The BMW G 310 GS
And the Honda CRF250L Rally
#134 Changing the Rules, Mixing My Emotions
All Rights Reserved © 2015 Thomas W. Day
On the last October weekend of the 2014 MMSC training season, I taught a “Seasoned Rider” class (aka Experienced Rider Course, ERC, BRC II, etc.) for a few Polaris company employees. Because the course had some experimental qualities (“There will be a test.”), the course was prepaid to the college regardless of the number of students. Saturday morning was right at freezing and no one was compelled (either by work or because they’d laid down $60) to be there, so only four students showed up. On top of that, due to the lateness in the season and the “test,” the Polaris employees were allowed to ride the course on the state’s 250-and-under motorcycles, instead of bringing their own rides. Due to those points, I was the only guy on the range who rode to the range. The first 3 1/2 hours were identical to the usual course, but it was pretty obvious that we all had a different kind of edge on due to the impending “evaluation” (PC for “test”). The students, because they were in a pass/fail situation and instructors because we’d never conducted a BRC II with a test at the end.The big exception to this course was the students were offered the choice of riding their own bikes or the state’s. Because it was specially offered to Polaris employees by Polaris and some of them are beginning motorcycle owners and may or may not actually own a motorcycle, it made for an interesting experiment. By design and purpose, the BRC II is intended, I think, to be ridden on the students’ bikes. At least, that’s the way we’ve always done the course as long as I’ve known about it. And, of course, there has not been an evaluation at the end to determine what has been learned in the course during the time I’ve been an instructor. That has not always been the case, though.
I took my first prototype-ERC at Willow Springs Raceway, back in the late 1980’s. It wasn’t called the ERC, as I remember, but I don’t remember what it was called. There was a fair amount of lecture along with the usual emergency stop, obstacle avoidance, turning, and riding technique instruction. There was a short performance test at the end of the course and, as I remember, we were presented with a certificate that could be used for a drivers’ training discount with our insurance companies. The next time I took the course was in Denver, at Bandimere Speedway, the drag racing track. The “range” was a marked-up and coned section of the speedway where the cart racing is today. The course used the same kind of exercises, along with an opportunity to play panic-braking on their big training-wheeled 500 Nighthawk. You could wind up the bike to about 40-50mph and hammer the brakes and the skids kept the Nighthawk from falling over. I don’t think there was a test with that course. The last time I took the course as a student was in Minnesota on the Guidant parking lot in Arden Hills. The parking lot had been oiled earlier that week and employee cars had been sliding into each other at low speeds, morning and evening. I know because I worked there. I usually bicycled to work, so I missed out on the parking lot fun until Saturday at the ERC. The course continued the sliding and crashing the cars had demonstrated earlier in the week. Almost everyone in the class crashed at least once and a lot of chrome and plastic looked worse for the wear. I “anticipated” the emergency swerve exercise because I didn’t think my Yamaha TDM would look better coated in greasy black oil. The next week, another asphalt contractor cleaned and recoated the parking lot, this time with materials that didn’t come from the county oil recycling sludge pit. That’s the history of my student experience with the ERC and it’s ancestors and all of that was on my own motorcycles.
That behind me, I had a little built-in resistance to teaching the course to “experienced riders” on what most of those riders would consider to be “beginner bikes.” The fact is, a lot of experienced riding course students do not ride well enough to be called “experienced.” Maybe that’s the motivation for the recent renaming of those classes as “Basic Rider Course II” or “Seasoned Rider Course.” Another fact I have often expressed is that I think about 90% of Minnesota motorcyclists choose motorcycles that require skill levels far beyond the riders’ capabilities. Unlike ABATE, the AMA (the motorcycle group, not the doctors’ AMA), and the Industry, I believe tiered licensing is just common sense and that our current license testing is a joke. Not a funny joke, but a cruel, sarcastic, vicious joke that costs lives and billions of dollars in death and injury. From observing street riders over half-a-century and training them for a dozen years, I’d estimate about 50% of Minnesota riders should be limited to 250cc-and-under motorcycles, 90% should be limited to 650cc-and-under, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the 10% who are smart, competent, and safe enough to be on 650cc-and-above would probably choose to ride their big bikes on closed courses 90% of the time.
All that baggage under my belt, we started this course with a little apprehension. A lot of my doubts dissolved quickly, though. After the first couple of exercises it became clear that our students were riding a lot more aggressively and testing their skills more confidently than the typical BRC II class. Some of this was because this was a younger-than-typical class, but I have to give a substantial credit to the fact that we all ride small bikes more competently and confidently than large ones. We decided that I’d administer the test, since I’d studied the BRC II test procedure and had a couple of on-line conversations with California MSF instructors who’d done the test in the BRC II’s early years. The BRC II test is more like the DOT’s test. Which means all four sections of the test are performed by each student, more or less non-stop. More concentration is required, along with competence, memory, and attention, all qualities directly related to being safe on the road. Again, this was a small class filled with better-than-typical students, but at the end they all scored well enough to be qualified as MSF instructors.
I thought about this class for several days afterwards. There are some subversive reasons I am inclined to like the whole concept. The test is more important than I’d imagined. We often have old, unskilled, and/or arrogant riders who simply ride through the harder exercises on their abysmal hippobikes, imagining that there is no relationship between low speed closed course exercises and their delusional “real world.” The apehanger crowd that is overrepresented in mortality/morbidity statistics is typical of this character. Handing them a card that indicates successful completion of the course is particularly galling. Mostly what that group achieves is four hours of an out-of-control riding demonstration on an overweight, unmanageable motorcycle that has put the other riders and the instructors at risk. Most of that alcohol-demented bunch would totally blow the BRC II test because they’d forget half of it before they left the gate. If they were allowed to perform the test on a small bike or their own, the result would probably be the same; massive failure. Nearest and dearest to my heart, allowing these intermediate-level riders to do the course on our small motorcycles might encourage some of them to consider, or reconsider, their choice of motorcycle. A tiny percentage of riders might discover that “small is fun” and take that lesson to the street. If that, alone, happened, I’d be all for letting BRC II riders take the class on whatever motorcycle they chose.
REVIEW: Adam Howe - Tijuana Donkey Showdown
Genre: Pick One!
Publisher: Comet Press
Publication Date: 9th December 2016
Pages: 230
REVIEWED BY NEV
A copy of Tijuana Donkey Showdown was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Adam Howe in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Comet Press.
It is no secret that I absolutely love Adam Howe’s writing. Anything I have read from him before gives me the greatest of pleasure both during the reading, and once I have finished. You cannot help but have a huge smile on your face for days after finishing one of his books. They are that good.
His mixture of genres is superb. His last book, Die Dog or Eat The Hatchet, mixed up horror and comedy and southern noir with splattering’s of crime and mystery and a host of other genres to boot.
One of the stories in it was Damn Dirty Apes where the unlikely hero, Reggie Levine has to battle all sorts of unspeakable things to survive, and keep his reputation intact.
Tijuana Donkey Showdown is the sequel to Damn Dirty Apes. It was a no brainer that I was going to pick this one up.
This is what I thought.
It’s two for one day at Confessions!
REVIEW ONE:
Go buy it. Don’t read anyone’s review, including mine, they will not do it justice!
REVIEW TWO:
Reggie is still on the road to recovery after his escapade with the Skunk Ape.
Trying to get on with life, and make it as quiet as possible, he gets roped into helping dodgy car salesman, Harry, when his crested terrier goes missing.
Reggie thinks the job should be easy enough but as per normal, it all goes terribly wrong, plunging Reggie into another scenario that leaves him battered and bruised and wishing he just didn’t bother.
Enter Enrique. A famous donkey with a secret to share but not one that will benefit Reggie.
It’s time for the showdown!
So, characters wise in this one you have a plethora of absolutely wonderful people that will make you warm to them and hate them in equal measure and equally as quick.
Our main man is once again Reggie. A has been boxer turned bouncer at The Henhouse, he seems to attract trouble like a Kardashian attracts publicity. Some of it is laughable and some of it is deadly serious. Reggie would be the sort of man you would feel sorry for on one hand and just walk away from on the other. Walt is back as the owner of The Henhouse and is as ornery as always.
There are loads of other characters in this that are just too many to mention. Nazi drug dealers, strippers, well hung donkeys and the normal run of the mill losers that Bigelow has to offer.
The plot is not easy to describe because of the complications that arise throughout the story. It is simple enough in that Reggie must get Harry’s dog back. The complicated bit comes when the Nazi drug dealers and Enrique, the well-hung donkey, make an appearance. To tell you any more about it would spoil it and, believe me, you really need to read this to get the true effect of the story as it happens.
So, what is the book like? Genius. Pure genius. I have no other words to describe it. This story is perfect in every single way.
Adam Howe is a writing master. I’m forty-eight years of age. I have had many heroes throughout my life. Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, Nicolas Cage. None of them come anywhere close to Reggie Levine. The man is just superb. He is a big soft shite that would do anything for anyone while at the same time being tough as nails and prepared to take on anyone or anything. He attracts problems and shakes them off just as easily. Most importantly, when you read the story through his eyes, you discover the dry, sarcastic sense of humour that will have you peeing your pants as you read.
Again, Adam Howe is a genius. This man hails from London yet this story is set in the deep south and you would think Mr Howe was born and bred there. His grasp of the language, the settings of the landscape, the clothes, the cars and anything else that you read about in his books, make you believe you are truly living in the story. It makes you believe he has been sitting in the bar himself watching everything happen. It makes you believe whatever he wants you to believe.
This needs to be on the big screen. It needs to be a series on TV. It would be the most popular thing since Game of Thrones. It has everything to be successful.
Adam Howe writes some of the funniest stuff I have ever read in my life. I nearly got thrown off a bus for belly laughing. I nearly got caught in work when I couldn’t resist reading another little bit to see what happened next. Again, it was a belly laugh that I couldn’t stop.
I could keep going all night but I just feel like I am talking total crap. I simply cannot put into words just how fantastically brilliant this book is. It is everything I would want a book to be and so much more.
To summarise: if this isn’t on your shelf a week after it comes out then you are stupid. End of.
General rating:
★★★★★ could not give it any less.
Rating for everything else:
★★★★★ and again
As an added bonus, you get another short story in the book.
This is what I thought of it.
CLEAN-UP ON AISLE 3
Donnie needs some cash. The Kwik Stop seems to be the easiest target for him. It’s late so it should be easy cash with no trouble.
He didn’t bank on a shopkeeper with a history and a thirst for revenge.
This is a fairly simple tale of a thief looking for easy cash and a shop that should have a till full of it. Donnie didn’t bank on coming up against a shopkeeper who has been there before and doesn’t like to part with his cash without a fight.
This is brutal. Donnie is an obvious criminal but when things start to go against him you can’t help but feel for him. On the other hand, when you find things out later in the story you are totally behind the shopkeeper.
This is a totally different type of story to Tijuana Donkey Showdown. No humour in this one. It gives you a slight taste of what Adam Howe can do when he decides to go straight. To be perfectly honest with you, he does the straight stuff as well as anyone. You will cringe and you will gag at some of the scenes in this one. It’s fight or run, live or die stuff and it becomes so desperate that you can’t see anyone surviving it.
Wonderful writing that is so fast paced and full of energy that you will not get a breath until you are finished.
General Rating:
★★★★★ superb again.
Rating for everything else:
★★★★★ yup, again.
So, there you go. Tijuana Donkey Showdown in a nutshell. I’ve said it before but Adam Howe is a genius. His writing is fantastic. He can write in any style and any genre and make it his own.
You will go through every emotion known to man when you read his books. And every single one of them will be used to its maximum.
I have a complaint. Write faster Mr Howe! The world needs more Reggie!
If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy Tijuana Donkey Showdown or any other books from Adam. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
Reggie Levine, ex-boxer turned bouncer, and hapless hero, has barely recovered from his ordeal in Damn Dirty Apes, when he is called back to action. Recruited to a retrieve a Chinese crested terrier from a fleapit roadside zoo, where the ugly effing showdog has been mistaken for the chupacabra, Reggie finds himself embroiled in a deadly criminal conspiracy involving neo-Nazi drug smugglers, a seedy used-car salesman, a wannabe serial killer, an ornery Vietnam veteran, a badass veterinarian, a freakishly endowed adult entertainment donkey named Enrique, and in an explosive cameo, an Academy Award winning Hollywood icon.
From Adam Howe, writer of Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, Black Cat Mojo, and the winner of Stephen King’s On Writing contest, comes another slice of pulp Southern crime, 80s action, pop Americana, and pitch-black comedy.
CONFESSIONS REVIEWS ADAM HOWE
Adam Howe writes the twisted fiction your mother warned you about. A British writer of fiction and screenplays, he lives in London with his partner, their daughter, and a hellhound named Gino.
Writing as Garrett Addams, his short story Jumper was chosen by Stephen King as the winner of the international On Writing contest, and published in the paperback/Kindle editions of King’s memoir.
His fiction has appeared in places like Nightmare Magazine, Thuglit, Mythic Delirium, and Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 1. He is the author of Tijuana Donkey Showdown, and two novella collections, Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, and Black Cat Mojo.
In the pipeline: the occult thriller Scapegoat, co-written with James Newman, a horror/crime collaboration with Adam Cesare, and 80s action throwback, One Tough Bastard.
And for more about Adam, visit his site or find him on social media:
The Times They Are A-Changin.
It’s been a funny old time this past couple of weeks in the Confessions office.
Everything is changing. In fact, I am in probably the biggest transitional period of my life. Ever.
A lot of you will know what’s going on but many of you may not. That is the reason for this post.
I have just become unemployed from the day job. This is mostly by choice but also due to enormous changes within the unit I was working in. It seemed a fantastic idea at the time because of life choices, and plans that myself and my wife Jo had in place to totally change the direction our life was taking, and to try and finally make something for ourselves and live out the dreams we have had for many years.
Now the break from the day job has been made, it is scaring the hell out of me. I didn’t expect to feel like this. Maybe it is just the adjustment to not having to get up and spend three hours a day travelling to and from a job I hated with a passion. Maybe it is the fact that now, I have to put in place all the plans I had in my head and for whatever reason, they don’t want to come out of my head and materialise into a workable plan that will make those dreams become a reality. It will happen. I just need to get over the fear of all the new stuff and get on with it.
To that end, I just wanted to let you all know that Confessions may be a bit quiet over this next few weeks. We will still be reviewing and posting as often as possible. It will not be as frequent though until things settle down. I need to use as much of my time and energy in the most constructive way possible to put plans in place to ensure that the implementation of my business ideas and the setting up of Jo’s new business take priority. It is our new livelihood after all.
There are exciting things just around the corner. The new Confessions website isn’t too far away. I thought I would give you a sneak preview of our new logo.
Also, not too far away is a new branch of Confession’s. This is my own new venture that is very exciting for me and that will hopefully have me interacting more with a lot of you author types in trying to help in whatever way I can to promote and manage all aspects of the promotional side of things for you, so you can get on with the important task of writing more stuff for all your fans.
I will let you all know what this is about very soon and post more details as I have them, so keep watching the site for details.
So, I thank you for your patience. If we are quiet for a time, do not panic, we are not going anywhere. Just regrouping and coming back even stronger! This will start tomorrow night with a review of a book that may just be one of my all-time favourites and one that you really need on your shelf!
Thanks again for your continued support and for visiting Confessions of a Reviewer!
Nev.
#133 The Trouble with Being the Solution to A Big Problem
All Rights Reserved © 2014 Thomas W. Day
Pretty much all of the major problems on today's highways are fairly obvious: according to NHTSA statistics 2012's Big Three causes for highway fatalities are 1) drunk driving 31%, 2) motorcycles, 14%, and distracted driving, 10%. Solve all three of those riddles and you have taken away 56% of US highway fatalities. What is the miracle cure for all three of these highway safety problems? You might think that's a stupid question. 
"You'll never stop people from being drunks or from playing with electronic toys while they drive and nobody's ever gonna teach me how to ride or make me wear a helmet."
Actually, I know the solution to all three of those problems and so does NHTSA and DOT and all of the car manufacturers. How do you stop people from getting drunk, satisfying their cell phone addiction, playing with their makeup or shaving on the way to work, or keep them from crashing their motorcycles? Those are the wrong questions. The right questions are how do you get the first group out from behind the wheel and how do you get motorcycles off of the public's roads? Simple. You make cars that are smarter than the average driver.
That's not a particularly high bar to leap, if you think about it just a little bit. The average American driver imagines himself to be a NASCAR racer, drafting the car in front of him with less than a fraction of a second of safe margin at speeds that are best described as "terminal." From the vantage point of a motorcycle seat, where I get to see all sorts of clueless drivers, distracted to the point of unconsciousness behaviors, physics-disabled punks suffering from "the fast lane is mine" video game reality distortions, and motorcyclists and scooter pilots who have almost enough skill to get out of their own driveways uninjured but not nearly enough talent or intelligence to ride competently and safely. With typical reflexes, reacting to a hazard takes at least a second and, more likely, a couple of seconds before you've even decided what to do about a disaster unfolding in front of you at 70mph. At 70mph, you're traveling 108 feet/second. If you're tailgating at 50 feet when a wheel comes off of a truck in front of you or a blowout puts the car you were "drafting" into a spin, you are solidly entangled before you even think about applying the brakes. On a motorcycle, you're in the air wishing you'd worn a helmet before you can even touch the brake (probably the wrong one used poorly, if you do manage to slam on the brakes and toss your bike into a sliding "stop"). On average, there isn't enough driving talent on our highways to overwhelm the capabilities of a 1980's Z80 processor and a MS/DOS controlled text-based program. Mostly, the folks we're trusting our lives with on the freeways and country roads are unfit to pilot bicycles, if they could load their lard asses onto a bicycle seat without bursting the tires. With all of those facts in hand and with the motivation of "societal cost of crashes" estimated at $230 BILLION, there is more than enough incentive from all directions to do something about the solvable problems of the Big Three. The fact that the solution is likely to do some serious damage to the other 44% of highway deaths is just icing on the cake.
In TheKneeslider.com, Paul Crowe wrote an article titled "Riding Motorcycles Among the Robots - You're Going to Need A Transponder." He pipedreams, "The thought of blasting through that digital parade on your human controlled and non transponder equipped Electra Glide may no longer be an option." If only that were likely. Like most of the motorcycle industry, he avoids the question, "Why would highway planners make any accommodations for a vehicle that contributes less than 0.001% to commuter traffic but 15% of fatalities?" Do you seriously believe that Harley Davidson and Polaris have that kind of economic clout? Harley Davidson's whole product line amounted to $5.9B in 2013 sales. Polaris grossed about $4B in 2013 for all of their products combined and sold about $1B in Polaris and Indian motorcycles. Out of a $17 TRILLION GNP, that is pretty insignificant and if you include our 15% of the nation's "societal cost of crashes" that $5B is pretty overwhelmed by the $34B motorcycles crashes cost the country. Remind me, again, why should the 99% of society who don't ride motorcycles on a regular basis, or ever, care about our "right to the highway?"
If you don't think motorcycling's awful public image, our overrepresentation in highway injury statistics, or our low tech tendencies are a long term problem, you are not paying attention. The freight train of Change is blasting down history's tracks at revolutionary speeds. We are about to go from travelling by poorly manually piloted vehicles to a managed transportation system that makes decisions on a macro level, reducing traffic congestion, optimizing resource use, providing dramatic improvements in travel safety and efficiency, and transforms society as dramatically as giving up the horse-and-buggy did about 100 years ago. The only way motorcycles are going to get to play in this new sandbox is if we provide some value to transportation. Otherwise, the industry and population of users will resemble the tiny demographic that has clung to horses and horse sports since those animals were shuffled off of public streets. The trouble with being part of the solution to one of society's big problems is that you get swept up in a whole lot of things that are a lot bigger than you (or your industry). In manufacturing a rule of thumb is "the best way to idiot-proof a system is get the idiots out of the system." We are pretty tightly aligned with many of the idiots on the highway and we're going to get swept up with the drunks and distracted drivers when our transportation system evolves. The only way I see to avoid that is for motorcycling to move away from being part of an obvious solution to highway deaths.
REVIEW: Michael Bray - The Island
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Severed Press
Publication Date: 4th October 2015
Pages: 206
REVIEWED BY CHAD
A copy of The Island was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Michael Bray, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Severed Press.
In The Island, by Michael Bray, we see a society in which reality television has become a performance platform for violence and death. The island itself is a man-made land mass on which a competition has been resurrected to air for the first time as a television series.
Contestants are set loose on the island and only one can survive to the end. Their prize? Whatever it is they desire. All they have to do is make it from one side of the island to the other.
Oh, and they have to make it through an island packed full of dinosaurs.
The main character of the story, Chase Riley, decides to take part in the newly revamped show in order to save his daughter who is suffering from terminal cancer. Against the wishes of his wife, he enters into the show, hoping that a victory will bring in the money they lacked, in order to get their daughter, the treatment she needs.
Putting all my honesty down on the table, I have to admit that I was a little dubious of the concept of this book going into it. My concern was that this was going to just end up feeling like a modern reimagining of The Running Man, but with dinosaurs as an artificial attempt to add an extra element to an already successful story. Still, I was also intrigued by the idea and was willing to give it a go.
I'm glad to say that my reservations were unfounded. I think this book is a good reminder that, regardless of the specific concept, effective writing and characters that can be related to will carry a lot of weight, even if the story has some familiar ring to it.
To start off, I think that the strongest element to this book is that of the characters. It's really easy when you have multiple characters to have trouble keeping track of everyone and they all start to blend together. Despite that challenge, I thought Bray did a really good job making sure everyone was distinct and easy to tell apart from each other. Despite the fact that some of the characters were fairly archetype-ish, I found myself interested in them and engaged in their part of the story.
I also really liked how he explored the dynamic between the characters within the context of the game itself. More specifically, the notion of people who are on one hand contestants but also still feel the urge to help each other. How do you work with and against each other at the same time? How do you deal with the fact that you might care for someone's well-being while at the same time realizing that you may be put in a position where you might have to take that person's life?
I found the pacing of the book to be great. I thought the story moved along at a nice clip and once things really got going, they don’t stop until the book ends. Bray did a great job creating a story that is engaging and that held my interest throughout.
As it is probably to be expected in a story of this type, things are not necessarily as they seem. The twists in the story are well done and are used effectively in order to move things along. There were a few points towards the end of the book where I felt like the twists were starting to stretch the limits of credibility, slightly. However, this did not prevent my ability to enjoy them and I was able to shut that part of my brain up and just watch the book unfold.
If I had one critical comment about the book, it would be that at times I thought the writing style got in the way of the flow of the narrative, somewhat. There seem to be quite a few moments where the writing is a bit dense in terms of the paragraphs being very long. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with this practice, but I think it can make scenes less effective when there is a lot of action going on. I think it has a tendency to slow down the reader and bring down the immediacy of the narrative. In my opinion, some of the scenes could have been more powerful and effective if some of the longer paragraphs had been broken up. This is just a personal issue of my own and it’s a minor one. It didn’t interfere with my enjoyment, nor did it necessarily make the book any less engaging.
In all, I thought that in a culture that has become rife with dystopian literature, The Islanddoes a pretty good job keeping its head above the water and not feeling like ground that is being re-treaded one too many times. It is a book I enjoyed and would highly recommend.
General rating:
★★★★
Reviewed by Chad.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Island or any other books from Michael. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
What if the next generation of reality show had your life as the prize?
The island is the largest manmade structure ever constructed. Within its two-hundred-foot high steel walls are savage dinosaurs created for one purpose. To hunt man. In addition, of those who are chosen to enter the island, only one can leave and claim the prize.
As television screens around the world tune in to watch, the six contestants form an uneasy alliance as they battle nightmarish beasts beyond comprehension. When a secret is uncovered which could bring down the entire Lomar Corporation, the contestants find that some men are worse than monsters, and some corporations will stop at nothing to protect that which they tried so desperately to hide.
Michael Bray is a bestselling horror / thriller author of several novels. Influenced from an early age by the suspense horror of authors such as Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Shaun Hutson, James Herbert & Brian Lumley, along with TV shows like Tales from the Crypt & The Twilight Zone, his work touches on the psychological side of horror, teasing the reader’s nerves and willing them to keep turning the pages.
Several of his titles are currently being translated into multiple languages and with options for movie and Television adaptations under negotiation for others, he will look to continue his growth as a full time professional writer long into the future.
And for more about Michael, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
LAST CALL FOR ALL YOU CONFESSORS!
If you follow the blog on a regular basis, (and if you don’t why the hell not?) you could not have failed to see the Confessions of my Past, Present and Future feature, where authors write a piece about what they like in books from their past, the present and the future.
If you have never seen it, then go have a look here to see what it is about.
This feature has run for over a year. It still proves to be very successful and you all seem to enjoy reading about what your favourite authors like in books.
So, I am going to keep it going. This is where you come in. I only have a few submissions left and would like more.
If you are an author and would like to take part in this feature, then please see the guidelines for it below and email me at confessionsofareviewer@gmail.com to let me know.
Also, I am throwing the floor open to ANY of you who would like to take part. Yup, that’s right, you don’t have to be a published author to send a submission in for this. If you love books and reading and always have and always will, I want to hear from you.
Again the guidelines are listed below and if you want to take part then please email me at the blog email address. The only additional thing I would ask for from non-published authors would be a short bio and possibly a picture of yourself to include in the post. If this isn’t supplied, I will just make something up for you.
Also please share this with any of your friends who may be interested, be they authors or not. I know I am not friends yet with all the cool people on Facebook and Twitter so your help in sharing this around would be appreciated.
Thanks again.
Nev.
CONFESSIONS OF MY PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Basically it is guest posts from authors, and now non authors, “confessing” to books you loved in your past, what you love to read at the minute and what you think may come in the future.
What I’m looking for (if you want to take part of course) is a piece from you split into three sections. The “past” would be where you would talk about either a book or series of books that either inspired you to write, read more or simply blew you away for no other reason than you thought it was bloody good. This would be from way back, not just last week. Maybe something you read in your childhood or you’re first favourite horror for example. Something old.
The “present” would be about something you have read recently. Again it could be something that inspired you or just stuck in your mind for the fact that is was different in some way or again blew you away because it was just bloody good.
The “future” is slightly different. I would like you to think what you would be writing or reading in 2045. Do you think you would still be writing or reading the styles or genres? Do you think you would like to write or read something completely out of your comfort zone or completely different to your current genre? Is there some style you have always wanted to try but were too scared?
I want this to be about you. Your selection of books. Your favourites even if they were not common favourites amongst readers of the times. Books that mean something to you so forget about trends and don’t be scared to upset the cart. This will give the people who read your post a lot more insight into your individual personality.
In terms of length I would like this to be sort of standard blog length. About fifteen hundred words so if you split it three ways, about five hundred words for each section. This of course is not set in stone. Each section or indeed the entire length could be as short or as long as you would want it to be. I know that once people get writing about something you love, it can be hard to stop and I certainly wouldn’t try and stop you.
I don’t have any set time scales on this either. Whenever you feel you are happy with it, fire it over to me and I will add some pretty pictures and let you know when it will be posted.
Whenever I publish any posts in the feature I would of course be including any pictures I can for any books you would mention (hopefully someone else will mention one of yours…..yay free advertising). I will also add in a profile picture of yourself and your bio and links to your website/blog/author page or any other site you would like me to add in.
This would obviously be fantastic for the blog to have you on board if you agreed but it wouldn’t just be about the blog. If there was anything else you would want added in the post feel free to suggest or request and I would do my best to help you out. Also this would be over and above any further interviews I would hope to do with you on the site.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you will consider taking part and be able to spare some time for it.
Nev.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you will consider taking part and be able to spare some time for it.
Nev.
SHOW-OFF AND TELL #42 - Mark Cassell - The Shadow Fabric
#42 in the Show-Off and tell feature brings us, sadly, to the end of a week-long special about its author. Tonight’s book is The Shadow Fabric by Mark Cassell.
I have mentioned a couple of times this week how much of an approachable, decent fella Mark Cassell is. I hope that throughout this week you have picked that up as well and also that you will go pick up some of his books and give him the support he deserves.
If you decide to go and buy this weeks featured book, The Shadow Fabric, this post will give you an idea of what you will have in your hands.
The cover alone gives you an idea of the mysterious happenings on the inside of the pages and indeed, if you meet Mr Cassell at a con, you will be able to see the hourglass in person.
This is my copy:
This was the first ever book I bought at a con so even though Mr Cassell may not know it, this book holds a special place on my shelf. To be able to pick a book up directly from the author and get it signed while you are there is a wonderful feeling for anyone who wants to start their own collection of signed stuff. I can highly recommend it!
You can buy The Shadow Fabric here:
You can but any of Mark’s other books here:
Mark Cassell lives in a rural part of the UK with his wife and a number of animals. He often dreams of dystopian futures, peculiar creatures, and flitting shadows. Primarily a horror writer, his steampunk, dark fantasy, and SF stories have featured in numerous anthologies and ezines including Rayne Hall's Ten Tales series and horror zine, Sirens Call.
His best-selling debut novel, The Shadow Fabric, is closely followed by the popular short story collection, Sinister Stitches, and are both only a fraction of an expanding mythos. His most recent release, Chaos Halo 1.0: Alpha Beta Gamma Kill, is in association with Future Chronicles Photography.
REVIEW: Mark Cassell - The Shadow Fabric
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Herbs House
Publication Date: 18th October 2014
Pages: 340
REVIEWED BY NEV
The Shadow Fabric is Mark Cassell’s first novel. This book is published by Herbs House.
This book pops a couple of Confessions cherries tonight. Firstly, it is Mark Cassell’s first time being reviewed on Confessions.
Today he becomes a man.
Also this is the first ever book that I bought at a con. I met Mark at Emcon in Nottingham and to be honest I had no intentions of buying any books at that stage, but he impressed me so much with his enthusiasm that I bought them all. And stole a few bookmarks. And sweets.
This is another one that sat on the pile for a while because it wasn’t a direct submission for review. I was struggling to decide which one to read next instead of following the normal strict list. When this one caught my eye, I thought I would give it a go.
This is what I thought.
Leo is confused. He has had a troubling life. The problem is he can’t remember any of it bar the last couple of years. He has just returned from a years traveling around the world and his guardian of sorts, Goodwin, has a job for him. He wants him to go work for his friend Victor as a chauffeur.
Leo soon discovers that chauffeuring will not be the only job he will be doing for Victor. On his second day he witnesses a murder. On his third day he witnesses much, much worse.
What follows, is a race against time. A race against evil. A race against unknown forces. A race against The Shadow Fabric.
This is a race that no one can afford to lose.
In terms of our characters we have a colourful and varied selection. Leo is obviously the main man in this story. He is mysterious and confused. He has no idea of his past and the only person who seems to know about it, Goodwin, isn’t giving anything away. Goodwin himself seems to be the quintessential English gentleman looking out for Leo. A sort of rich guardian who doesn’t need to be doing what he is but does it anyway.
Victor is seemingly a man of wealth as well. He doesn’t seem to want for much but it is clear from the outset that he is searching for something. This is what causes his problems. Stanley is Victor’s brother. The nasty side of the family. We don’t learn too much about him early on but he seems to be one to avoid. Polly is the last one of the group. Polly is blind. She has a helper who looks after her permanently but again seems to stick to the side-lines.
This group, apart from Leo, have known each other for years. They have secrets they are keeping from Leo. They also have secrets they are keeping from each other.
As far as characters go, these ones are all great. You don’t get a lot of back story with them which I love. Especially Leo, because he hasn’t even got a clue about himself. The character’s individual stories all become clearer as the story progresses, but again without overload.
In terms of the plot, this is one of my favourite styles of story. An ancient evil is making a comeback. Some people know a bit about it but not everything. They need to figure things out as they go. There are a lot of secrets and a lot of twists and turns that I, for one, didn’t see coming.
It isn’t a straight horror story. It is very much in the mystery / thriller vain with a lot of horror thrown in. Sort of like Dan Brown but good. And scary. Don’t be fooled by what I’m telling you though. This isn’t done in the Spielberg or Disney styles of those films you could watch on a Saturday afternoon with your two-year-old. This is dark, dark stuff. This is the stuff of nightmares. The sort of thing that a bit of me always wants to believe is happening somewhere in the world but we just never get to hear about it.
So what was the writing like? Well, one thing that struck me throughout this book is intelligence. It’s more literary in the sense that I reckon people who live and breathe extreme horror may not take to this one. It isn’t all blood and guts and gory gratuitous murder and mayhem. It’s extremely well thought out. It’s extremely well put together, to weave a wonderful story that genuinely mesmerised me in parts due to the beautiful descriptive narrative, that gives you a true impression of what particular scenes must look like.
Mark Cassell has a very creative imagination. That is clear from very early in this story. Although the plot theme is something that has been done many times before, I haven’t seen it done like this. I am trying to think of someone or a book to compare it with and I can’t. That must speak for itself.
I have a complaint though. For me, it lacked a bit on the horror side. The true scary bits. The bits that make you read with one eye closed or make you close it for a while because you don’t want to read what happens next. It’s the sort of story that you get the feeling from the beginning that the good guys are all going to ride off into the sunset, smoking big cigars and drinking tequila. They don’t by the way. Or do they? You have to read it to find out.
One thing is for sure. I will definitely be reading more of Mark Cassell. His writing is extremely good. The way his words flow should put many other authors to shame and to be honest, there are a few who should read this book to see exactly how intelligent writing is done. I think they will pick up some valuable tips.
To summarise: a mysterious and thrilling tale of modern day misfits chasing an ancient evil to save themselves, and mankind. A bit light on the horror for me but definitely worth a read to sample some very intelligent writing.
General rating:
★★★★ practically perfect.
Horror rating:
★★★.5 just needed more scares for me.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Shadow Fabric or any other books from Mark. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
Leo remembers little of his past. Desperate for a new life, he snatches up the first job to come along. On his second day, he witnesses a murder, and the Shadow Fabric – a malevolent force that controls the darkness – takes the body and vanishes with it. Uncovering secrets long hidden from humankind, Leo’s memory unravels. Not only haunted by the past, a sinister presence within the darkness threatens his existence and he soon doubts everything and everyone...including himself.
Now Leo must confront the truth about his past before he can embrace his future. But the future may not exist.
THE SHADOW FABRIC is a story revealing the unknown history of witchcraft and the true cause of the Great Fire of London. A supernatural horror novel of sins, shadows, and the reanimated dead.
Mark Cassell lives in a rural part of the UK with his wife and a number of animals. He often dreams of dystopian futures, peculiar creatures, and flitting shadows. Primarily a horror writer, his steampunk, dark fantasy, and SF stories have featured in numerous anthologies and ezines including Rayne Hall's Ten Tales series and horror zine, Sirens Call.
His best-selling debut novel, The Shadow Fabric, is closely followed by the popular short story collection, Sinister Stitches, and are both only a fraction of an expanding mythos. His most recent release, Chaos Halo 1.0: Alpha Beta Gamma Kill, is in association with Future Chronicles Photography.
