THE SHADOWS WE BREATHE Vol 2 - an anthology by Sarah Brentyn @SBrentyn and others

 4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: an anthology of short prose, on the subject of health.

Sarah Brentyn has edited as well as contributed to this collection; other contributors are D Wallace Peach, Georgia Bell, Ruth Daly, Ali Isaac, R A Kerr, S Mitchell-Jackson and Allie Potts.

The first part is 'flash' fiction - short stories of 500 words each.  All were emotive and beautifully written, my favourites being Sanity by D Wallace Peach, Bar Made by Sarah Brentyn, Barbed Wire in the Palm of my Hand by Ruth Daly and Extended Performance by Allie Potts.  They cover subjects of both physical and psychological health, as do the shorter pieces.

The second part is a section of 'micro' fiction: snappy 50 word stories. My favourites were The Fall by Sarah Brentyn and Reflection by Ali Isaac.  After this is a collection of very clever 'microbursts' - stories of just 10 words.  The group wrote with these prompts: Never, Insignificant, Discover, Lose, Reach, each of the microbursts including the relevant word.  In a way I felt that these showed off the talent of the authors most of all; to be able to tell a story in such a controlled fashion is quite a feat, and so strongly illustrates the power of words. 

This is a lovely book to read all at once or dip into.  There is not one weak contribution and it is beautifully presented, with a photo and bio of each author at the end.  Well done, ladies!

PLUMAS DE MUERTE: Tequila Journals and Dreams by Phil Motel @philmotel

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
On BookBub 

How I discovered this book: Already a fan.

In a Nutshell:  Non-fiction: memoir, journal entries and poems.

The Blurb: 
Life in a long-stay motel, overseen by the on-site muscle: 'if this was a movie, he'd be played by Steve Buscemi'. Twelve-hour shifts at a mundane job alongside a host of strange characters with their own struggle to make it to the end of the day. Anecdotes from journals of adventures past: wannabe musicians, ill-fated relationships and the bottom of a bottle.

Musings on life, death, dreams, and the frustrations of the writing process: the journal entries were written while during the creation of the author's debut novel, Rum Hijack.

Dream Diary
The second part of Plumas de Muerte is as it says: a small collection of dreams: what goes on while we are asleep?

A raw ride that makes no attempt to gloss over the darker side of the author's life at the time, while acting as a cautionary tale about the nightmare of substance abuse - and the final road of alcoholism/addiction.


My review:
The 'Tequila Journals', the first part of this book, makes up 80% of the whole.  There are two main settings: an unnamed place of work, and the motel in which the diarist lives.  Doesn't sound very thrilling?  It is.  PM is one of those scribes who has the knack of making an after-work beer in a fast food establishment or wrangles over his room rent with the seedy 'Steve Buscemi' as riveting as any 'fast-paced' action thriller. I once noted that memoir writer Val Poore managed to bring tears to my eyes in a short chapter about the lighting of oil lamps.  This was similar; it's not the subject matter, but the innate talent of the writer.  

When I got nearer to the end I felt that, although maybe not meant as such, it does make up an actual story.  We see how PM's frustration with his working life and writing increases, how he becomes jaded with (and fails to chase up) possible romantic opportunities, how his depression about events from the past deepens, his drinking becomes more and more out of hand, until happiness visits his life once more, only to be ripped away—and sends his life spiralling completely out of control.  At the end, I turned over the page and thought, 'What, no more?  But what happens next?'.  I'm hoping he will write the next 'chapter' at some point.

One of my favourite sections in the Tequila Journals was a look back at a crazy, chaotic time spent in Colorado, which reminded me of a Kerouac novel, though there's nothing pretentious, plagiarised or 'wannabe' about PM's writing style; it's unique, and appears to be the sort of effortless that tells me he doesn't realise how good he is.  Throughout, every character is perfectly captured in just a couple of lines of dialogue.

The dream diary at the end: I am one of those who dislikes dream sequences in films or books, and suppresses yawns when people go into detail about a dream they had, but I liked these; they were well put together, not rambling, and the style and structure varied.  Also, having read the book, I could see what was behind some of them—some aspects of loss, isolation and anger.

I've read the novel, Rum Hijack, that PM was writing at the time these journal entries were made, and I loved it, but in a way I like some aspects of this collection even more.  Includes some relevant artwork and photos.  Highly, highly recommended.

ON THE EDGE OF A RAINDROP by Sarah Brentyn @SarahBrentyn

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book:  I noticed it was on free promotion, via a tweet.

Genre: Flash and micro fiction, psychological

This collection of pieces was a good choice to read when I woke up today; just right for an hour in bed on Sunday morning.

From the blurb:

These are stories of lives on the edge.

A girl tortured by the world within her. A boy powerless to escape his home. A mother doomed to live with her greatest mistake. A man lost in a maze of grief.

Each raindrop provides a microscopic mirror of ourselves and those around us. But we can’t always trust what we see. The distorted images disorientate the mind, altering our view of reality.

(Please note: I had to change 'disorient' to 'disorientate', because I am English!)

I think I liked the first section, Mindscapes, the best; there are some beautiful and haunting snapshots of subjects' lives, perfectly written and evocative. The metaphors used are well chosen, without over-playing them.  All pieces are on the dark side, which I like. 

As with all collections I had my favourites, but I liked all of them.  Sometimes, I could see a whole life in a paragraph, so insightful and artfully captured are they. I think the collection would be enjoyed by anyone who likes to read poetry, or just admires the well drawn sentence.  It's the first I've read of Sarah Brentyn, and I'd most definitely recommend.  99p or available on Kindle Unlimited.