A blog by Tom Gale, a new LGBTQ+ writer Jan 2023 The City of Salford, England
First, I am relieved to see you all made it back in more or less good shape, if not better than when I last saw you. That is not nothing. Good on you. Here’s why.
- It shows that you have what one of my old bosses described as ‘stickability’, and for the sniggerers on the back row, yes, I hear you, and if you look more carefully, there is no ‘W’ in that word—moving on.
- You are first in the queue for all the exciting stuff planned for 2023. The team and I at TomGaleWriter HQ have been working flat out towards this, and we are excited.
We are driven by finding ways to give you the best experience we are capable of.
However, if you have a great idea you think your fellow readers/ community members would enjoy, whip it over to us, and we will give it our full attention and give you feedback within 2 to 3 days.
Once again, it is good to see you back. I can’t stop grinning. It makes me so happy.
So, without any further ado, let’s start with the business.
My First Book Recommendation of 2023
To scare the bejeezus right out of you.
Now hands up if you like a book that scares the bejeezus out of you.
Those with your hands down, you are excused.
Now keep your hands up if you like that with a side of ‘beautifully crafted’?
And if you are swayed when a book messes with your head, as it challenges the current convention on style and content?
Finally, keep your hand up if you enjoy the fact that one of the major themes of this scary book is Folklore, specifically Slavic mythology.
For those of you who still have your hands up, then you are going to love the recommendation I have for you. For those of you who dropped out on the last couple of questions, I think you could do worse than giving it your best shot.
My first recommendation for 2023 is ‘The Bone Mother’ by the Canadian, international award-winning author David Demchuk. It was David Demchuk’s first fiction novel.
Winner of the 2018 Sunburst award. Nominated for the Shirley Jackson award. Amazon’s first novel award and The Scotiabank Giller prize. In paperback from Proving Ground Press May 26 2020.
Available from all the usual suspect booktoriums and the like.
I read it during a recent transatlantic flight. With ancestors from Lithuania and a robust masochistic streak satisfied by having the bejeezus scared out of me, I realise this may have made me an easy catch.
However, this did more. It landed, smashed my head on a rock, slit me open, removed my guts, and filleted me, keeping the skull and bones for stock. It gripped from the first page to the last, and I couldn’t put it down. It even worked a bit of magic on my bladder, which usually is weakened when I fly transatlantic.
It Satisfied My Robust Masochistic Streak
If anyone has muttered ewwwww at any of that, then maybe The Bone Mother isn’t for you. I’ll let you be the judge. I will not do any spoilers but rather leave you with this. The greatest delight was for me other than having someone tell me some creepy, scary and even horrific stories with the fact that Mr Demchuk had left sufficient space between his words for my imagination to expand and contract in the same rhythms as his structures.
Well, that’s it for another week. Remember to hit the like button and subscribe straight for future posts to go straight into your inbox for future publications.
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