ANNOUNCEMENT
IN THE WALTHAM FOREST
GUARDIAN
10 January 2008
Reviews:
In the wonderful interviews
that Joseph Campbell did
with Bill Moyers, he spoke
at one point about the
mythologizing of tools. The
Shield of Achilles, the
Hammer of Thor, John Henry
and the steam drill. It
would seem that an
instrument so fiercely
rational and logical as the
computer would resist this
tendency in human thinking
but as we have witnessed
over the past twenty years,
there has been a blending in
arts, letters and film of
the computer screen with the
mythological and
psychological. From “Tron”
to “The Ring”, the computer
has become a vehicle by
which spirits can manifest
themselves on earth and
exert their influence upon
mankind. Nick Armbrister, a
English writer from London,
exhibits this tendency to
merge the mythic with the
mechanical in his new
collection of short stories
entitled “A Nation in
Flames.” Only for Nick, it’s
vampires and airplanes.
In this slim volume are a
dozen short stories with a
“Gothic, Military and SF
Flavour.” Gothic is an
interesting term. It’s not
easy to see why a
Scandinavian tribe that was
forced out of its homeland
to wander south and
eventually sack Rome and
make their home in Spain,
only to be conquered in turn
by the Arabs in the 8th
Century, should have their
name equated with all that
is dark and brooding in
literature, unless we recall
the tragedy of their
history. It’s easy to
dismiss the modern Goths as
being depressed, morose,
obsessed with death and
role-playing games, addicted
to piercing and the color
black in their dress. But
the essence of modern Gothic
culture is the notion that
you shouldn’t judge a person
by their appearance, even
when that appearance is
consciously designed to
shock genteel sensibilities.
So readers, otherwise
unfamiliar with, or hesitant
to read something Gothic,
might be surprised to find a
dedication such as Nick’s.
“May God forgive us for what
we have done to ourselves
and to our world.”
In “A Nation in Flames,”
there are stories of
vampires defeating modern
Soviet invasion forces in
snowy wastes and the joys of
flying World War II vintage
aircraft, often set against
a Scandinavian backdrop. But
my favorite is “A Story
About a Liar, Paul
Quisling.” This is the story
of a quisling, a traitor,
named after the World War II
era Norwegian politician who
helped the Nazis conquer his
own country.But in this
tale, Nick drops all his
interests in things like
aircraft, Gothic culture,
and military history and
tells a simple tale of
betrayal on a personal level
set solidly in his social
milieu, alienated youth in
modern England. Nick is a
writer who can take up the
causes of others. He is a
compassionate human being
outraged at the predatory
behavior of a close friend.
He keeps his own heartbreak
understated, but it is a
poignant tale of the search
for love and the loss of
friendship, all without
undue sentimentality or
sophomoric moralizing. In
this piece of fiction, Nick
restricts himself to being a
close observer, reporting
honestly what he sees and
feels. This makes for a
compelling view of modern
love.
Nick’s
fiery mix in latest book
AUTHOR Nick
Armbrister with
his book.
Picture by the
Waltham Forest
Guardian
|
FORMER
Counthill School pupil Nick
Armbrister promises
everything from fantasy and
horror to war in his latest
book.
The writer describes “A
Nation in Flames” as a
series of short stories
based around extreme
situations.
He draws inspiration from
his own experiences, the
news and media and
explained: “It’s of an adult
nature about a range of
topics. It’s got stories
from horror to warfare to
fantasy.”
It is the third book by the
36-year-old factory worker
who started writing in 1996
and moved from Oldham to
London in 2005.
“I like music but I am a
failed musician so I thought
I would give writing a go
because I find it
interesting,” explained
Nick, who now lives in
Chingford.
“A Nation in Flames”, like
his two previous poetry
anthologies, is
self-published and reflects
his interests which include
Gothic culture, aircraft,
history, science fiction,
fantasy, tattoos and other
cultures,
He writes in the evening and
at weekends and his fourth
book will be published in
November, while he is also
working on a novel.
Girlfriend Xochitl (24)
lives with the couple’s
10-month-old son, Alex, at
her mother’s house in
Chigwell, and Nick added:
“My ambition is to write
full-time, to have my own
writing business and to have
a home for my family.
“Because things are so
expensive in London we live
apart even though we are a
family.”
OLDHAM
EVENING CHRONICLE Tuesday
Feb 05, 2008
Review of
Nick Armbrister's poems:
War. The mind
of Nick Armbrister is a mind
of war. War everyday. Every
breath. Every sentence. His
work is dark and real.
Poetry that is not for
pussies. It is verse for
those who want the truth
about the human mind. The
disease, the despair, the
carnage filled hell that is
life. Armbrister pulls you
deeper into his world with
every word and you will be
changed. He will leave you
ready for war even in times
of peace. The citizens of
London, Manchester England
better watch their asses
because Nick is on the loose
and he doesn't give a shit
about writing stuff that is
commercial. All he cares
about is pain, suffering,
crazed humanity, and about
getting down in the trenches
and pistol-whipping his
readers with devastating
blows of reality. Reality
that this world has lost.
But not for long. Read Nick
Armbrister and prepare for
Armageddon.
---Andrew C. Zinn, author of
The
Truth Behind The Eyes.
Review By DJ
Tyrer
Fade Into
Focus,
Focus Into
Fade
By Nick Armbrister
l2lpp, sb,
iuniverse, ISBN
0-595-41035-9
Order from amazon.com, WH
Smiths or Waterstones
Nick Armbrister should be a
familiar name to regular
readers of our magazines,
his poetry having been
appearing in them regularly
over the last five years.
Well, this year marks ten
years of being a published
poet and he has managed to
celebrate in style by
getting this collection of
his excellent poetry
published.
In a way, it is difficult to
provide a meaningful review
– having published so many
of his poems (and I
recognise a couple in this
vast collection) I think you
can take it as written that
I quite like his work!
Nick’s poetry will not be
for everyone – he is often
dark and gothic, some of his
poems deal with mature
themes or include language
that not all will want to
read. But, he is no
angst-ridden teenager, his
poetry displays depth and
maturity. But, it’s not all
dark and dreary in Nick’s
world –
Dream Sunlight
expresses the urge to get
away from it all, whilst
Endless
Summer
expresses delight in the
joys of summer (“A time of
blue skies and cold beer /
in pubs in the country.”)
tinged with nostalgia (“We
may grow older but we’ll /
never forget the times we
had”). A fascination with
aircraft is a common theme
of his poetry.
Rookery
takes us to visit the home
of the Brontës: “These birds
have nested here for years,
ever since the Brontë
sisters lived and died at
Howarth. / I hear the rooks
cry and I know it is the
same cry Anne, Emily and
Charlotte heard so long
ago.” Nick covers a
multitude of subjects.
Given that Nick experiments
with different styles of
poem on a variety of topics
evoking so many different
emotions, I believe that
almost everyone will find
something that resonates
with them in this
collection. He sees the dark
underbelly of the world but
counterpoints it with hope
and warnings about falling
into the same traps.
If you have read his poetry,
you already know whether or
not you want to buy this. If
not, you could do worse than
receive an introduction to
his work with this volume.
With so many poems, it is
also good value for money
(not one of those
collections with one
five-liner a page!). Highly
recommended!
DJ Tyrer, The Supplement,
Issue 33, March 2007.
Also by Nick
Ambrister:
Contemporary poetry on
various subjects from
poet/writer Nick Armbrister
for an uncontemporary world!
|
Skeward Images
by Nick Armbrister |
|
UK
price:
£7.00
US price:
$12.95
Format: Paperback
Size: 6 x 9
Pages: 116
ISBN: 0-595-45456-9
Published: Jun-2007 |
Read the author's latest
blog entry! Click here.
The second volume of
contemporary poetry on
various subjects from
poet/writer Nick Armbrister
for an uncontemporary world:
startling and imaginative
themes and images.
|
Her
Name is Hope - Life
Force
by Nick Armbrister
|
|
UK price:
£9.98 US
price:
$18.08
Publisher: LULU
Format: Paperback:
Perfect binding ,
cream interior
Size : 6 x 9 (US
trade)
Pages: 258
ISBN:
978-1-4092-3279-7
Published:
October-2008
|
This is Nick Armbrister’s
third collection of poems
and his fourth book. It has
poems that didn’t make his
first two collections due to
a variety of reasons.
Published Categories
A
Nation in Flames -
Nick Armbrister
