The Grass is Greener
Review of Seeing the Other Side
What is it about?
In a book with no overarching theme, there’s something for everyone and for every mood. This is a book of Flash Fiction. Each piece is very short and yet still contains a complete story. I admire people who can write Flash Fiction. To me, it’s one of the hardest formats. Each word has to carry the weight of the story. There can be no redundancy. No having an off day in word choice.
So, it’s all very short?
Allison Symes in Seeing the Other Side is a master of the format. Every story has all a reader could want to reach a satisfying end.
I thought for a while she had cheated. Some of the story arcs take place over several tales. When I looked closer, I realised that each version of the story, told from a different viewpoint, was complete in and of itself but still had something important to add to the whole. But most of the tales are told in one or two pages on my kindle.
Does it work?
I think that I read Seeing the Other Side in the wrong format. For me, I’d like the freedom of a paperback to be able to dip in and out as I chose, instead of reading straight through as I did in the ebook, but that’s on me for reading in digital.
What are the stories about?
It’s about everything, really. The Christmas stories in the collection come from every point of view, from the fairy on the Christmas Tree to Santa’s personal assistant having a fuss to Santa Claus trying to explain why he’s speeding. None of them interconnect, but they are brilliant snippets in the life of a Christmas delivery man.
In other stories we have aliens obsessed by the colour red. And space invaders being conned by a cat and a dog. There are tooth fairies with wing blight and very unsympathetic Fairy Queens. And dragons.
Of course, my favourite are the genies. Especially, the genie who worked out…
I’ve been an idiot, the genie thought. I should have granted wishes for dogs before.
A dog’s three wishes are easy: Toys, treats and everlasting supplies of them both. Once granted the genie can take a long nap.
I loved that one so much I sketched some fan art.
Are stories this short worth the effort?
Very much so. They can be a quick mood booster. Once I’d worked out I could dip in by searching for a word, like fairy, then I could have a quick shot of happiness, before getting on with my work. The collection is an eclectic mix of fantasy and science fiction that works well together. It’s true when they say, the grass is greener on the Other Side of the fence.
LINKS TO BUY
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Allison writes flash fiction and short stories, she has been published online and in print by Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Iron Press and Chapeltown Books, who published my first flash fiction collection, From Light to Dark and Back Again in 2017.
Her second flash fiction collection, Tripping The Flash Fantastic, has now been published by Chapeltown Books.
She was one of the winners of the 2020 Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition with my story, Books and the Barbarians. I've been one of the winners for this competition three years in a row. Please see Transforming Communities, To Be...To Become and Transforming Being as these are the compilations of the winning entries. Later in 2020 there should be a paperback of these three ebooks.
She also blogs for Chandler's Ford Today, an online community magazine, and usually on topics of interest to other writers. She also writes for online writing magazine, Writers' Narrative, and is one of their team of editors and also a freelance editor and runs workshops on that and on flash fiction.
Chandler's Ford Today Author Page - Allison's Weekly Column - http://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/author/allison-symes/
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