Saturday 1 November 2014

JOEL GOLDMAN - FIRE IN THE SKY


Synopsis/blurb…..

Two teenage boys on the make, looking for love and a quick score cross paths with a desperate woman on the run. A blazing inferno and a shootout change their lives forever in Fire In The Sky!

In case it has escaped anyone’s attention, I am shamelessly padding the numbers with a lot of short fiction in order to try and hit my year end reading target of 120 books of various lengths and types. Another new author then in Joel Goldman, a three time Edgar Award nominee and the co-founder of Brash Books.

Fire in the Sky………is a short (obviously) tale set in a small town in America during the depression. Goldman packs a lot into this tale…….. friendship, lust, desire, fair-grounds, stunted prospects, bank robbers, a children’s home, fire, panic, gun play, hospitals, death and in a satisfying conclusion, a seizure of opportunity and the prospects of a brighter future as our adolescent hero takes a giant step towards manhood.

Possibly a missed chance here by Goldman as I kind of feel there was enough of a storyline going on that it deserved a longer treatment. That said a great introduction to another new-to-me author.

4 from 5


Joel Goldman’s website is here. You can acquire this story free by signing up to his newsletter, which is how I happened by it. Definitely an author I’ll read more from in the future. 

8 comments:

  1. Col - Sometimes those plots about chance meetings can really develop into great stories. Glad you enjoyed this one.

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    1. Margot cheers, definitely an author I want to sample more from in the future.

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  2. You are racing through these short ones! And the author obviously fitted a lot in. Maybe I'd look at another of his works...

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    1. I might try something longer in 2015, depending on if I finally impose an embargo but still allow myself the odd bit of incoming

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  3. Col, thanks for this review. I'm signing up for Joel Goldman's newsletter and downloading the short story.

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    1. Prashant, I hope you enjoy it when you read.

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  4. I checked out the author's website, and it looks like his novels are doing well, and are well review on Amazon. I might give one of his series a try when I can fit a new author in.

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    1. I did the same as you and looked up his all his books and the reaction to them, but I couldn't choose - in some ways spoiled for choice. I like the sound of all of them and the fact that they aren't too long at this current stage is more of an enticement than if one series was 10 books in length.

      I did the same with his Brash Books publishing partner - Lee Goldberg and did buy a few of his, which I'm looking forward to.

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