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Basically Frightened
Basically Frightened is a story about one man’s travels, trials and tribulations in a post-apocalyptic Britain. Finally venturing out to break his cycle of hermitage, the narrator searches to find a group to join in the fight against the end of humanity. He finds group after gang after collective after family. When he finally discovers an eclectic community that takes him in and allows him to stay, he tries to fit into the environment. Sometimes, one can try too hard to fit in and the main character finds this out in spades.
Basic Frightened is a delightful story about one of the most depressing topics: The End of the World. The Narrator has a wit about him throughout the entire story that is both engaging and endearing. The entire time reading this book and the terms ‘Keep a stiff upper lip’ and ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ kept coming to mind like a gentle yet firm reminder. The characters that the protagonist can be a bit stereotypical and the story itself follows a well-trod path, but neither of those should keep this book from a wide spread audience.
The Narrator, ‘Buckaroo Bonzai’ as he likes to call himself because he never reveals his name, has similarities to other heroes of the wasteland that was once civilization: Strong sense of right and wrong, unique skill-set to help benefit those around him and the courage to do what’s right. Whereas the other ‘nameless’ or legendary characters, ‘Buck’ stands out due to the genuine and compassionate personality he exudes. Throughout the entirety of the book, ‘Buck’ allows the audience to peak not only into the corners of his own mind but why the world is the way it is. And none of it feels forced or rushed. The narrator combines stories from his own life and bits of trivia from everyday life (ranging from movies, hence the chosen name, to celebrity gossip) and allows the reader to step immediately into the current situation. This is a mark of a talented writer.
The author, Vasily Pugh, has a way of weaving a story together without being overly dry (and one could say British) or being overly sappy either. He allows the story to be dramatic and deep and then has a scene where the characters are talking about a modern day chamber pot. The dialog feels natural and the references that give the reader a mental landmark to guide themselves show a well-designed thought process. Other stories and media that deal with this subject matter tend to be gloomy (for good reason of course) and deal with the human aspect of apocalypses. Mr. Pugh has done the latter with being able to bring a fresh new look on the former. The content, while a bit done before, is still a fresh take on a subject that has been prevalent as of late.
In summary, Basically Frightened is truly ‘another slice of Post-apocalyptia’ but one in the same vein of the devilishly too short lived television series ‘Pushing Daises’. A look at a dark subject matter (murder and death/the end of the world) and showing it in an incredibly bright and almost fanciful manner.
This book should and will be a best seller one day. Or at the very least, the fantastic first step in a great literary career.
Pages: 219 | ASIN: B01KYKNQAG
The Lovey-Dovey Stuff is my Favourite
M.L. Sparrow Author Interview
Player follows Chloe, a British student attending college in the United States where she falls in love with a star football player. What was the inspiration to write a story about a British girl living in the United States and the subsequent love story?
Well, I actually applied to study in America (Texas being my first choice!), however, due to various reasons I ended up not going. This story sprang from that and, of course, I had to make it a romance because the lovey-dovey stuff is my favourite thing to write!
I felt that the relationship between Chole and Parker was deep and always entertaining to read. What was the inspiration for the love that develops between Chloe and Parker?
To be honest, their love wasn’t inspired by anything, it just grew and developed as I wrote the story. I’m so happy with the way that their relationship turned out; I liked the way Chloe and Parker were together, but I also thought that they were also strong characters apart.
What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?
Probably the scene where Parker punches one of his team mates for being rude to Chloe, because the message that I was trying to get across in this book was that New Adult romances don’t need to be jam-packed with unrealistic drama, with hero’s that are ridiculously overprotective and get into fights at the smallest provocation. That’s not real life. In real life you can’t go around punching people that annoy you. In real life you have to talk to your partner otherwise there WILL be misunderstandings. In the scene that I’m talking about Chloe is not accepting of Parkers behaviour and makes it clear that she won’t put up with it, instead of just accepting it or thinking its sexy.
Player is the first book in the What Happens on Campus series. Can you tell us a little about where the story goes in book two and when the novel will be available?
Book two will be Flirt, Riley and Cameron’s book and it will explore Riley’s broken dreams and the reasons behind her escalating drug abuse, among other issues. I haven’t actually started writing it yet, though I plan to soon, and I’m hoping to have it ready for release in mid/late 2017.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Let the game begin…
After a tragic accident which leaves her tormented by guilt, Chloe Newman accepts a scholarship to study a St. Joseph’s University. Traveling from England to Texas, the last thing she expects is to meet the schools charming quarterback on her first night. However, Parker Mitchell is a player both on and off the field.
Parker is immediately fascinated by Chloe and, after a rocky start, they manage to find a way to make their relationship work despite interference from others on campus, including Parkers jealous ex, and the ghosts that haunt Chloe’s conscience. But, the real test comes when they visit Parker’s family over Christmas break and he finds himself being pulled back into their lifestyle…
Review – A Class Apart by Stephen Henning
A coach has just been blown up in an apparent terrorist attack in London leaving dozens of school children wounded. They’re rushed to a hospital for medical care while the media swarms for a glimpse of the aftermath. The police quickly get involved to try and calm everyone’s fears and catch the perpetrator. What no one realizes is that this is much more than a blind act of violence and the school children were not random victims, but targets of a well-executed plan. The hospital quickly becomes a house of terror when the kids realize that they’ve gained super powers and the staff is turned into puppets acting out one child’s nightmares. Two of the kids, James and Sam, take it upon themselves to solve the mystery and save everyone from a living nightmare.
A Class Apart certainly doesn’t unfold like your standard super hero novel. At first I thought this was going to wind down to a horror novel as more of the creepy elements of the hospital surfaced early on in the novel, but then it melded with some classic super hero elements of discovery and limitations. Most of the book takes place in a hospital, which was meticulously detailed in the book and lent to its overall creepy vibe later in the novel. The main characters, James and Sam, are siblings and are well developed through the story along with plenty of the other characters that are thrown into the mix. But by far the best character is Lolly; her overall mysterious nature was well characterized and she’s one personality that I definitely want to learn more about. It seemed that her and her ‘father’ were the ones pulling the strings, but operating on the sideline of events. But while the characters and scenes were well done what really brought this novel down a bit was the dialogue and overall character interactions. The dialogue seemed very generic and forced in some cases. For example there was one line of dialogue early in the novel when the children were calling each other names, “I hope you die looking at a McDonalds.” I’m not sure what this means, maybe it means something in Britain, but to me it just sounds like an odd thing to wish on your enemy, even for kids. Or another example, “You pretend that you think you are not attractive,” continued Philip Randerson, “when, in reality, you know that you are attractive. But by acting like you believe you are not, you end up gathering more attention.” I use this because it’s an example of a lot of sentences in this book that suffer from a lack of contractions and clunky prose. But overlooking the awkward flow of speech A Class Apart has a fantastic story of sibling love and the burdens of power at its core. It stands on its own as a novel, but is a great setup for the series.
Pages: 202
ASIN: B005VGE1OY
Learn more about the Class Heros series at http://www.classheroes.com/
