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Fiction and publications by Lisa
Selvidge
The following titles can be purchased from
www.lulu.com/lisa9
as
well as from online bookstores and some UK and Algarve bookshops. If anyone would like to review any of the following works,
please request a complimentary copy.
For
orders of multiple copies a discount is available.
Short Collections
Beyond the Sea - Stories from the Algarve,
Montanha Books, 2009, ISBN:
978-0-9559856-2-1
‘Lisa Selvidge has brilliantly
captured the essence of life in the Algarve, delving beneath the charming
white-washed exterior to express a darker side to life in the sun for locals,
ex-pats and tourist. Beyond the Sea is a bitter-sweet portrayal of
on-goings that are not only fascinating, but unsettlingly realistic – like
peeking through the neighbour’s window. I thoroughly enjoyed it.’ Carrie-Marie
Bratley, The
Portugal News
‘It's hard to get
short stories just right. Lisa Selvidge unfurls her collection with a clear
insight into the Algarve’s loosely woven workings with a worryingly perceptive
grasp of the human condition - just right!’ Paul Rees, get real weekly
‘A delicious kaleidoscopic view of
the sun-soaked polyglot Algarve.’ Natasha Donn, Algarve 123
Copies
will be on sale as from 28 May at
The Owl Story
Bookshop in Lagos,
the Hotel Garbe in Armação de Pera, Lura dos Livros in Tavira,
The Griffin Bookshop, Almancil,
The Magna
Carta Bookshop, Alvor and
Galeria Porca Preta,
Monchique.
Cost
£8.95 or £3.00 download (other currencies fluctuate)
CLICK HERE TO READ AN INTERVIEW WITH
LISA PUBLISHED IN THE ALGARVE 123
Summer Times in the Algarve,
Montanha Books, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-9559856-0-7
'Like
the joy of discovering lost snapshots, this collection gives treasured glimpses
into both the richness and simplicity of Algarve life, past and present.'
Virginia Boston
'Whether you are living
here, or just visiting, this book will open a window onto life in the Algarve
beyond the golf courses and beaches.'
John Colloff
The
Algarve is the source of inspiration for this exciting new collection of short
stories, memoirs and poetry. Seventeen contemporary writers both recollect and
recreate the lives of people along the Algarve coast from Tavira to Sagres and
up into the mountains. They take us on a journey back in time to the Moors,
through the Revolution of April 1974, and into the twenty-first century. Some
mourn the vanishing years of the simple pastoral life, impoverished though it
was, some celebrate it. Others on short visits have been enchanted or amused by
an event with one of its inhabitants and, somehow, when they left, a bit of
their heart has stayed behind. All of them are united by their fondness of
Portugal and its serene and laid-back southern
province.
A perfect
holiday read when in the Algarve or as a present to take home.
Copies are on sale at
The Owl Story
Bookshop in Lagos,
the Hotel Garbe in Armação de Pera, Lura dos Livros in Tavira,
The Griffin Bookshop, Almancil,
The Magna
Carta Bookshop, Alvor and
Galeria Porca Preta,
Monchique.
Cost
£9.95 or £3.50 download (other currencies fluctuate)
Contemporary novels
The
Last Dance over the Berlin Wall,
Montanha Books, 2009, ISBN
978-0-9559856-1-4
In 1984, Johnny
East, a dancer, is invited to Berlin by mad Alice, an English girl living a
bohemian life in the city at the heart of the Cold War. Alice is besotted with
Johnny, but on a trip to the East one day, Johnny meets and falls in love with a
Russian aerialist in East Berlin. They begin an affair that leaves a trail of
East-West transits, both legal and illegal, including one of the most daring
crossings of the Berlin Wall.
Twenty years
on Johnny is the director of an aerial company and with an exciting new
performance returns to Berlin, a new vibrant city, to face the ghosts of the
past.
The
Last Dance over the Berlin Wall is a story of
young love, decadence and tragedy in the walled-in city of West Berlin.
‘An
utterly compelling story which draws the reader into the fractured world of
eighties Berlin, where life is fast paced, subversive, at times beautiful, but
also tragic. Lisa Selvidge's writing is as eloquent and supple as the aerialiste
at the heart of the book. This novel is a spellbinding tale of individual
consequences spinning out from a striking political divide.’
Sarah Law, Poet, Lecturer,
London Metropolitan University
‘The avant garde,
all night culture of West Berlin in the 1980s exists now only in the precarious
memories of its punk rock survivors. Lisa Selvidge’s novel allows those who were
not there a glimpse of this extraordinary historic and cultural moment. Her
characters are richly drawn, wholly convincing, and emblematic of that time and
place.’
Cid Pearlman, Choreographer, West Berlin resident 1984-1986
Here is a short
piece published in the
Guardian Weekly about the writing of the
novel, The Last Dance over the Berlin Wall.
Cost
£10.95 or £3.50 download (other currencies
fluctuate)
(This novel was previously published with
youwriteon.com but the contract has been cancelled. For more information about
publishing youwriteon.com please click
Here)
The Strange Tale of
Comrade Rublov
(To be published in 2010)
It is 1991
and the two main ideologies of the twentieth century are about to collide in
Russia.
Meanwhile, Volodia, an unusually large cockroach smeared with
cream and bits of blackened cucumber, is being chased by Anya into apartment 503
on the fifth floor of a prefabricated concrete apartment block that sways in the
wind above Moscow. They decide to settle there. Not all the inhabitants are
pleased by their arrival. Life in Moscow is becoming increasingly difficult as
shortages are causing hunger and misery. Nadezhda goes to bed and refuses to get
up again, the old man sits up all night crying lemony tears while the young boy,
Dyma, is summoned to the Army. One night the humans attempt to murder the
cockroaches, declaring that they have shared their life with vermin for too
long. Volodia survives and, as he escapes the apartment, he vows to avenge the
massacre of his family. He joins up with revolutionaries (aka Ants) in the
station but they are not quite what they seem so he boards the Trans-Siberian in
search of a better world. Instead, he falls into the underworld of the Far East
and meets characters who will be instrumental in bringing political changes and
the new mafia to
Russia.
An earlier extract is published in Fishtank
under the title 'The Hammer, Sickle & Sun', 1996.
'Lisa Selvidge comes up
with more than just exoticism in her story about a cockroach freezing on a train
rolling through Siberia.' Michele Roberts
‘How better to look at
Russia after the fall of Communism than through the eye of an indestructible
insect? A wonderful cross between Kafka and Gogol. Witty, ironic and
thought-provoking.’
Bob Biderman
An extract from this novel is also published on
www.visionsofthecity.com
Children's & Young Adult Fiction
The Trials of Tricia Blake,
Lulu,
2006,
ISBN 1-4116-7917-2
A gritty tale of love, hate, and murder, set in 1979 following the winter of discontent
in Britain when kids sang
about bricks in walls and hated Mondays. Tricia Blake, age 14, commits a
terrible crime.
´Pony club scene
meets hardcore urban novel. Tricia Blake does a wicked thing. But who can blame
her? A compelling story of revenge - Tricia Blake deserves to be read and
forgiven.' Carrie Worrall
Cost £7.99/ €11.67/ $14.50 for paperback or
£2.74/
€4.01/ $4.98 for download
(prices do fluctuate with exchange
rates).
A Divine War,
Lulu, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4303-2075-3
The world is suffering from a severe drought. After no rain anywhere on earth
for more than six months, the forests and oil fields are burning. The nations
blame each other for global warming; some call it Freak Weather Syndrome, others
God's revenge. In the UK, the Conservative MP, David Geayton, is made Minister
of Drought while his daughter, Lucy, tries to survive the increasing horror of
life in the Philippines. In Moscow, Liudmila is part of an enviromental
organisation that is planning a 'Save the Planet' conference, and in San
Francisco, Charlotte Brand is reporting on the corruption of the governors and
Government of the USA. No one knows they are suffering the effects of a divine
unrequited love until the gods are made to come to earth to hold an election.
But how to get people on earth, from where they've been absent for so many
millenniums, to believe in them?
A humorous and
irreverent tale - with tragic consequences.
'Exploring the question of what mankind really believes in and how we might
respond to a divine presence, the story is truly insightful in its comment on
the human condition and our species’ relationship with beings beyond the norm.
I’d rate this book alongside 'The Celestine Prophecy' in its ability to raise
our awareness out of fear and convention towards higher truths and alternative
realities . . . all in what is basically a fun tale. Where 'A Divine War' scores
over 'The Celestine Prophecy' is in its quality of written English.' Keith
Beaseley
Cost
£9.95 or £4.00 for download (prices
do fluctuate with exchange rates).
Dina & Doctor Dot
(work in progress)
A contemporary children’s fantasy, Dina &
Doctor Dot is an adventure in cyberspace: a world into which young people
mysteriously disappear after playing an infected computer game.
Non-fiction
Writing Fiction
Workbook,
Lulu, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84728-250-7
 This concise and practical writing
fiction workbook, based on an online course in prose fiction written for
Continuing Education at the University of East Anglia, can serve as both a coursebook and a workbook. As well as many exercises and tips for beginning
writers, the book leads you on a journey through writing. At the end of which,
you will, hopefully, have written a short story – and much much more.
‘This
workbook provided me with all the necessary tools to start, shape and finish my
first short story. User-friendly, practical and stimulating it is a vital asset
for those who are starting to write.’ Evangelia
Avloniti
‘This is a
really comprehensive introduction to the art and craft of writing fiction. The
workbook takes the reader from sources of inspiration to polishing the final
draft and through every tricky stage between. The appendices are a
treasure-trove of useful resources. Crispin
Wickenden
‘Straightaway the workbook gets you
thinking creatively. By the time you reach the last page, your approach to
creative writing will definitely have changed - probably for ever and certainly
for the better.’
Patrick Barrett
‘A clear and
concise workbook with challenging exercises that inspire new ways of thinking
about writing.’ Robert Perks
If you are
serious about writing and want to look at your own work in a critical light,
explore the writing process and generate new writing, this workbook is a useful
tool for beginning and improving writers alike. Full of ideas, useful
suggestions and ways of fine tuning any pieces you've already written, it offers
a framework to support your development as a writer.
Claire Hughes
Cost £9.95/ €14.54/ $18.06 for paperback or £3.88/ €5.67/ $7.04 for download (prices
do fluctuate with exchange rates).
Notes on
self-publishing and Lulu
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For
more information please email
info@montanhabooks.com or write to:
Montanha Books, Apartado 8,
Monchique 8550-909, Algarve, Portugal |
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