Thursday 14 June 2012

Floatin' My Boat

Fountain Rescue team
Now - England I love you. When you played France in the Euro footie I cheered you on against the vile foreigners who had raped our soil in 1066. When you rain day after day my summer away I love your verdant meadows, your joyful car floating monsoons. BUT - please can I go home now? Barbecue and sun lounger prices drown and you know that some CEO will face the axe because he misjudged the sun cream uptake profile. 

Emergency barbecue supplies must get through

But - do I complain? Well, actually yes - I bloody well do! I damn near floated my bus today and if it had got much worse I would have had them all singing "For those in Peril on the Sea". Mind you it's a great hymn. I often reflect on my own past and my innocent days in school assemblies singing with joy about pilgrims and swallowing the grim pills of sin. I do not believe a word of it now, but the songs sing themselves on in my atheist, hedonist wine drinking, soft kissing, longing soul. I'm a spiritual philosophical mess spilled out like a pack of pristine playing cards onto a cow cud pasture of sweet ripe dung. And to make it worse....I've been a very naughty girl.....

The guys at Digital Book Today offered me the chance of a feature interview. For an hour I lay in a bath of ego while probing questions all about ME massaged my back. I felt so relaxed, I told the truth. They asked me what I wanted to stress in my work and I explained that mainly it was the sexual expression of emotional love. Yes - I can't believe I said that. Well, it's too late now.... Probably no one will read it.

I'm a bit of a slow reader. A few days ago I finished Bert Carson's book "Maddog and Miss Kitty". Now, Bert is a guy and I think this is the first time he's fought his way up the petticoat peninsula with a love story. I've posted a review on Amazon  but let me say here that this is a first class love story. It is not my own brand of bodice busting and lusting. It is a story of real life and its drifting misty sadness that eats our time. It is the triumph of love set against the tristesse of unexplored passion. It is not a Romance but the poignancy of its denial. I cried....and I know your heart will too. Enjoy your tears.  Here is my review:  

I first came across Bert Carson when I read "Fourth and Forever". I like the clarity of his writing which relies on the characters and their context to create the narrative power. The last thing I want to do is is to provide a plot spoiler so I'm not going to give many details. Essentially it is love story, more in the sense of the constraints placed upon love. It is also a story of lives searching for love and acceptance. An agonizing poignancy is provided by the sense of missed opportunity and young lives denied their chance both by society and war. Once again Bert Carson opens up the subject of the psychology of stress and focuses on the joy and problems of relationships formed in extremis. Warriors returning from war can never find those bonds which fixed them to comrades yet at the same time alienated them from the rest of society and even close family. At the same time conflicting tides within society itself deepened the isolation of the Vietnam Veteran. Against all odds, the main male character Maddog finds a personal pathway back to success, helping many others on the way. Equally, Miss Kitty fights her own path until eventually after many setbacks, destiny provides justice. It is a story of a blighted love but the triumph of the human heart. The book also carries four bonus track short stories which should not be viewed as any kind of filler. They are all pertinent to the theme of the book. My favourite was "The Medic". I am an admirer of Bert Carson's style. His books are easy to read and the story flows like a good screenplay. I am hoping that one day someone will spot the opportunity.

Maddog and Miss Kitty - For Amazon USA click here, for Amazon UK click here

Emma thinx: Why lie when the truth is such delicious sin?




4 comments:

  1. You're both wonderful as writers and human beings. Lucky me, knowing you both.

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  2. Please Emma, you're slowly destroying my fantasy of wanting to live in England someday when I retire. You've got all those lovely castles, the scenery is fantastic, and you have loads of history. Your country may have been defiled in 1066, but my young whippersnapper of a country wasn't even around at that time.

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  3. Hi Emma,

    I agree the weather is terrible in this country at the moment! I'm hoping summer will turn up sooner or later.

    By the way, I gave you an award over on my blog. Check it out when you have a minute.

    Morgan x

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  4. Hi Emma
    With you all the way on the weather. Recently read a book set in 13 something when it apparently rained every day for a year. Could 2012 be the next record-breaker? Anyway I agree nothing like a good hymn to raise the spirits. Eurythmics ‘Here comes the Rain again’ also strikes the right note, or ‘Raining Men’ if feeling optimistic. See you around!
    Ali B

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Thanks so much for stopping by. Always so happy to get your feedback. Emma x