David Palin
Parallels
Three Dark Psychological Tales
Formats:
Paperback, eBook
A collection of stories which reveals how if we refuse to look for things beyond our world then they may come looking for us. We are surrounded by parallel worlds; universes waiting for us to create tears in the fabric of space and time, so we can step through. Then there’s the conscience - it is a world like a negative from old-fashioned photographs, presenting us with something we know, in the same detail, but in much darker, and somehow spookier shades; familiar, but different. If that rings any bells with you, then perhaps you will enjoy this collection of novellas.
In ‘A Conversation with Cain’, one man’s grief and another’s troubled conscience draw them to each other, but neither is aware of the danger each of them faces as a result of their interaction.
In ‘After-Image’ the appearance of a stranger at an event in a small town’s art café unsettles everyone and sets loose demons seeking payment for past crimes.
‘In the Laptops of the Gods’ finds the past and the future merge with disastrous, viral consequences as three ancient gods battle for power with the wannabee business deities of a software giant now controlling society.
The Spark
Three novellas inspired by the belief that the past and present are never more than a false step apart. Include the future in that, because ‘In the Laptops of the Gods’ contains a needle-like building overlooking the city call The Shard and was written before the London structure was ever built! As examples of how my stories can spiral out from seemingly random moments, the thought-processes were triggered by a burnt-out candle in a cathedral, an egotistical man holding forth in an art-café and, once again, my guilt, this time for driving past a homeless man. Pick the bones out of those – ideally by reading the book!
"These three stories are all chilling, sinister and thought-provoking in very different ways. Palin’s crisp and punchy prose screams out from every page and draws you into the characters and plots in a clever and very elegant way."