MYOPIA by Jeff Gardiner

“Oi! You four-eyed freak!”

Jerry is bullied for wearing glasses. When he realises his short-sightedness is not a disability, but a different way of perceiving and understanding the world around him, he begins to see things from a new, unique perspective.

He even starts to believe he might have super-powers, but soon learns a great deal about himself and about the boy who is making his life such a misery.

As he becomes alienated from his girlfriend and best mate, both victims of racism, Jerry realises he needs to think hard and put his plan into action.

Has Jerry discovered a new way of dealing with prejudice?

Myopia is a novel about bullying, friendship and learning the hard way.

 

“An intelligent, skillful and well-written treatment of a serious subject”

(L.H. Healy of The Little Reader Libarary – Amazon top 500 reviewer and Vine Voice.)

 

“Myopia is a poignant, beautiful and heart-wrenching story that resonates with truth, hope and above all, the immeasurable power of human compassion. Thoroughly recommended.”                                                      (T. J. Reids)

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MYOPIA by Jeff Gardiner is available from

www.amazon.co.uk

Or http://www.smashwords.com as a paperback and e-book

               ISBN – 978-1-908910-53-0

              www.jeffgardiner.com

  Crooked Cat Books

Jeff Gardiner’s Blog:  https://jeffgardiner.wordpress.com/

A Glimpse of the Numinous by Jeff Gardiner

In these fourteen stories Jeff Gardiner shows a startling range of styles and imagination,from visceral horror to lyrical literary prose.

Keen psychological insight is allied to a shrewd knowledge of ancient myth and mysticism. Gardiner’s recurring interest is in religion and spirituality and the strange traces these almost outlawed strangers have left on modern urban life.

Look again at your world and let Gardiner show the glimpses you’ve been missing of the doors that beckon you to other ways of seeing.

                                                              The ominous, the luminous… the numinous.

                                   

“… like a modern Lovecraft, Gardiner is adept at mixing the divine with the macabre creating an unsettling reading experience …. another great collection which will take you to some of the stranger shores of human experience.”                                                                                                                  Sci-Fi Online

 “Overall, the collection is stylish and enjoyable. Gardiner has a diverse range and one never knows what the next story will bring.”                           Stephen Joyce

 “The fourteen stories contained in this collection are notable for their considerable range. No two are alike, yet all are distinguished by beautifully evocative writing and a staunch commitment to originality.              Adam Groves

Available at:

amazon.co.uk  (paperback, hardback and kindle)

amazon.com    (paperback, hardback and kindle)

www.eibonvalepress.co.uk          

www.jeffgardiner.com

Jeff Gardiner’s blog – https://jeffgardiner.wordpress.com/

Three Free Funny Stories…

Click on the link below to read 3 free humorous stories by Jeff Gardiner.

Raphael’s Village Magazine

On the page you’ll see a list of titles linked with my writing: the stories are called ‘Strife After Death’, ‘Gull Power’ and ‘Home Truths’. Once you’ve read a story click on ‘More by JGardiner’ to get to the other two!

Read freely and laugh merrily!

Editing Your Work

‘Ead ‘Itting Skills

 

1)   Correct speling is essential.

2)   Don’t use no double negatives.

3)   Verbs has got to agree with their subjects.

Four) Be consistent.

5)   About those sentence fragments.

6)   Don’t use commas, that aren’t necessary, perhaps a full stop is better.

7)   A preposition is not a good word to end a sentence with.

8)   Be more or less specific.

9)   Always use apostrophe’s correctly; its easy to get wrong.

10) Also try to avoid starting too many sentences with connectives.

11) Don’t use redundant words; they are superfluous, needless and unnnecessary.

12) Avoid clichés like the plague. They’re as old as the hills.

13) Proofread carefully so you don’t words out. You could of made a mistake.

 

 

 

 

So you want to write a story?

To get you started, here are some basic elements of story-writing.

Plot

Start with a beginning, middle and end, then you can mess about with the chronology if you wish to – as long as you are in control of your narrative.

The story may involve:

• a quest
• a person completing a puzzle.
• conflict – a chase, race or crime.
• revenge
• a mistake which escalates out of control.
• a moral; but don’t preach or patronise your reader.
• an entirely original creation – a new planet with inhabitants.
• a historical context like World War II.

Other elements to consider

• The genre may inform the plot – as it does in romantic fiction; or a comedy might involve an absurd situation, such as discovering the teacher you always hated is your new next-door neighbour.
• Consider who your reader will be and adopt the appropriate tone and language.
• Suspense: feelings of excitement as the reader works out the ending.
• Plot twists: an unexpected change in plot.
• Anticipation: hold some things back – don’t give it all away.

Setting and Descriptions

Considering the 5 senses is a good focus as you write:

Sight – season, time of day, light, weather, buildings, objects around you, other people; colours, shapes, sizes.

Sound – birds, animals, traffic, planes, trains, shouting, children, leaves, machinery; loud, quiet.

Touch – textures: soft, rough, smooth; hot, cold, breezy.

Smell – pleasant, nasty; cooking, fire, flowers, new paint, clean, soap; fragrances, pleasant or otherwise.

Taste – sweet, sour, bitter, salty, metallic, oily.

BUT DON’T OVERDO THE ADJECTIVES!

Now add something about the character’s feelings and thoughts – fear, worry, joy, confusion – which could be considered the sixth sense.

By now you should enough information to get going. The rest is up to your imagination. The best way to learn how to write fiction is by getting on with it. You’ll write good and bad stories, but each one is a learning process whether it gets published or not.

Once it’s written you haven’t finished. You then begin the next major step … EDITING. More on this next time…

Praise for Jeff Gardiner’s Fiction

Praise for Myopia

“Myopia is a poignant, beautiful and heart-wrenching story that resonates with truth, hope and above all, the immeasurable power of human compassion. Thoroughly recommended.”

“an intelligent, skillful and well-written treatment of a serious subject.”

“an important insightful book.”

“Brilliant – 5 stars.”

Click on link to purchase MYOPIA: Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk

 

 

Praise for A Glimpse of the Numinous

“A Glimpse of the Numinous is an interesting and challenging short story collection. Jeff Gardiner writes fluently about feelings, sexuality, mental illness, relationships, sensuality, mythical happenings and religious themes … genuinely fascinating, weird and original.”

“A Glimpse of the Numinous is far from an easy read, but it is a rewarding one, and, more importantly, an eye-opening one. Reading is a form of escapism, and in Gardiner’s fiction, we escape to places we’d never imagine journeying to … A Glimpse of the Numinous is Gardiner’s unheimlich manoeuvre on our expectations. Gardiner’s stories are “clues” to a deeper life, a stranger truth, a scarier reality.”

Click link to buy A GLIMPSE OF THE NUMINOUS: Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk

Reclaiming the word ‘NICE’

As a writer, teacher and editor, I am consciously wary of using the word ‘nice’. It’s become a bit woolly and meaningless. “Use a stronger and more emotive word,” I hear myself saying. So, whilst a writer should extend his or her vocabulary and be precise in their selection of words, I still feel it my duty as a human-being to reclaim this particular word by briefly examining the important principle behind the intention, purpose and action of being ‘nice’.

I like smiling at strangers and saying “Good morning/afternoon.” Hopefully, it won’t get me arrested. When I drive I have to work hard to not be a competitive racer at a junction. If someone pushes in front of me– does it really matter? It’s not a reflection on my driving or skills or my status. The world would be so much better if we wave them through and smile in the knowledge that we’ve been kind to someone.
The niceties in life are to be treasured too. Some experiences are gentle, pleasant and relaxing. Those moments when we’re not rushing about and have no care in the world are important for our physical and mental health. Every now and then we need little rewards for working hard. Be nice to yourself … frequently.

So being ‘nice’ is a good thing. It implies kindness, humility and behaving in a way which is agreeable and thoughtful. These are all qualities we should aspire to. In my novel Myopia, Jerry decides to be ‘nice’ to the thug who is bullying him. This idea came from a talk I heard from the wonderful Lord Soper, who suggested that next time we are invaded by foreign troops that perhaps we should welcome them and invite them home for a cup of tea! Has anyone ever tried that? This might be a case of extreme pacifism, but who’s to say it wouldn’t work?

So, I reclaim the word ‘nice’ and embrace the term. Without being a mug or naive, I want to be pleasant, kind, sympathetic and humble (well, it’s an aspirational target!) because that is exactly how I expect others to be when they are dealing with me. NICE!