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Formats
Ebook Details
  • 02/2016
  • B01BFDIOYY
  • 153 pages
  • $3.62
nick gerrard
Author
Graffiti Stories
nick gerrard, author

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

A collection of short stories written as personal struggle stories from the perception of the underdog protagonist.
Reviews
http://the emergingshort story.com/index.php/new-voices/

Nick Gerrard - Graffiti Stories

 

 

          The last few years have been an exciting time to be a writer. The traditional publishing industry is not what it once was and the days of imprimatur from New York being bestowed on new writers, book tours arranged, lucrative contracts signed, and notoriety enjoyed has gone the way of the Black Rhino. The rise of independent, self-published writers has created, if nothing else, an overwhelming volume of voices on the printed page. The gatekeepers that once determined what was worthy have, in their befuddled absence, allowed a crush of new work that brings no new surprises, however. Most of it is crap. Earnest would-be writers publish novels or collections of the most prurient interest in the hopes of selling their stories and making money. Opening up to the grittier parts of humanity and the timeless value of artistic rendering is often contrary to their motivation and their efforts remain forgettable.

 

Fear not, lovers of the well-turned story! With the flood gates thrown open, and the rise of e-books and online retailing, good work is actually easier to spot and find than it ever was.

 

          The modern means of exposure and book promotion, our Social Media, brought to my attention the recently self-published prose fiction of Nick Gerrard. Graffiti Stories, a collection of 13 short stories of fiction, exemplifies both the very best of our English language tradition of storytelling and the New Freedom which self-publishing has promised and is now delivering.

          Gerrard is a fine writer. Crisp, succinct prose renders a world few of us would likely visit in the flesh but ingratiates us with its genuine quality. I am reminded in each story of the avant-garde aftertaste of Jack Kerouac as well as the linguistic precision and depth of Ernest Hemingway. Gerrard transports us to the roadways, back alleys, and thread bare abodes of broken people, drug addled misfits, and tempters of dangerous consequences as co-conspirators and welcome guests. Yet, after the burning away of the spirit and soul, this reader cannot help but be captivated by the author’s singular compassion and love for his characters no matter, and perhaps in spite of, what they have done to themselves and to those around them. As much to say their idiosyncratic natures and destructive tendencies are inescapable, so too is their worthiness to be cherished in their extreme states of vulnerability. As with the very best work in literature that exemplifies personal rebellion against tradition, the truest responsibility of art, Mr. Gerrard writes with a keen hand guided by his ancestors: Dylan Thomas, Colm Toibin, and Frank O’Connor. This work of Mr. Gerrard’s should not be missed. It is a work that breathes life into the promise of great literature even during the slow dismantlement of traditional publishing and the inescapable ‘tsunami of crap’ that, ironically, not a single brick and mortar store on the planet can accommodate. In contrast, space should be made on the shelves of every reputable book store still in existence for this volume of short stories and proudly displayed to the lucky few who find themselves confronted by it.

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 02/2016
  • B01BFDIOYY
  • 153 pages
  • $3.62
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