Unspent Time
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He has been described as both a humanitarian and a pathological liar. Convincing evidence to support either allegation has yet to be produced. His fiction debut, No Hope for Gomez! Girl already has a stalker. Boy becomes her stalker-stalker. To learn more about Graham, visit his blog. You can also find Graham on GoodReads and Facebook. For them to spend hours looking at people, listening to them, discovering all the little synchronicities and ambiguities that make them unique.
All of it is precious information to the writer-brain. From the way people carry themselves to their wardrobe of choice to their hobbies and the friends that they keep. But I don't have that. Not in the least. In fact, I can't stand people. And there's so freaking many of them. They're like huge, overblown ants, crawling all over the world and getting in my way. Well, absolutely hilarious - and brave.
But on to content of this collections. It wasn't written in the usual way; most of my stories start from small ideas that grow as I write them up. They gather speed as characters and details are added. At a certain point they reach a critical mass and the final word count becomes apparent; it's a short story, it's a novelette, it's a novel. There is magic there. He does the same sort of thing with the terrific title stories and others. Reading Graham Parke is not only entertaining to the max, but it is also a study in self-parody and a term paper on the art of writing that is so strong that it becomes contagious.
Wait for the next set.
Graham Parke is bound to come up with a new one momentarily. Meanwhile, latch on to this artist. He'll take you places you never imagined! May 17, Elizabeth A. There's no question that author Graham Parke doesn't just march to the beat of his own drummer, dude's jitterbugging to a full orchestra playing a tune only he can hear. Anyone who's read his delightfully odd novel No Hope for Gomez! Fortunately for readers Parke is able to channel that mysterious and magical music in his head into his writing.
The twenty short stories contained in his collection Unspent Time are a perfect reflection of Parke's unique brand of insanity, not to There's no question that author Graham Parke doesn't just march to the beat of his own drummer, dude's jitterbugging to a full orchestra playing a tune only he can hear. The twenty short stories contained in his collection Unspent Time are a perfect reflection of Parke's unique brand of insanity, not to mention a great way to make his acquaintance if you've not already.
And to be sure, Parke oddities abound in Unspent Time.
For example, did you realize that every license plate you see contains a hidden message of some sort? You would if you read "Goki Feng Ho," which explains the ancient Chinese art of decoding license plates. And while calling an exterminator to investigate the paranormal goings on in your house normally wouldn't seem like the best way to go about things, it makes perfect sense if, like the poor bloke in "The Hunted," your house is indeed haunted Perhaps the most classic example of Parke's wonderful weirdness is on display in "Carbon Copies," in which the world wakes up one morning to find approximately one fifth of the population has been perfectly replicated.
A bonus in situations where brilliant scientists now have two of themselves to devote to solving the world's problems, not so much for people like our story's narrator who finds himself now married to Maude1 and Maude2. And what do insurance companies do?
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They only contracted to cover one person, so who is the "real" insured? Not to mention, can one copy collect unemployment if the other is working? It's quite the complicated, and clever, mess. The real standouts of Unspent Time, however, are the stories where Parke dials down the insanity a bit, taking instead a more contemplative approach. But it's the title story, "Unspent Time," that is unquestionably the gem of the collection. Everyone has had those moments where they've wondered what could have been, what life may have turned out like if a different decision had been made at a critical juncture, a different path taken.
The stories in Unspent Time range from bombastic and bizarre to profound and moving, and many of them are even further enhanced by notes from Parke following the story giving insight into where the idea for the story came from.
And while it may be that not every story in the collection strikes your fancy, I guarantee there will be enough that do - and one or two that really connect - to ensure you won't be wasting time with Unspent Time. Apr 18, Paula rated it it was amazing. Soon you find yourself "Googling" the writer, wanting to learn more about him, searching for more of his work: In "Unspent Times", Parke invites us on a journey through the inner workings of that creative tool of his, through a series of short stories.
Filled with his addicting and bizarre sense of humor, the book also reveals Parke's unexpected "serious" side, surprising us with deeply sweet and touching tales "Dear Damian", "Following the Khyserians", among others. Above all, "Unspent Times" reinforces what we learned about the author from his first book: Parke needs to write. About anything and everything, all or nothing, but he needs to write. And we are damn glad he does it! Be it in short or long form, about otherworldly events or simple daily issues, Parke's take on whatever subject he decides to tackle definitely makes the reading worth while.
No Hope for Gomez! This is a different kind of book, though. Not a novel, which is what I usually read. The book is a collection of short stories and its diversity is quite wide: My top sories were: Favo No Hope for Gomez! Favourite White Bones what a great ending!
Unspent Time by Graham Parke
I loved the fact that you could read the author's comments after some of the stories. May 13, Tahlia Newland rated it it was amazing Shelves: Unspent Time is a collection of short stories and I loved it for its humour, originality and general craziness. If you have a prejudice against short stories, drop it and read this. His sensitive portrayal hooks our empathy and makes them, and even their sometimes fantastical stories, very real.
I love the way fantasy an Unspent Time is a collection of short stories and I loved it for its humour, originality and general craziness. I give this book 5 stars and add it to the Awesome Indies listing. Nov 06, Claire rated it really liked it Shelves: It's not often I give such high ratings to collections. Thankfully, in this instance there is only 1 contributing author and for me I think that made all the difference. This collection opens with "Sunday Brunch" and at the end of this I roared with laughed and I knew I was in for a treat. Each story is different and sometimes strange but these are never a bad thing.
There are also notes from Graham throughout the book as well, shining some light on his motivation for some of these little nugget It's not often I give such high ratings to collections. There are also notes from Graham throughout the book as well, shining some light on his motivation for some of these little nuggets. IF you are looking for something a bit strange that often makes perfect sense Jun 22, Rose rated it really liked it.
I picked up this book for two reasons. The first was because I sometimes get in the mood for short stories and the second was because I really liked the book cover although I originally thought it was a person fishing for a giant octopus - after reading I found this wasn't exactly the case.
OK, I've got it These seem to be random t I picked up this book for two reasons. These seem to be random thoughts that have morphed into stories and I really liked them. It was a fun book where the laws of reality do not apply. You can check your common sense at the door and head on in. I think Parke is on a par with KR, in an updated setting. This is quite a compliment. Apr 11, Gwen rated it it was amazing Shelves: A very diverse set of stories, each with an interesting setting and wonderfully original characters. This thing will have you thinking for months after you've finished it.
I loved every single story. May 04, Anne rated it liked it Shelves: Liked it and like subject matter of stories. Not as good as Gomez but worth reading.
What are spent and unspent convictions?
Stella Hermosa rated it did not like it Apr 10, Carsten rated it liked it Oct 05, Don Howard rated it it was amazing Sep 21, Melody rated it really liked it May 07, Cheng Gonzales rated it it was amazing Apr 08, Eddy Russell rated it really liked it Jul 18, Sonia rated it liked it May 24, There are no discussion topics on this book yet. He has been described as both a humanitarian and a pathological liar.
Our Word of the Year justice , plus 10 more. How we chose 'justice'. And is one way more correct than the others? How to use a word that literally drives some people nuts. The awkward case of 'his or her'. Identify the word pairs with a common ancestor. Test your visual vocabulary with our question challenge! Build a city of skyscrapers—one synonym at a time. Examples of unspent in a Sentence Recent Examples on the Web The revised budget will be made possible, in part, by using unspent money from the previous spending plan.
Money for Health Gap, center and police OT, and lots of fee increases," 27 June That same day, detectives obtained a search warrant and found three unspent bullets inside his Federal Way apartment, the charges say. The practice has been the subject of periodic controversy.