I don’t search out poetry to read. Not my thing, but the title of Hutchings’ poetry collection caught my attention. The length of the poems range from a couple of sentences to many pages. They tell stories about the human condition, and cats seem to be featured a lot <G>. One of my favorites was the first verse of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” written as a Shakespearean Sonnet.
It you are looking for something thoughtful, beautiful, funny and strange give this a try.
About the Author: website James Hutchings lives in Melbourne, Australia. He fights crime as Poetic Justice, but his day job is acting. You might know him by his stage-name 'Brad Pitt.' His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Wisdom Crieth Without among other markets. His ebook collection 'The New Death and others' is now available from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and DriveThruFiction.
A while back we reviewed a collection of poems and stories, The New Death and Othersby James Hutchings (review). He has recently released another collection called They Say the Sirens Left the Seas. James was kind enough to share something from the collection. Take a read and check out both books. They are only $.99.
The Cat and the Toad
At the dawn of the world on a tree-sheltered road an agreeable cat met a horrible toad.When the cat saw its neighbor it fearfully shook for in those days all creatures would act as they looked and the toad was all warty, and bulging, and slimy. The trembling cat mewed a terrified "Blimey!" (more vigorous oaths had not yet been discovered) and looked at the evil made plain on the other one hideous sin for each hideous feature. "Oh please do not kill me, most wicked of creatures!" it begged without hope. But the toad thought awhile then it gave what might almost have been called a smile and it said, "You may keep what you carry within but if you are to live, you must give me your skin." Now the cat had no choice, though it bitterly cried but to take off its fur and to put on the hide of the venomous toad, and no creatures had made such a villainous threat, such a terrible trade. Then the cat hopped away where it once would have strode for the toad was a cat, and the cat was a toad.
This explains why the toad, though so utterly charmless is gentle in nature and totally harmless while cats appear graceful and splendid and good but would murder us all in our beds if they could.
(Disclaimer: This only refers to other cats. Your cat is lovely of course)
About the Author: website James Hutchings lives in Melbourne, Australia. He fights crime as Poetic Justice, but his day job is acting. You might know him by his stage-name 'Brad Pitt.' His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Wisdom Crieth Without among other markets. His ebook collection 'The New Death and others' is now available from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and DriveThruFiction.
The New Death and Others, by James Hutchings, is an anthology of various short stories, jokes and poems written by Mr. Hutchings in e-book form. The book itself isn't more than a hundred pages, so it's a quick read and good if you have an afternoon free or some spare time in your commute. At least, for those of you that commute using buses or trains, don't read and drive kids.
To be perfectly honest, at times I feel like I'm reading through Hutchings's notebook. Some of the entries aren't longer than a paragraph or two, while others take up numerous pages. Some stories or entries are serious and melancholy, while others are flippant and filled with puns. Oh sweet merciful Emperor, the puns. If making puns truly is the Eighth Deadly Sin, then Hutchings is incredibly guilty. Even if the book feels like a notebook, at the very least it's a well-written notebook.
I do feel like some of the entries, especially the shorter ones, could do with a little fleshing out. However, the majority of the stories and poems are well-written, even if the moral kind of hits you over the head at times. Overall I would say it's well-worth the one dollar and there are plenty of worse ways to spend a dollar these days. Well...if you can find anything for a dollar. I give it three and a half sheep based largely on its brevity and its low cost, as well as it being an enjoyable means to spend an afternoon.
The New Death and Others is available on Amazon and Smashwords for the bargain price of $0.99 USD.
