Yesterday it was my turn on the BlogTour Mindworm by David Pollard. Unfortunately I was unable to post, but I am making up for it now.
After more than forty years of paid employment David Pollard retired to glorious Hereford and immersed himself in the theatrical activities of the county. He is currently Chair of Hereford County Drama Festival.
David sees himself as a teller of tales – he is a playwright, author of short stories and novels. He has a preference for dark and dystopian material. He is also an actor and theatrical director. Among the many authors admired by David is Robert Louis Stevenson – for his website David adopted the appellation Tuistala – Samoan for ‘Teller of Tales’ which the Samoan people called RLS.
Several of David’s plays have been published by Lazybee Scripts – one of which ‘Aspects of a Betrayal’ was shortlisted for the Kenneth Branagh prize at the Windsor Fringe Festival.
David has two works published on KDP/Amazon:
‘His Cat and Other Strange Tales’ – a collection of macabre short stories, ‘The Alienation of Ludovic Weiss’ – a psychological thriller. A third book ‘Mindworm ‘ is scheduled for publication in September 2020
When not writing, directing or acting David runs a podcast platform for the streaming of radio plays and short story readings – Hand to Mouth Sound Theatre. For relaxation David reads voraciously with a liking for history and thriller fiction. He also enjoys country walks of the strolling variety.
Follow @dpollardauthor on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit thetusitala.co.uk, Buy Mindworm
David sees himself as a teller of tales – he is a playwright, author of short stories and novels. He has a preference for dark and dystopian material. He is also an actor and theatrical director. Among the many authors admired by David is Robert Louis Stevenson – for his website David adopted the appellation Tuistala – Samoan for ‘Teller of Tales’ which the Samoan people called RLS.
Several of David’s plays have been published by Lazybee Scripts – one of which ‘Aspects of a Betrayal’ was shortlisted for the Kenneth Branagh prize at the Windsor Fringe Festival.
David has two works published on KDP/Amazon:
‘His Cat and Other Strange Tales’ – a collection of macabre short stories, ‘The Alienation of Ludovic Weiss’ – a psychological thriller. A third book ‘Mindworm ‘ is scheduled for publication in September 2020
When not writing, directing or acting David runs a podcast platform for the streaming of radio plays and short story readings – Hand to Mouth Sound Theatre. For relaxation David reads voraciously with a liking for history and thriller fiction. He also enjoys country walks of the strolling variety.
About the book
The placid life of a college librarian is plunged into a desperate fight for survival when he witnesses the death of his only friend. Suddenly he is forced to confront disturbing changes in his nature and appetites and their consequences. Suspected of murder and pursued by an implacable police detective he runs – but is he running from the law or from himself?
A rather unassuming librarian ends up being hounded by a police officer who thinks he has caught the scent of a very clever and elusive killer. The bookworm seems to be attracting death. People conveniently just popping their clogs in his vicinity.
I kind of enjoyed the way the main character sways between benevolence and self-interest. The person who is merely doing someone a gracious favour and the flipside is him being consumed by lack of control and a selfish craving. The hunger is stronger than the human inside. Hmm the human inside?
I kind of enjoyed the way the main character sways between benevolence and self-interest. The person who is merely doing someone a gracious favour and the flipside is him being consumed by lack of control and a selfish craving. The hunger is stronger than the human inside. Hmm the human inside?
A good person with urges he can't control, but wishes he could, or is it just a predator in denial? That aspect of this speculative read, which dapples in magical realism, actually presents an interesting idea or dilemma. Kill because you think you're helping or kill because you can't control the urge to do so.
Also the suggestion that to be free may come with a healthy helping of karma.
It's a short read, novella length. Enough to give readers a sense of style and creativity of the author. It questions the boundaries of good and evil, and whether it depends on who determines what that means. Pollard also plays, towards the end, with the idea that the cosmic energy you give out or take will eventually want a repayment of some kind or pay it forward.
Some interesting ideas here and I also enjoyed the way the librarian remained in non-descriptive status until a certain point, so the reader makes assumptions perhaps and is then surprised with whom they are confronted with. Making the aspect of hunger, need, selfishness and yet simultaneously the need to belong and be a part of something bigger a fight within the main character - at first the faceless and then the almost non-descriptive.
