Tag: Publishers

Agatha Christie – Surprise! Surprise! | Review

Title: Surprise! Surprise!

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 224

Rating: 3.5/5

This book is something of an oddity, and in fact I hadn’t even heard of it until I spotted it going as part of an Agatha Christie job lot on eBay. Essentially, because different publishers released different books in different regions, there are some unique USA titles that never came out in the UK, and vice versa.

That mostly applies to short story collections, of which this is the perfect example. In fact, to say that I read this is almost cheating because I only bothered to read the stories that I hadn’t read before, and so there were only four of the twelve or thirteen in here that I actually read. I remember the ones that I skipped, though.

In fact, this is actually a pretty decent little read, if only because it features a bunch of Christie’s most well-known characters, from Parker Pyne to Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. It also includes the title story of The Witness for the Prosecution, which I’ve seen performed as a play before. I think the play was a little better than the short story, but both of them are very much worth consuming. All in all then, I’d have to say that this one is worth reading.

Learn more about Surprise! Surprise!.


Oli Jacobs – Bad Sandwich | Review

Title: Bad Sandwich

Author: Oli Jacobs

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 196

Rating: 3.75/5

 

Oli Jacobs - Bad Sandwich

Oli Jacobs – Bad Sandwich

 

This book is weird with a capital “we”. It’s no real surprise that this is an indie novel, because I can’t imagine mainstream publishers picking something like this up. Even though I’ve categorised it as fiction, it’s almost like a long, psychedelic prose poem using stream of consciousness techniques and word association. At the same time, though, it does also tell a story.

It’s also super visual, which is refreshing, and I actually thought that Jacobs did a great job of laying out the book while keeping it all on-theme with his unusual approach to writing a narrative. It was a lot of fun, but I don’t know whether I only thought it was fun because I’m also an author.

If you like experimental stuff and you want to support an indie author then you should give this one a chance. I’ve read a few of Oli’s books so far and each of them have been fun. I’m looking forward to reading some more of his stuff, and Bad Sandwich is a triumph for what it is.

 

Oli Jacobs

Oli Jacobs

 

Click here to buy Band Sandwich.