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Using a Cat as a Narrative Anchor in Literary Fiction
The Feline Sentinel – How a cat serves as a narrative anchor In my novella Change of Lifestyle, Gabe Shaw flees London for a self-imposed exile in Jakarta. He intends to kick start the writing career he has long wanted. In exchange for staying in a friend’s empty apartment, Gabe looks after Marshall Law, a… Read more
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The Malloreon vs the Belgariad: Does David Eddings’ Sequel Series Hold Up?
After the five-book Belgariad, David Eddings returned to the same world and characters with another five book epic – The Malloreon. Last year, I reread The Belgariad. This year, I turned to The Malloreon to see how it holds up. Which series wins in the battle of The Malloreon vs The Belgariad? A Fantasy Soap… Read more
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Why I includeD a cat with a genetic defect in my novella
Meet Marshall Law – a cat with a genetic defect In my novella Change of Lifestyle, a stressed London teacher suffers a personal and public betrayal and moves to Jakarta. He is promptly adopted by an Indonesian cat called Marshall Law. Like many Indonesian cats, Marshall’s tail is “twisted, gnarled and stubby.” It’s a genetic… Read more
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Pop culture allusions in fiction
pop culture allusions My novella Change of Lifestyle contains a lot of pop culture allusions to films, musics and books. My daughter, a Media Studes graduate, refers to them as intertextuality: references to pop culture that help shape characters and story. Here’s why I included them. Favourites Tennis During their first date, supply teacher Michelle… Read more
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Rereading the belgariad: the good, the bad and the ugly truth
The Belgariad is one of my favourite fantasy series ever, and very probably my favourite one. But it does have problems. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly of David Edding’s coming of age fantasy saga. THE GOOD THE CHARACTERS Some people say the characters are one-dimensional – and to some extent they are.… Read more