Price €14.95 Shipping in Europe €2.00 LOST NOTES BY DAVID MURPHY Aeon Press, ISBN 0-9534784-3-2, 202 pages. "David Murphy is one of the most exciting writers exploring the boundaries of the modern short story in Ireland today. Ignore him at your peril" - Robert Neilson A sophisticated and startingly diverse collection, told at hypnotic pace. The stories of a cycnical yet mysteriously naive voice - the voice of the outsider who remains incredulous when confronted with the absurdities of life. Some published quotes about the stories: "These are stories of individuals at a loss to deal with their lives. The apparently interminable nightmare of being stuck at wits end and the long dark process of reaching that point are summed up succinctly. The reasons for each character's failure are external… renewal becomes possible when the protagonists take within themselves a new responsibility for their own actions… the sometimes extreme escapes made possible in the final paragraphs come to seem like true redemption… the strength of these ideas struck me repeatedly in the days after reading them… this is a well crafted offering from a writer who appears to find the greatest of horrors in the suburban morass." Duncan Lawie in Touchpaper.   "For atmosphere and mood I have seldom come across a story so rich as David Murphy's Uplands." Roy Smith in Vision (USA). "There's a subtle, humane quality... a sense that the author really is using his imagination and going beyond the obvious... a particularly fine performance." Paul Beardsley reviewing The Mirror Cracked in Interzone. "Overload explores the life of a gay cross-dresser in post-millennium Ireland in poignant detail. The author's vision of a deteriorating social structure, a burgeoning population about to be controlled by mandatory abortion, and a growing authoritarian structure that is careening toward brutal abuse is compelling. Living in this murky mess, Ash, the protagonist of the story, is struggling to keep any bit of joy in this grim and grimy life. We wish him well, almost from the start, and yet we cannot see how wellness will form any part of his life. The story is a sigh, sad and sorrowful." NV Berberick in Tangent Online.

Quantity: