Twisted

A collection of 22 short stories from the bizarre to the truly chilling as the author takes you along for a roller coaster ride, welcoming you to the darker side of humanity. She delves into the shadowy world of obsessions, addictions, death and the loss of innocence and imagination. She takes an honest, in depth look at things that happen all around us, yet we tend to ignore. Here we are forced to look at the pain of what it means to be human in all its various facets and to truly explore the face that looks back at us in the mirror. No one is truly good or truly evil; nothing is exclusively beautiful or ugly, we are a sublime mix of the two, walking the tightrope median between the two opposites. The author expects the reader to think about what he has just read and to question the so called normalcy of everyday life. She peels back the layers to reveal the hidden skeletons in the closet. Fear, doubt, depression, loneliness, bulimia are only some of the elements which are open for discussion. As a society we have shied away from the darker aspects that are certainly part and parcel of who we are. Surely the path to true wisdom and resolution of these issues lies in the enlightenment thereof, the dusting off of the cobwebs in the cupboard. From the age of mythology as in The other side of truth, the human race has given free rein to this dark element; whilst the lesson of being careful what you wish for is humorously explored in What the cat dragged in, a modern take on an age old fairy tale. Throughout life we lose innocence, childish imagination and the sheer joy at the creation of a new life. These elements are highlighted in the stories, Imagination as well as The Foetus. As a native of South Africa one of the stories has been set specifically in the Apartheid era, revealing the pain of having a different coloured skin than has been deemed normal- Outsider. Cyber Voyeur explores the obsession we have developed with social networking as a whole; whilst Spring cleaning and Grave tears explores the world of murderous intentions, both premeditated and involuntary. The stories truly run the gamut of the human experience and are richly and superbly portrayed.