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in
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Just
A Bit Touched: Tales of
Perspective.
Tales by ROY
HOLLAND
Publisher: Writers Club
Press ISBN:
0-595-15874-9
UK Price:
£6.84
US Price: $9.95
What is peculiar to Roy
Holland's vision as a
literary artist is that so
many of the characters or
the people he portrays in
his short stories seem to be
a bit touched.
The title for this
volume was suggested by a
remark of the narrator in
the opening paragraph of the
first story, ‘The Arcadian’:
“They’re just a bit touched,
bonkers-like.”
In a sense, what is peculiar
to Roy Holland’s vision as
an artist is that so many of
the characters or the people
he portrays seem to be a bit
touched. That’s why, of
course, his tales are so
colourful and absorbing, if
not amusing.
Furthermore, each tale is
touched by its own
perspective, since each
reflects the point of view
of its unique narrator. So
often the England of the
Thirties or Forties are seen
through the eyes of a child
so that, Dickens-like, the
foibles and characteristics
of the adult world seem
larger than life. These
early stories are
interesting, too, for the
historical perspective they
give us — of an Andy Capp
industrial society long
since gone. There are other
stories written from the
perspective of the Fifties:
the two stories dealing with
motor cars (‘The Efelant’
and ‘Egging-on’) add a more
amusing perspective — of a
time when petrol was dear
and neighbours more than a
bit touched by curiosity!
The stories written in
Africa with its latent
social change — ‘Victims,’
for instance — add a more
violent perspective, though
hilarity is introduced by
the expatriot (in ‘It Was A
Very Sad Case’) who seems
more than a bit touched by
his paranoia.
A dimension of fantasy is
introduced by the
imaginative perspective of
‘Cyber Island’ — an
anti-utopian tale that
uncomfortably reminds us of
the illusionary implications
of our modern technological
world with its ready
substitution of real values
with virtual reality.
Whatever their perspective,
these tales provide
excellent reading and
thoughtful reflection.
Other short story
collections by Roy Holland:
Novel in THE JONATHAN
THREE trilogy:
 |
THE NOWHERE MAN
by Roy Holland
|
UK price:
£8.99 US
price:
$17.95
Publisher: DIADEM
BOOKS
Format: Paperback:
Perfect binding ,
cream interior
Size : 6 x 9 (US
trade)
Pages: 262
ISBN:
978-0-9559741-0-6
Published: July-2008
|
A young man
in
Birmingham,
in the
sixties,
escapes the
humdrum
mundanity of
life through
fantasies,
tries to
find
himself, and
finally
escapes his
dead-end
lifestyle by
gaining a
place at a
university.
JOURNEY
TOWARDS
HIMSELF
by
Roy
Holland |
UK
price:
£8.99
US
price:
$17.95
Publisher:
DIADEM
BOOKS
Format:
Paperback:
Perfect
binding
,
cream
interior
Size
: 6
x 9
(US
trade)
Pages:
262
ISBN:
978-0-9559741-1-3
Published:
July-2008
|
A hilarious
evocation of
life as a
student at
Cambridge
University
in the
sixties,
shortly
after the
time of such
notable
figures as
F. R. Leavis,
C.S. Lewis
and E.M.
Forster.
NOW LEAD ME HOME
by Roy Holland
|
UK price:
£10.99 US
price:
$21.95
Publisher: DIADEM
BOOKS
Format: Paperback:
Perfect binding ,
cream interior
Size : 6 x 9 (US
trade)
Pages: 262
ISBN:
978-0-9559741-2-0
Published: July-2008
|
In this third book of the
‘Jonathan Three’, the
experiences conveyed by the
protagonist’s
stream-of-consciousness
place the reader in the mind
of the young man who
eventually finds real love
and meaning in a fulfilling
relationship.
THE
WAKING & MAKING OF
PAUL GAUGUIN
A Play for Voices
by Roy Holland |
UK
price:
£6.99 US
price:
$15.02
Publisher: DIADEM
BOOKS
Format: Paperback:
Perfect binding ,
cream interior
Size : 6 x 9 (US
trade)
Pages: 98
ISBN:
978-0-9559741-3-7
Published: July-2008
|
It was
during his illness, in 1887,
when Gauguin was 39 years
old, that the battle
dramatised in this play – a
battle imagined in his body,
and in his mind, and in his
moral nature – could have
taken place
ALAN PATON SPEAKING
The Lintrose
Conversations:
Interview with Alan
Paton
by Roy Holland
edited by Charles
Muller |
UK price:
£14.60 US
price:
$28.95
Publisher: DIADEM
BOOKS
Format: Paperback:
Perfect binding ,
cream interior
Size : 6 x 9 (US
trade)
Pages: 114
ISBN:
978-0-9559741-4-4
Published:
August-2008
|
This interview with Alan
Paton by Roy Holland has
never, until now, been
published. The interview
took place on June 19 and
June 20, 1973, when Holland
was a guest in Paton’s home,
Lintrose, at Bothas Hill,
Kloof, Natal. It provides
many insights into Paton’s
life, his political
involvement as the founder
of the Liberal party in
South Africa, and his
writings
Contact the author by
email:
roy@royholland.fsnet.co.uk
Roy
Holland
Published Categories
Just
a Bit Touched - Roy
Holland
