Curious Reality by D. K. Cassidy is part of the much-acclaimed Spilt Milk series.is not really a novel but a collection of short stories about a group of oddballs who are linked by their tenuous relationship with each other and their more intimate, professional, relationships with their mutual psychiatrist, Dr. Tine.
Some of the chapters involve two, three or even more of the five main characters interacting, but some involve only one. Then there are the doctor and the robot who also have their roles.
We are told by Miss Cassidy that in Curious Reality “Each brief story deliberately distils a life’s essence”. Well, I’m not sure about that, it seems a rather grand claim to make, except that the stories are short, but then so is the book, and herein lies one of my criticisms: I enjoyed Curious Reality, but found it far too short. It only took me two hours to read it, and I am not a particularly fast reader.
Other problems I had with Curious Realitywere also minor and perhaps more personal.
In a chapter called ‘Joy’, after a character, we are told that a huge bunch of flowers was delivered, but that Joy arranged them in an old wine bottle… and later in the same chapter that her boss-to -be handed her his fountain pen with a flourish, so that she could sign the contract. I do not know anyone who uses a fountain pen that would willingly lend it out, especially to a stranger, but then, perhaps that’s why he’s in this book of nutters.
Ignoring the pluperfect tense or using it in a random fashion, only occasionally, is common in American novels, but it annoyes me.
As I wrote above, I enjoyed Curious Reality, but can only give it four stars out of five because of its anomalies, use of tense and brevity.
I wish that Curious Reality had been longer, because I liked it.
Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
