Words on a Page

The past few weeks, since the publication of Missing Words , have been a bit of a whirlwind and I am struggling to keep up with everything that is happening at the moment. A few days after the online launch with my cohort from Fairlight Moderns I had my very first LIVE book signing at my local independent bookshop – the fabulous Pigeon Books . Even though Covid restrictions have been almost entirely lifted here in the UK, many people – myself included – are not ready throw themselves into a crowded indoor space just yet, so the book signing was a good alternative to a full-on event with a book reading and clinking glasses of champagne. For three hours, I sat as if enthroned in the comfy chair in the window of Pigeon Books while a surprising number people trooped through the door and asked me – ME – to sign copies of my book. It was a wonderful day, with time to chat to friends I hadn’t seen since pre-Covid days, including some I hadn’t seen for years. And more thrilling still were the ...

Could he pull it off? This relationship thing? He could see the future stretching out before him like a never-ending ribbon of time and he wondered, for the first time, if he could navigate it and make it to the end, and be happy along the way. Frank is the seemingly confident front man in a local rock-n-roll band, but when he meets his future wife, Liz, he is momentarily disarmed. Something about her is different from the groupies who clamber around him at the end of his gigs. When things begin to look serious, Liz puts her foot down. She won’t put up with any nonsense, she tells him. He’s going to have to behave. In chapters that move back and forth in time, Debbi Voisey’s beautiful novella gives us snapshots of Frank throughout his life: as he will be, as he was, and as he is now. In quick succession, we see him at the end of his life – confused and infirm, followed by images of him as a much younger man – vital and charismatic. We see him as a loving father to two young child...

I’m pleased to announce that Missing Words was published yesterday, and last night it was sent into the world with a fabulous (if virtual) book launch, hosted by Emma Timpany, author of the award-winning novella Travelling in the Dark . All four of the authors published this summer by Fairlight Moderns took part in the event, reading from their books and answering questions. Covid has changed a lot of things, and book launches are one of them. But you know what? Having an online launch was okay. In fact, it was better than okay. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a schmoozer. I hate crowds, and I hate social events where I’m expected to ‘mingle’ and make small talk. Worse yet, is talking about my book (note to self: I really must get over that). So last night’s virtual event came as something of a relief. Sure, I had to provide my own champagne, but I was very happy to stay home where my internet could unexpected go down if I started to panic. But the main thing that made the...

None of these stories are to be trusted, for they are stories of the dead told by the living and the living always lie. Leafing through a box of postcards at a Parisian market stall, the narrator of Douglas Bruton’s exquisite novella finds a distinctive blue postcard which he recognises at once. The colour is International Klein Blue (IKB), created by the avant-garde artist Yves Klein, and the postcard is an invitation to a 1957 exhibition of his monochrome paintings. Such a seemingly simple postcard, but within it is a marvellously intricate meditation about the way memory reshapes itself over time and how truth is often found in fiction. Bruton weaves together three fragmented narratives to create a story filled with passions that are never fully realised: that of the narrator, and his fascination both with Yves Klein and the colour blue; the lonely tailor, Henri, who sews a string of twisted blue Tekhelet threads into a seam in every suit he makes to bring the wearer luck; and Yves ...

  After my interview with Fairlight Books author, Douglas Bruton , discussing his latest publication, Blue Postcards , and his approach to writing, he turned the tables on me and posed some questions of his own. Here, we continue our discussing about reading, writing, and my literary novella, MissingWords , which will be published on 5 th August. ~ Douglas:   I tried writing in my teens and then again at university – nothing I wrote was worth the ink. It was not until I got a computer (aged thirty) that I found a way to write that worked. When did you know you could write and that it was something you wanted to do? Loree:   I remember dreaming up stories a lot when I was a kid. I’m an only child, and spent a lot of time entertaining myself. I know that I wanted to be a writer long before I ever wrote anything down on paper. In that way, I think I was very typical of a lot of the students I’ve worked with who want to write, but don’t yet have the tools to do so. I...

  ‘Is it enough to be remembered? Or do you have to be the one remembering?’ Bit by bit, Tito is fading from existence. He has lost weight, and he is shorter than he was. Sometimes his body flickers like the pictures on an analogue TV. And sometimes he disappears altogether. At home in Miami, Tito’s young life is in turmoil. Each of his parents seems to have rejected him, letting him know his birth was ‘an accident’ and referring to him as ‘your son’ when they argue. Finding refuge with his Cuban grandmother, Nana, he begins to learn about magic and the art of creating illusions. Illusions, she tells him, are meant to do good – to help others or oneself to see a situation more clearly. She warns, however, that there is also potential to do the opposite and to cloud or confuse a person’s ability to see at all. ‘In America, as an immigrant, we had to be invisible.’ Tito’s greatest desire, like that of any child, is to feel loved and valued. But his parents are distracted by...

  In the third of this series of interviews with Fairlight authors, I have the pleasure of talking to Debbi Voisey. Debbi’s novella Only About Love will be published on 5 th August, the same day as my own, in the Fairlight Moderns list of literary novellas. ~ Loree:   I’m really looking forward to reading Only About Love when it comes out in August. I believe it’s described as a ‘novella in flash’ – which sounds really intriguing. I wonder if you could say something about your involvement with flash fiction, and what it is about the form that attracts you. Debbi:   Thanks, and I am so chuffed we are sharing a publication day. I can’t wait to read Missing Words . I started writing flash fiction when I was trying to avoid working on a novel! I love it for its immediacy. It allows you to get your thoughts out, and for people to read them, far more quickly than when writing a novel. It also really helps you to be economic with words and to tighten your prose. O...

In the second of my interviews with authors from this year’s Fairlight Moderns list of literary novellas, I speak to JT Torres . JT is an American author and academic, originally from Florida, who now teaches English at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. His novella, Taking Flight , will be published by Fairlight Books on 8 th July. ~ Loree: You’ve got a very impressive CV, with a surprisingly long list of academic publications for one who is still so young! It’s clear you’ve been extremely busy over the past few years. Completing a PhD nearly killed me, but you seem to be thriving in the academic world. As well as your novella Taking Flight , you have four peer reviewed papers coming out this summer. My first question, then, has to be: how do you do it? How do you balance such a full academic life with your creative life? Do your academic research and your teaching responsibilities impinge upon your ability to write fiction, or do they help in some way? JT:   The PhD n...