Reviews: July 2016

To Build a Fire
Jack London
August 1908


This is an epic tragedy of humans vs. nature. And so it begins. The man is walking with his dog in the Yukon, Canada. It is below minus fifty degrees and the dog knows it. The man knows his timeframe and knows what his route is. He is careless in thinking he can do the journey alone. Almost believable too, you're thinking ah! this is great! A real adventure of a man and his dog. Until that is, he wants to kill the dog to use as gloves. He gets soaking wet and makes a fire, only for it to go out. He loses all the feeling in his extremities, and the bacon sandwich he has snuggled next to his skin under his clothes, all warm and soaked in salty bacon fat goes to waste. A sudden urgency and he makes a run for it - surprised but delusional that his legs can even carry him, again and again, these mad dashes followed by exhaustion. You're nervous but convinced, he might make it! He dreams of his boys finding him in the morning, a lovely sleep envelops him. His body lying in the snow. The dog waits, but the man smells of death. The dog no longer needs to be out in the cold, he makes his own dash for home. It is superbly powerful. The landscape sparse, the story simple. But powerful, oh yes. Read it now.    

Reviews : November 2015

LIBATIONS
Luke Bowyer
18th August 2014
Structo Magazine, Issue 12

An affectionate narrative of memories, emotions and unfinished affairs of the heart. The lack of explanations leads you on, half yearning to know, half enjoying the secret the narrator holds over you. A funeral is the setting, yet the images provided by the narrative allow you to see glimpses of memories held of the main character Anthony, in life. A contrast from the unknown details of his death. Him at university, his peculiarities, his qualities. Whether the narrator is a male or female voice eluded me for quite a while, yet this didn't matter, and I was driven forward by the emotional and alluring sentences. Reaching the end of the story, you are somewhat unarmed and unsure how you got there. Yet you are glad you're on the train home and understand why things left in the past are best left there. One to read. I read it twice.



PHANTOM LIMB
Charlie Galbraith
23rd February 2015
Structo Magazine, Issue 13

An amusing tale of an unwanted house-guest, an ill-fitting toupee and the temporary illusionary powers of a prosthetic leg.  I was transported to Benny and his brother's house, only to wish I hadn't been with its stained carpet and lack of a housekeeper - oh, the powers of the writer.  The story is pacy yet so filled with words I got lost and made dinner halfway through. Algernon Irving is a well-drawn character, both the real, and the imaginary. He made me feel quite queasy and wishing I could have a shower. This is a story to experience, but also certainly a story I wouldn't want to read again. Read at your own risk.