Have now succeeded in reading Tigershark #32 here in the library, despite screaming kids and noisy talkative staff members. It’s been a long haul, but worth the struggle.
I found something of interest in all the fiction. Paul Grover’s A.C.I. struck me as a highly entertaining metaphor for life in the West. It would also be a great idea for the next Tory party conference. ICE VINE by Sarah Crabtree was a real grabber. I loved the direct style with the ‘find out next week’ tag lines (if tag lines is what they were). As for DJ Tyrer’s UP FROM THE ASHES, I liked the way he cunningly included both industrial and horticultural meanings of ‘plant’. The story had a very pleasing B-movie excitement. (Another thing to try at the next Tory conference – isn’t their emblem a rose?) WILD SALAD by Matthew John Fletcher was a delight. The problems of the well-to-do communing with nature, eh? It actually gave me a yearning for the great indoors of Tesco. Nearly. Billy Stanton’s THE NEVER-NEVER provided a satisfying counterblast of incendiary social justice. These two should get together and write some episodes of The Archers. Of the rest, I particularly enjoyed David Rudd’s CHEKHOV’S GUN, with all its curious and bizarre details.
Of the poems, I found A MORNING’S WALK by Nolo Segundo softly affecting – especially the ending. HIGH SUMMER by Damon Hubbs resonated on more than one level. The final word ‘extinction’ said it all. Loved Harris Coverley’s THE FALL. Funnily enough, I’ve just been watching the motion-capture film MONSTER HOUSE and Harris’s collapsing house was equally graphic. Great last stanza where the tree finally gets the full sunlight it needs. A nice reversal of the usual situation where the tree has to go, to stop blocking light from windows – with the downbeat reference to the grave thrown in. MY DREAM ABOUT BEING A TREE by Richard LeDue and SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN AROUND US by Holly Day made an otherworldly surreal pairing, very much to my taste. And David Edwards’s haiku “tree throws shade all day – West, then North, then East – sunshine doing all the work” made me smile. Something so obvious I’d never thought about. K.A. Williams’s FORGOTTEN made me feel guilty about my own suffering houseplants.
Altogether an excellent issue. Thanks for including me once more. Best wishes,
Neil K. Henderson.
tigersharkpublishing 