Tag: short

Sorry For Your Trouble

Sorry for your Trouble is a collection of short, but poignant stories that capture a small schism in time, a time which when viewed in retrospect could be something, or nothing other than a mere passing of time.

Richard Ford very carefully presents many moments in time when perhaps a different decision may have been made, leading to a different outcome, looking backwards facing forward. A man meeting a former lover, wondering what may have happened if they had remained together, realising all the while that even thought this was not to be, but maybe perhaps, curious to discover if that ‘flame’ they once kindled was still alight there somewhere is captured in Nothing To Declare with the final acceptance of a youth once enjoyed, a present a reality.

The death of a sometimes husband and partner also places friendship in the spotlight with Happy; a woman always living on the edge, accepting the hand of friendship but always on her own terms.

Leaving For Kenosha is a delicate piece dedicated to friendship, acceptance and understanding, when a young school friend is worried about leaving to live in Kenosha, a place where she will have to begin afresh, a place where she and her family have to move to in the wake of devastating floods, job loss and change.

Through the nine short stories is a thread of loss, hope, change and humanity, basically people and their emotions examined for better or worse, or simply as it is, the detritus of a life lived or not, examined with heart-rendering details from a skilled observer of life’s many foibles.

Short stores by their very nature are only about a moment in time, no specific beginning and no specific ending, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps, to create a fuller picture, draw on their own life experiences to flesh out the story.

Ford has managed, rather successfully in Sorry for your Trouble to offer nine conflicting and yet similar palates from which to create fuller or more generous pictures of we humans, all too delicate, fragile and in many cases always wondering or wanting more!

October 15, 2020
No Neat Endings

Life is a series of beginnings and endings no matter what, but sometimes the ending is far from what was anticipated in the beginning. Dominic Carew, in his first book No Neat Endings has captured many of these less than complete moments in life in a series of short stories, some shorter than others that leave behind room for thought and a somewhat bewildering situation, perhaps created to allow the reader to complete the ending as they choose.

Carew does not disseminate with his choice of subject matter as it ranges far and wide; from on-line dating to drug fueled disaster, to a man confronting turning forty, a marriage slowly dissolving and much more. In Nineteen, a young man is terrified of never being able to enjoy or even have sex. He is distraught, reticent and terrified of getting it wrong and of course his journey into sexual freedom does not go well. He is only nineteen.

Each of the stories captures the immense vulnerability faced in the world of today, as men try to conform to what is considered as societies ‘norm’; a norm of which should be lived to almost unreal expectations, all without sometimes falling short of the mark.

Carew has in so many ways tapped deep into the fears and vulnerability of many, bringing them out into the light of day, where they can be examined and even perhaps learnt from, as envy, angst, longing, love and messy endings are really the true emotions that make life exactly what it is: a journey that we all often would rather not be taking, especially when things do not turn out the way we thought.

No Neat Endings could be considered as satirical, but in presenting the stories in such a style, Carew has not used the words with cruelty, as satire can so often do, but more as a tongue-in-cheek look at the modern Australian male, hang-ups and all, as he tries bravely to find his place in the ever changing landscape classed as the modern world of male!

March 22, 2020
Short Stories

Inspired by a collection of short pieces for solo guitar this delectable album Short Stories from Michelle Qureshi makes an impressive line-up of delicate notes woven into a story line which can be enjoyed at leisure.

Featuring the modern ‘finger picking’ style of work the ambient nature of the tracks is refreshing in that the singular pieces stand alone, pure, clean and filled with the emotion of the moment of creation.

To the Bone introduces the collection, beginning with a strong slightly discordant series of chords, delivering a strong, forthright, almost chunky melody which is short at 1:30 seconds, telling a brief but powerful story.

The very lovely piece “It didn’t have to go like this”, is a reflective combination of guitar that is relevant to anyone who has looked back with regret, at a time in their life where things have changed, not always in the manner expected.

As with work of this metre the track titles write the storyline, there to be interpreted by the listener as with Lower the Drawbridge a piece which has been worked with Villela guitar, a nylon stringed guitar pitched an octave lower to offer in deeper, richer, almost renaissance influenced tone.

One of the longer tracks is County Line Road where the slide guitar has been introduced to offer a rather lovely C&W style piece with something a little extra, a mellowness that is often missing from this genre of music.

A gentle farewell has been created in My Sweet Goodbye, a piece dedicated to Michelle’s father who passed away in 1990. In a desire to accept the loss and gentle the grieving she allowed her music to change the balance, change the emotion into a sweet goodbye. Beautiful.

Windflowers is what could be considered a pure finger picking C&W as immediately it brings to memory the vast fields and acres of harvest in this short and very catchy little piece. It also a offers a smile and a quick little toe tap!

Rounding out this interesting collection of seventeen Short Stories is With Wonder easily translated into a tribute to the absolute wonder of observing the beauty and life all around; being thankful for the love and abundance there to be enjoyed.

Short Stories is a journey into a relatively new aspect of New Age music which is delightful, refreshing and offers a very wide, blank manuscript within the music spectrum there to be explored.

October 31, 2018