Synopsis/blurb......
WARNING - CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE, SEXUAL CONTENT, SCENES OF VIOLENCE, AND SHOULD NOT BE READ BY ANYONE.
A dying town on the edge of nowhere. A motel.
Room sixteen is where all the men go.
Room sixteen is never locked.
Room sixteen is where Joanie lives.
She keeps the curtains drawn and the lights off, resides in a world of darkness punctuated by cheap sex with faceless strangers. She wants a day off. Her pimp isn't happy about it.
Populated by misfits, outcasts, losers and loners, The Motel Whore is a dark journey into a soulless world where satisfaction is cheap, but salvation is hard to find.
It will crawl inside your skull, it will live beneath your skin. It will stay with you for days.
A short dark read, one that starts out bleak then gets progressively blacker as we go.
Joanie is the motel whore and room sixteen is where she plies her trade.
Sixteen. Upstairs, end of the row, out of the way of the rest, because this room makes music. This room gets loud. This room plays percussion, the headboard banging rhythmically against the thin back wall where there are no neighbours, cutting chunks out the plaster. Sometimes the beat takes a break, but never for long.
We spend some time in Joanie's company on an unusual day for her - she takes some Joanie time, but it's hardly quality...... a walk to town, getting teased by the young kids in the motel car park on the way - the same kids who one day when they feel brave enough will come tentatively scratching at her door, an unsatisfactory meal in a crappy diner, a seat on a bench in the park for an hour, some time on her back with her pimp and the motel owner Howie, some getting high-time with Rodansky - the dealer down the corridor, then room 23 another punter another trick, Leo - who calls himself the beast - a weird one him.
Dawn breaks....another day begins for the motel whore in room 16 sixteen, with its stained sheets and its lingering odours.
This is life at the bottom....when all hope and ambition has fled.
4.5 from 5
Paul Heatley’s short stories have appeared online and in print. His credits include Thuglit, Horror Sleaze Trash, The Pink Factory, Spelk, Shotgun Honey, and the Flash Fiction Offensive, amongst others. He lives in the north-east of England.
This was my first time reading his work, but not my last - The Vampire has been enjoyed also, with plenty more on the kindle yet - The Boy, The Mess, The Pitbull, Three, An Eye for an Eye and the recently All Due Respect published Fatboy
His website is here. Facebook here. Twitter - @PaulHeatley3
Read in May, 2017
Published - 2015
Page count - 46
Source - purchased copy
Format - Kindle
This certainly sounds like a really bleak story, Col. Really bleak. But even the darkest stories can be well-written, with good characters. Glad you enjoyed this one.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely dark. I made the mistake of reading THE VAMPIRE from him immediately after, I perhaps should have drawn a breath in between!
DeleteCol – The description of this one sounds incredibly rock bottom. But, since you gave it a 4.5, and since it is 46 pages long and 99 cents on Amazon’s Kindle, I will give it try.
ReplyDeleteElgin, I really enjoyed it (not sure enjoyed is the correct word). I probably shouldn't have read THE VAMPIRE immediately afterwards, a bit too much despair in one hit. I'm looking forward to reading his other work especially FATBOY! I'll be interested in hearing what you think of it.
DeleteCol – It is now in the lineup on my Kindle. Since it is short, I may move it up in the batting order. I will definitely report back after reading it.
DeleteHappy days! :-)
DeleteBased on your post, I see this as interesting, but difficult to take, but maybe at 46 pages I would be able to handle it.
ReplyDeleteNot an easy read, Tracy.
DeleteOh dear lord, the title would be enough to put me off. I'm glad you liked it, but it's a step too bleak for me.
ReplyDeleteMoira - 99p on Kindle if you change your mind!
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