#Review of A Sixth of a Gill by Jean Gill

At first glance this is a collection of stories, poems, blog pieces and articles but when you plunge into it a WOW factor kicks in. The poems are sublime, the tales are like poems. The blog pieces are interesting, especially the ground-truthing, as we remote-sensing nerds call it, of the 12th century history. Dog aficionados will find their bowls chock a block. In Going to the Dogs we have a fine lyrical narrative eg ‘the mirror had always been an untrustworthy friend… sniggered behind your back.’

This eclectic collection could be described as a literary e-magazine, one you can pick up and relish twenty minutes at a time, on the bus, a waiting room, when a spouse is nagging… and be oblivious  within, allowing the world to spin on by.

Some poems are thoughtful translations while others are originals such as Park Statue, which culminates with …

And if one night she smooths her hair

and twirls her skirt and dances barefoot

will the locked gates tell the stars?

 

My favourite is a poem Struck Down in Anger, Ward 39

Sample:

I have

told them my name,

the month, the year, the season;

listened to the words ‘table’ ‘apple’ dog’;

subtracted sevens from a hundred

till they grew bored at sixty-five

…

I know these tests for independent capability and dementia and I, like the woman in this poem, desired to escape the well-meaning, healthy, yet strangling confines of an institution. I was blues and twos ambulanced in the early hours to Lodgemoor (isolation) hospital near Sheffield having been struck down by a mystery virus. I couldn’t swallow and breathing became less than optional when my landlord checked on me. Two days and armfuls of penicillin later, I was fine—except that I was in a single-bed-glass ward, not allowed anything to read, nor visitors because they didn’t know what I had. After a week, the termination of my residency was far into the antiseptic mists of time so I planned my escape. With no shoes and no coat I traipsed across Ringinglow Bog to a road and blagged a ride on the number 51 bus into the city. They might still be looking for me although as that was in 1970 I somehow doubt it.

If only, in that ward, I possessed a copy of One Sixth of a Gill I would have been content to stay.

Nelder News

I’ve submitted four short stories to magazines this week and finished writing one for an upcoming Twisted Tails anthology based on the concept of Wunderkind. That one involves two soldiers on watch at a Somerset watchtower during the Napoleonic Wars. The 16-year-old boy soldier has visions of the tower under siege and his inadvertent paranormal abilities has strange effects on the outcome.

Some of you asked when the final ARIA is out and here it is. Enjoy.

http://www.ll-publications.com/aria3.html

In case you are inspired to read the first book in the trilogy, the price of the ebook has been slashed to less than the price of a coffee as you’ll see on these pages: #kindle now http://amzn.to/1daTUUn  UK – http://amzn.to/1gn3iHI

 

Highlights:

ARIA is the first and so far only book to use the concept of infectious amnesia.
Although character-led, the novel has breakthrough plot threads, making us think of what is the most important and crucial aspects of our lives. Research help and support was emailed from space! Astronaut Leroy Chiao answered my questions about the nature of the struts on the International Space Station, and wished me luck with the book.
All the places on Earth used in the book are real geographical locations, including the ‘hidden’ valley – Anafon – in North Wales.
The cover art is designed by award-winning artist, Andy Bigwood.
The idea of infectious amnesia came while I was riding a bicycle up a steep Welsh hill.

You tube video trailer http://youtu.be/oh0AAXIe8VU

Facebook page for you to ‘like’ if you will http://www.facebook.com/AriaTrilogy

A wikia page about the ARIA Trilogy is at http://nelderaria.wikia.com/wiki/NelderAria_Wiki

Anyone wanting signed copies of any of the books please send me a message here in a comment or email geoffnelderATyahooDOTcom or message me on facebook.

 

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