Not all of them about Zombies
by Matthew Rowe

Release Date: 14th Mar 2008
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 978 1 8479 9707 4
RRP: £6.50

Average Customer Rating:

(0.0 based on 0 ratings)

A self-published collection of the wierd, wonderful and not-so-wonderful stories

The preface made me want to read this collection of short stories – read them AND like them. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be that simple, with “Selling Liberty” setting up the stall as fantasy shorts, I was non-plussed. When it came to “Au Naturale”, I was slightly mortified and “Just a Fluke” only compounded my affront - too much lurid detail about intimacies than I was expecting.

However, as usual, I persevered, convinced that I was likely to find a short tale of some merit given the clear ability of the author to make what should have been a boring preface into something monumentally exciting... and I did. “Good Intentions” and “Redbird and Eleanor” are wonderful stories, more moments actually – in the lives of their respective actors. Both as far from each other in terms of subject matter and treatment as rock is to water.

Rowe has a solid imagination, which is self evident from the staggering variety and breadth of plotlines. From alien encounters, to damsels in distress or a mob hitman on a job. My gasps of horror came from the salacious content of some of the stories – told with gusto and a smidgen of wit, it was clear that the author has a penchant for the female form, but the stories themselves would have been no less interesting had these elements been either toned down or cut out completely. Sex doesn’t always sell.

I much preferred those stories where the plot hums along unobstructed by adolescent sexual fantasies. Indeed, “Redbird and Eleanor” could well be made into a full length novel.

What ailed me most, however, was the laziness with regard to writing style. Inconsistencies, poor grammar and a limited vocabulary made this all in all a slight disappointment. But do I think there is a place for Rowe in the literary field? Absolutely. He just needs to find his genre, do his research and keep going.

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