Backstories by Simon Van der Velde @SimonVdVwriter #Backstories

 

Today is publication day for Backstories by Simon Van Der Velde. My thanks to the author for the review copy. You can find your copy on Amazon here.

The author is also sharing 30% of all profits from Backstories with Friends of the Earth, Stop Hate UK and The North-East Autism Society. See www.simonvandervelde.com for further details. I am also buying a copy for one person reading this see the details at the end of the post for ways to enter.

 

Dreamers, singers, talkers and killers; they can dazzle with their beauty or
their talent or their unmitigated evil, but inside themselves they are as frail
and desperate as the rest of us. But can you see them? Can you unravel the
truth?
These are people you know, but not as you know them.
Peel back the mask and see.

Backstories is a unique collection of stories each told from the point of view
of a famous, (or notorious) person at a pivotal moment in their lives. The
writing is literary but accessible and the voices vividly real. The settings are
mostly 60's and 70's UK and USA, and the driving themes are inclusion,
social justice and of course, nostalgia - but the real key to these stories is
that the protagonists' identities are withheld. This means that your job is
to find them, leading to that Eureka moment when you realise who's mind
you've been inhabiting for the last twenty minutes.

 

 

My Thoughts: 

I was intrigued by the premise for Backstories from the moment I was approached by the author. The idea of short stories always appeals to me, the need to draw the reader in quickly and create an impact. Backstories is unlike any other set of short stories I have read. It encourages the reader to engage and submerge themselves in a game of Guess Who. 

If you take the stories at face value then yes you can go along guessing each of the 14 famous and infamous people and that element is very appealing but if you scratch a little deeper there is a great insight to these fictionalised back stories. Voices are given to important themes and makes the reader rethink what they believe to be true.

Simon Van der Velde's writing is outstanding. Some stories provoked a strong reaction in me and others amused me, all are as equally memorable. 

 I can't describe the stories individually as I don't want to give anything away but suffice to say this is a story of what might be when you look behind the face and facade. An excellent look at what is behind all the layers and a social commentary and conscience that stopped me in my tracks. 

 Absolute knockout of a book, more where that came from please. 

About the Author: 

Simon Van der Velde has worked variously as a barman, labourer,
teacher, caterer and lawyer, as well as travelling throughout Europe and
South America collecting characters and insights for his award-winning
stories. Since completing a creative writing M.A. (with distinction)
in 2010, Simon’s work has won and been shortlisted for numerous
awards including; The Yeovil Literary Prize, (twice), The Wasafiri
New Writing Prize, The Luke Bitmead Bursary, The Frome Shortstory
Prize, The Harry Bowling Prize, The Henshaw Press Short Story
Competition and The National Association of Writers’ Groups Open
Competition - establishing him as one of the UK’s foremost
short-story writers.
Simon now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with his wife,
Nicola, their labradoodle, Barney and two tyrannical children.

 

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