|
-
Hivemind social net
-
News
- Features
- Blogs
- Events
Calendar
- Editorials
- Monthly
Zine
- Offworld
Report
- Our Daily
RSS Feed
- Google Toolbar scifi
- Movie/TV
Reviews
> Recent movies
> Movies by year
> Movies by title
- Book
Reviews
> Recent books
> Books by year
> Books by title
- Home
- Worlds
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Appearances
- Reviews
- Blog
- Community
- Press
- Links
Become
an Advertiser
- Web
Site Directory
- Search
the Net
- StephenHunt.net
- WoodenRocket.com
- Check
your E-mail
- Non Sci-Fi
News
|
Black Dust And Other Tales Of Interrupted Childhood by Graham Joyce
01/11/2006 . Source: Pauline Morgan 
pub: Westwood St Thomas in association with Beccon Publications, Beccon Publications, 75 Rosslyn Avenue, Harold Wood, Essex RM3 ORG. United Kingdom. 62 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.95 UK). ISBN: 1-870824-52-0. Buy Black Dust And Other Tales Of Interrupted Childhood in the USA - or Buy Black Dust And Other Tales Of Interrupted Childhood in the UK  to order contact: roger@beccon.org or visitwww.beccon.org
In South Africa, students are expected to pay the first year of their college education. After that, there are grants available. This makes it very difficult for youngsters from the poor, black townships to go on into further education. The pupils of one school, however, now have a better chance. The school of Nqabakazulu, near Durban, is twinned with Westwood School, near Salisbury, England. This school raises funds to give the students of Nqabakazulu bursaries to cover their first year at college. Bob Wardzinski is a teacher at Westwood School. He is also a second-hand book dealer who frequents Science Fiction and fantasy conventions.
It is the contacts he has made there that have enabled the production of this book. All the profits from sales of copies of 'Black Dust' go towards the fund to support the South African students. That is the entire cover price as all the participants in the project, including the printers, have given their services free.
If the reasons for the production of this book have not persuaded you that you need a copy then buy it because it is a small, slim volume that will grace the shelves of any serious collector of good literature. Tony Baker's beautiful cover in black and white fits the volume perfectly, depicting a silhouetted figure in a rough-hewn tunnel.
The three stories inside by Graham Joyce are all evocations of childhood and each contain a touch of magic. 'Black Dust' is set in the same mining community where Graham grew up. On the afternoon when his mother is waiting at the pit head to find out if her husband is going to be rescued from the coal mine, Andy is at a local high point. From here he can see the pit-head but, as a child, he is not permitted to go there and wait with his mother. He has gone there with a friend to practice rock climbing. Bryn has gone home when Andy discovers a cave he has never seen before. The story is pivotal in the lives of both Andy and his friend Bryn. It portrays the kind of people that lived in the mining community without sentimentality. They have real lives. You can imagine them doing the things described. It is a gem of a story.
The second story, 'Tiger Moth', has the same attention to detail. Lenny is a lawyer in the small Norfolk town of Hunstanton and has fallen into a rut. He is overburdened with trivial cases by the law firm he works for and still lives with his mother. This is not his choice but she has manipulated him into the situation. Soon after they moved to the town when Lenny was nine, he spent a magical afternoon playing in the dunes with two brothers down on holiday. Since then, he feels that he has been forced into making the wrong decisions about his life. Now, however, he has been offered an opportunity to take a better, higher paid job but it will mean moving to Nottingham. It is a turning point and his decision will decide the direction his life takes from now on. The joy of the childhood episode is caught perfectly as is the relationship between Lenny and his mother.
The third story, 'Under The Pylon', is also a childhood recollection and a turning point for the characters. The narrator and his friends play beneath the electricity pylon despite being told not to. There is nowhere else in the area and the concrete base and the legs make an ideal framework for a den. The things they get up to are exactly the kind of things you would expect from a group of ten year-olds out of sight of their parents. Again, it evokes a childhood moment when changes happen that influence the rest of the participants lives.
The volume also contains an introduction by Mark Chadbourn and short articles discussing the stories by Jeffrey Ford and Jeff VanderMeer as well as an afterword from Graham Joyce.
This is a limited edition and the paperback is signed by Graham Joyce. The hardcover is signed by all contributors.
Pauline Morgan
|
|
