting dark," spiraled you into a stay-home-from-work depression, this collection overwhelms you with littleness. But, at the same time, it's a Kurt-Vonnegut-type-thing rushing you to a warm place to pet your heart. Neil's work is smart, irascible, cunning, the type you stumble upon in the least-sheltered void most other writers never venture to and hold above your head like a talisman. Then, walk with it above your head through town, where people line up behind you. Time. Wow. is the first collection of a veteran.

[Brent Woo · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you look up at the vast night sky, you can feel either grandiose and inspired, or maybe scared and existential, or maybe somber and reflective. Reading this collection feels a little bit of all of that. There's moments of optimism and hope, there's moments of simple dreams and grand plans. There's moments of feeling alone and isolated, there's moments of intense, intimate connection.

+0 and Glue are brilliant. Glue, man. I have a takeaway woman like that and she's honestly family. She grieved with us through a death and we grieved with her through illness. Sometimes it just takes a bag of katsu pork extra sauce to feel whole and beautiful again.

[Cavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a book! (Do you get it? Do you get it? Like the title, haha, WOW!)

Seriously though, this book is amazing and easily digested via eyeballs. Read it, love it, thank Neil later.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neil Clark is well known on Twitter for his consistently brilliant VSS (Very Short Stories). In this fantastic sci-fi collection of tales, he expands his cosmic ideas into some incredible miniature worlds using the medium of flash fiction. Neil neatly packs so much emotion and creativity into so few words. These stories not only touch upon the universe beyond Earth, but also real human behaviours and feelings when exploring the vastness of the galaxy.

Space is infinite–so, it seems, is the imagination of Neil Clark. Highly recommended to any fans of sci-fi themes and/or flash fiction in general.