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Fastovski's Tales of Hampstead
Imagine that Isaac Babel’s Cossacks wassail together with Runyonesque Liverpool Jews outside the plate-glass window of a Hampstead café where a Klezmer band is playing to a packed and tea-drinking congregation of jazzmen, Hasidic scholars, surrealists, old soldiers, and retired strippers; and you have the tone and temperature of this unique and unclassifiable memoir – no, not memoir, more a stream-of-consciousness novella – no, not a novella but a piece of autobiographical fiction – no, not autobiography but a picaresque drama conquered from the unreliable and fertile brain of the eponymous Fastovski.
And who is Fastovski? Is he real or invented? Is he perhaps the alter-ego of real-life jazz pianist, Klezmer swinger, big band leader and flaneur, Wallace Fields, who stares at us from the book’s frontispiece in shades, Diaghilev coat and moustache, over a cup of strong black coffee? Fastovski’s not telling and anyway, who cares.
This is a book to be devoured, disseminated, denounced, and delighted in. It belongs to all who think art and life are one and that the Arch-Savant of Canterbury, Issy Bonn, Rashid the Manic Berber Chef of NW3, and Mrs Karl Popper, have an equal claim on history. I haven’t had such a good time since I shared Sir Ralph Richardson’s motorbike with a parrot and a striking grandmother clock.
Piers Plowright
August 2008 -
Feather Fred
Fred is a small boy who lives with his mum and dad and big brother, Jim. After a farm visit with his school, Fred develops an itch. To his horror, peculiar and dramatic changes then begin to occur to his body and the dreadful thought that he may be turning into a chicken starts to become real.
When Jim starts teasing him and convincing him that he really is turning into a chicken, Fred becomes even more troubled. These troubles are greatly increased when his mother summons the doctor to examine him. Fred, however, is a determined and resourceful little boy who endeavours to stay one step ahead.
But will his problems disappear, or will his worst fears be realised?
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Feelings of the Moment
Ahmed, a young man hailing from the Middle East, relocates to America to study. In the US, he sees, and is excited by, a sexual freedom uncommon in his homeland, and vows to live his young life to the full. Initially staying in Colorado with a married couple, Ahmed seduces Debbie, who is unappreciated by her husband, and his voyage of passion begins.
More encounters with American women follow, as Ahmed invites them to surrender to both themselves and to him; though with his appetite for sexual exploration unsatiated, he returns to the United Arab Emirates, applying the same methods, albeit covertly in a more conservative society, to embolden the women he meets to revel in their sexuality, and make their lustful fantasies a reality.
Ahmed realizes that the women he meets both at home and abroad, even those enjoying a Westernised sexual liberty, are oppressed in their own way, unable to express themselves as they truly desire, with some of them starved of intimate pleasure by husbands who have settled for a boring, predictable way of life. Acting on this, he encourages them to explore their deepest desires, and as they surrender to those hidden yearnings and the feelings of the moment, they embrace each other’s bodies with zeal, satisfying needs that, for some, have been left unfulfilled for years.
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Floxy the Mermaid
This is the tale of a kind little mermaid called Floxy who is very upset that her fourth birthday party has been cancelled because of the ‘coral virus’.
One day, to cheer herself up, she swims out to the rusty old anchor and discovers a poor turtle trapped underneath a rock.
The story unfolds, and just like a birthday present, it is all wrapped up, this time in a soft seaweed blanket of kindness, selflessness and love.
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Flutter Until You Fly
When he was six years old, he declared to the hearing of some friends: “I want to be a pilot when I grow up,” and it generated mocking laughter from them. The laughter became louder when at the end of sixth grade, his father lost his job and life went further downhill. From his family couch surfing in the neighbourhood for about seven years to having to cook and hawk kenkey, gari, and bake bread as a secondary school student, he kept going. He took the A Levels twice and performed poorly, disqualifying him from joining the air force even though he passed the army’s assessments twice. In Flutter Until You Fly, Captain Solomon Quainoo shares how he overcame these stumbling blocks and more, worked 17-hour days as a labourer, cleaner, pizza delivery guy, and traffic warden, to still become a captain of the world’s biggest passenger aircraft.
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For All Time
Would the actions of someone born nearly two hundred years ago affect the lives of those today? Writer Ellie Fuller was about to find out as she sifted through the journals, letters and keepsakes of Liza Marchant, and as she wrote, she began to sense all the magic of a bygone age.
Was Liza the scarlet woman that she had been labelled or was she someone who had many twists and turns in her life, one who subsequently became an inspiration to those around her and continued to do so from beyond the grave?
Ellie begins to see her, feel her and even smell her, and she becomes quite unnerved by the experience, but when her brother Eddy has the same dreams, they both know that they must lay Liza to rest by accurately piecing together her life story and following the routes that she took so many years ago.
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Fort Avenue
You can’t lie down with your back against the wall.
Ex-NYPD officer turned LA Bounty Hunter Tucker Brag has traded the beat on New York’s mean streets for chasing bounties in the City of Angels.
When Jimmy Brag, Tucker’s father, a veteran in the U.S. Army and reclusive doomsayer, dies, Tucker is surprised by a windfall bequeathed to his only child.
Sorting out Jimmy’s affairs, Tucker is inadvertently thrust into the crosshairs of one of LA’s most powerful crime figures. On the run and looking over his shoulder, he is then faced with a past family tragedy, bringing heartbreaking memories back into focus. They compel Tucker to attempt now what he couldn’t hope to achieve as a young boy.
Tucker will first need to defeat a ruthless enemy before planning to fulfil his own desire for revenge.
PRAISE FOR ROGUE JUSTICE
‘A rollercoaster journey of criminal justice. For readers of mysteries and thrillers who prefer darker and more dangerous tales. A deftly plotted, intelligently accomplished novel that is as fast-paced as it is gripping.’ – Readers Favorite
‘Great depth of character and a thrill to read.’ – Literary Titan
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Free From The End Into Something New
The traumatic experiences of many sudden changes within her childhood leading up to her adulthood. A fight for Patricia’s life is needed in order to survive. A desperation of people fighting for her love parallel to a personal need to be accepted by her true love compels Patricia to realise that there is always an end to something new. What she has to leave at the end and bring with her in the new is what seems to always catch her by surprise. However, having faith in God throughout brings her through each stage of her life knowing that the new cannot control or oppress but only empower.
Free From The End Into Something New is a fictional book which covers real-life topics such as abuse, pain, emotional attachment, the Windrush generation, fostering, romance and marriage. This book will bring you an alternate thought-provoking narrative of characters which will leave you inspired, engaged and empowered.
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Free Radical
A fascinating account of life in a period of great social and political change. Gabrielle Walsh discusses her personal experiences of pursuing feminism and gay rights amidst the stigma and tradition of a patriarchal society. Traversing the period from the beginning of the 1950s until the present, it is the story of an activist who also honours those who contributed to the great social and political movements aimed at freeing our world. The discussion of sexual liberation and race relations are equally thought-provoking. The anecdotes and details of family life, set against the backdrop of pivotal historical events, provides an insight into the personal inherent in every political situation. This work shares a progressive political tradition with a cheeky storytelling genre found in Anglo-Irish literature. It is exuberant, lively and amusing. Written with warmth and compassion, this work provides a platform for important conversations still necessary for our society today.
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George (The Teenage Years)
This is an introduction of George to the masses. He is the representative of a whole lost generation (lost to the government and the British public) who have recently been in the news as the revelation of who they are comes out.
George tells the story of an 11-year-old Windrush boy who arrived in England from the island of Jamaica in 1965. The story is narrated in third-person and speaks of the boy’s first experience of being in a cold country, the absence of an introduction to his new family, the difficulties he faces as a new boy in a new school, the struggles to find his place, his resistance in conforming to stereotypical expectations and his fights to maintain the self-pride and independence he learnt from his early years in Jamaica.
As George progresses through the school and struggles to assimilate, he moves from being the outsider to become a cultural educator and a facilitator of his peers and brings together the different groups within his association. However, he has difficulty reconciling his family and church life with his secular associates. Through the boy’s eyes, the narrator depicts how it was at that time for the West Indian immigrant community in London and the group of unnoticed children whom they brought from the islands, how they mixed and associated with each other, their embryonic family and the indigenous population.
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Get Real
Justin lives in a future when Earth’s humanity has become largely desensitized to violence and regard for others. He is a Delivery Real superstar whose daily cargo is the soon-to-be exploited, and the already-voided synthetic life forms that look human but are not. He – like the world around him – views artificially created intelligent beings as either property or slaves designed to be used and used up by their human masters without remorse of conscience.
In Justin’s world, everything is up for grabs if you have what it takes, and if you are fit enough to take it. Such is the state of affairs on an increasingly sterile planet with increasingly sterile people who no longer know how to appreciate the gift of life. It isn’t until Justin is introduced to the wise stillness of silence under the tutelage of Mother Entity that he begins to discover what lies just beneath the barren violence of his home planet.
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Gilded Tilting
Caught between the eras of Hitler and Putin, the Baby Boomers experienced unprecedented transformations – from becoming the first television generation to enjoying new healthcare and educational opportunities. As the boom subsides into a quieter phase of life, this anthology captures their journey through evocative poems, keen observations, and thoughtful opinions. Peppered with a touch of humor, including jokes that range from wry to laugh-out-loud funny, this collection serves as both a reflective mirror and an illuminating window into a generation that witnessed and shaped significant social and cultural shifts. Whether you’re a Boomer or simply intrigued by the era, this book offers a compelling blend of enlightenment, entertainment, and thought-provoking insights.