Mark Cantrell's Blog, page 60
March 29, 2011
Isolation Space Reviewed
What Hungur has to say about Isolation Space Review by Terrie Leigh Relf, editor, Hungur MagazineMark Cantrell's Isolation Space: A Melange of Short Fiction, is, as its title and content reveals, a medley of twenty short stories that will challenge, disturb, fascinate, provoke, sicken, and otherwise engross readers. They may even incite you to foment change!
If you love tales of horror and the supernatural, fantasy and the fantastic, speculative and science fiction, then this book belongs...
March 27, 2011
A Look At Isolation Space
BOOK REVIEW:
Writers’ Muse #50 August 2009
Isolation Space,
A Melange of Short Fiction
By Mark Cantrell
Review by Jim Palmer, Editor
A couple of short stories in this excellent volume have been published previously in the Muse (The Rise & Fall of Sisyphus in issue 39, and An Englishman’s Home Is A... [published as Coming Home To Roost] in issue 45).
I’ve done quite a few reviews in my time but I must admit that this one was hard to write. Isolation Space not only contains many of my favourite fictional genres, many are, in my opinion, written in the style of the ‘Golden Age’, as I mentioned last issue. So – forgive me for being biased and indulging myself!
As well as the horror and science fiction pieces, there are some wonderfully observed satirical stories. It’s hard to write satire that leaves the writer helpless with mirth, rage and realisation of the truth behind the story, but Mark achieves it brilliantly. His pace when writing these types if pieces is inestimable.
It’s hard to pick any favourites from this collection but for sheer creeping me out, the award must be shared between One Way Trip and Window Gazers; the former because ir reminds me so much of the first time I watched the film, Alien, and the latter because even though it was slightly less than two pages long, it made me tuck the covers in and make sure the doors were locked (so much for reading in bed to relax!)
Like many of the best science fiction and horror stories, there are twists in the tail of many of these pieces, and, also like many of the best in those genres, then end, when it hits you, is not at all expected. I pride myself in being able to take a pretty shrewd guess at what happens next, and even the endings, in stories – it’s an element of being an editor (nothing special, just experience I guess).
Only one of the twenty short stories in this collection was solved by yours truly before the end! I know these things are subjective, but that says a lot about a writer in my humble opinion.
Other pieces I feel I have to mention are, Shopping For Katie, involving a form of cloning for childless couples on the face of it. Apart from being more than scientifically possible, the story leaves a nasty taste in the mouth abut that possibility being used for commercial purposes, with the result (in this tale) being poignantly probable. At Death’s Door is another one that creeped me. It’s surreal (I hope) journey into what Poe called the hypnagogic state of mind when you’re unsure of reality and fantasy and the boundaries between become distorted and (as in this piece) break down! Finally, A Walk In The Woods – a seemingly simple tale that has hidden depth and is both prophetic and contemporary in its message, given the problems our planet is facing and with us as passengers on it!
If you love being thrilled, frightened, intrigued, fascinated and engrossed, you can do no better than get hold of this book.
Jim Palmer – Editor, Writers' Muse
The anthology is available in paperback at Lulu so feel free to check it out.
Since the paperback edition appeared, Isolation Space has also been published for the Kindle at Amazon.
It can also be purchased for the Sony Reader, Nook, and other devices at Smashwords
Writers’ Muse #50 August 2009
Isolation Space,
A Melange of Short Fiction
By Mark Cantrell
Review by Jim Palmer, Editor
A couple of short stories in this excellent volume have been published previously in the Muse (The Rise & Fall of Sisyphus in issue 39, and An Englishman’s Home Is A... [published as Coming Home To Roost] in issue 45).
I’ve done quite a few reviews in my time but I must admit that this one was hard to write. Isolation Space not only contains many of my favourite fictional genres, many are, in my opinion, written in the style of the ‘Golden Age’, as I mentioned last issue. So – forgive me for being biased and indulging myself!
As well as the horror and science fiction pieces, there are some wonderfully observed satirical stories. It’s hard to write satire that leaves the writer helpless with mirth, rage and realisation of the truth behind the story, but Mark achieves it brilliantly. His pace when writing these types if pieces is inestimable.
It’s hard to pick any favourites from this collection but for sheer creeping me out, the award must be shared between One Way Trip and Window Gazers; the former because ir reminds me so much of the first time I watched the film, Alien, and the latter because even though it was slightly less than two pages long, it made me tuck the covers in and make sure the doors were locked (so much for reading in bed to relax!)
Like many of the best science fiction and horror stories, there are twists in the tail of many of these pieces, and, also like many of the best in those genres, then end, when it hits you, is not at all expected. I pride myself in being able to take a pretty shrewd guess at what happens next, and even the endings, in stories – it’s an element of being an editor (nothing special, just experience I guess).
Only one of the twenty short stories in this collection was solved by yours truly before the end! I know these things are subjective, but that says a lot about a writer in my humble opinion.
Other pieces I feel I have to mention are, Shopping For Katie, involving a form of cloning for childless couples on the face of it. Apart from being more than scientifically possible, the story leaves a nasty taste in the mouth abut that possibility being used for commercial purposes, with the result (in this tale) being poignantly probable. At Death’s Door is another one that creeped me. It’s surreal (I hope) journey into what Poe called the hypnagogic state of mind when you’re unsure of reality and fantasy and the boundaries between become distorted and (as in this piece) break down! Finally, A Walk In The Woods – a seemingly simple tale that has hidden depth and is both prophetic and contemporary in its message, given the problems our planet is facing and with us as passengers on it!
If you love being thrilled, frightened, intrigued, fascinated and engrossed, you can do no better than get hold of this book.
Jim Palmer – Editor, Writers' Muse
The anthology is available in paperback at Lulu so feel free to check it out.
Since the paperback edition appeared, Isolation Space has also been published for the Kindle at Amazon.
It can also be purchased for the Sony Reader, Nook, and other devices at Smashwords
January 9, 2011
Wot, No Kindle?
Free apps make a Kindle of a phone or PC
You don't need a Kindle device to read a Kindle ebook, provided you install one of a range of applications that can be downloaded from Amazon free of charge.
The online retailer has created a range of apps that will enable devices to read ebooks formatted for the Kindle. These include: Apple's iPhone, Windows PCs, Apple Macs, iPad, and Android OS phones. Its latest app release Kindle-enables the Windows Phone 7.
Each version of the app is available...
You don't need a Kindle device to read a Kindle ebook, provided you install one of a range of applications that can be downloaded from Amazon free of charge.
The online retailer has created a range of apps that will enable devices to read ebooks formatted for the Kindle. These include: Apple's iPhone, Windows PCs, Apple Macs, iPad, and Android OS phones. Its latest app release Kindle-enables the Windows Phone 7.
Each version of the app is available...
January 7, 2011
The Future Is Rising
A dystopian glimpse at a future born in an age of austerity and political uncertainty, Citizen Zero is a gripping social satire that exposes our deepest fears, posing a grave warning to any society that abandons the pursuit of social justice... After austerity came prosperity and stability, but it was bought at a terrible price...
In a surveillance society blind where it matters most, a deadly conspiracy is ready to strike...
A dictatorial Prime Minister, confident of his grip on power...
Digital Editions For 2011
Shedding its paper chrysalis, amazing fiction spreads its digital wingsIsolation Space anthology now available for the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader and a host of e-reading devices...
Horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and thought-provoking examples of satirical writing don't just lurk between the covers any more -- they also lurk a few mouse-clicks away in the deeps of cyberspace.
The anthology Isolation Space has been re-issued in a series of digital editions suitable for many of today's ...
Poetry Gone Digital
Poetry so good it'll wake the dead
Deus Ex Insomnia, the collection of poetry and prose by Mark Cantrell is now available as an ebook for the Amazon Kindle and a host of other digital reading devices.
The collection, first published as a paperback edition by Lulu, presents 80 poems, as well as a small selection of prose essays exploring the creative memes of the authorial craft.
Ranging from the dark and macabre, to the dryly humorous, through the outrageously silly to the provocative and th...
December 5, 2010
Free Downloads
Sensational poetry and thrilling fiction
The following chapbooks and fiction samples are now available to download free from the file-sharing site, Mediafire. So, click on the titles below to download your copy of these free PDF ebooks:
In The Words Of Chairman Me (poetry chapbook)
By Mark Cantrell
First published in 2004
A somewhat tongue-in-cheek presentation of Mark's poetry and prose writing, it nevertheless contained some serious material alongside works of a more frivolous and fun n...
The following chapbooks and fiction samples are now available to download free from the file-sharing site, Mediafire. So, click on the titles below to download your copy of these free PDF ebooks:
In The Words Of Chairman Me (poetry chapbook)By Mark Cantrell
First published in 2004
A somewhat tongue-in-cheek presentation of Mark's poetry and prose writing, it nevertheless contained some serious material alongside works of a more frivolous and fun n...
November 30, 2010
Horror Is Not Just For Halloween
Vampires, Zombies & Ghosts, Oh My! (And other creatures of the night stories)Presenting a collection of spine-tingling tales, this anthology from NoTreeBooks features 16 stories from 13 artists of the macabre, including Mark Cantrell's tale of vampire revenge, Baron Blood.
Edited by Eve Paludan, the anthology is available exclusively in digital format, covering a host of popular file formats and e-reading devices, and can be obtained from the following sites:
Amazon, for the Kindle: a
October 27, 2010
Halloween Is Coming
New anthology promises shivers and thrills this HalloweenA vampire tale with an unexpected twist, Baron Blood by Mark Cantrell, finds itself keeping excellent company in the latest offering from ebook publisher NoTreeBooks.
The ebook, which is available on Amazon's Kindle as well as a host of other popular formats and devices, pulls together 16 startling tales by 13 authors.
Horror awaits to thrill and chill in Vampires, Zombies and Ghosts, Oh My! (And Other Creatures of the Night Stories), ...
October 17, 2010
News From The Frontline
The British Prime Minister is about to 'meet his maker'Austerity sets the scene for a disturbing vision of the futureTHE Coalition Government's austerity programme of spending cuts and welfare reform is inadvertently setting the scene to a hard-hitting political thriller available in a range of popular ebook formats.
Citizen Zero, by author and journalist Mark Cantrell, is a dystopian social satire set in a Britain left broken by an era of economic collapse and political instability.
On the...
