Jack Kerouac Eats Here

Dear Ian,
I've read the first five of your stories. Everyone's a wonderful sketch of this crazy but still our world. I say 'wonderful' and one of the reasons for that - they are live. All your characters are live and visible : Bernard and his wife, a human waterfall, Jemmy Oliver's follower, the old English patriot and his wife... The dialogues are great. The North is So Much Better For Youngsters Today is the deepest in feelings, emotions - the best of the five read. It really touches upon your heart.
All constellation of stars and my deepest respect!

Val But
Escape

I've been reading through these stories--since I promised a read for your other book a long time ago, and it's now gone--and I have to say that "The North is Better for Youngsters Today" is my favorite. I laughed a lot reading it! I'm not surprised to see that they've been previously published. They are very literary stories, something I don't read often because of the abstract point of writing, but I "got" the point of each of yours so far. Wierd in a good way.
But #4's a favorite!
~Hannah

Very well written twisted stories each one very graphic and yet spellbinding. I found each one twisted yet I couldn't stop reading. Very addictive. You are gifted.

Brilliant. For anyone who wondered what became of the Beat generation, just read the title story of this collection - a post-modern coda to one of the twentieth century's greatest works. Bug Infestation and They Don't Know a Damned Thing have overtones of Carver in the economic prose, touches of dark humour and the lack of an intrusive narrative voice. That these stories have been published in magazines is proof of their quality - hopefully they'll reach a wider audience now.

Jack Kerouac Eats Here is a surprisingly amusing collection, considering that it is essentially a collection of darkly surreal 'vignettes', rather than actual short stories (and slightly reminiscent of 1980s Ian McEwan in its black humour). Sofa Sorbet, and the tribulations of a real-stamp-licker are quiet prods, with a sharpish stick, at the populist thinking of the herd, and the frustrations wrought by minor acts of 'progress' in modern life. This is a clever, quirky and completely refreshing collection. Jack Kerouac Eats Here deserves to do really well, somewhere. It would be lovely to believe that there is still a place for the genuinely orginal in the contemporary popular-list literary world...

Dear Ian,
I've read the first five of your stories. Everyone's a wonderful sketch of this crazy but still our world. I say 'wonderful' and one of the reasons for that - they are live. All your characters are live and visible : Bernard and his wife, a human waterfall, Jemmy Oliver's follower, the old English patriot and his wife... The dialogues are great. The North is So Much Better For Youngsters Today is the deepest in feelings, emotions - the best of the five read. It really touches upon your heart.
All constellation of stars and my deepest respect!

Val But
Escape

Ian,

Really liked theses stories. I've read the first two and the second one for me is better than the first. I find the first a little too vague. There is a lot hinted at but I think you need to write more for the reader to really get a sense of place. Where is it set? What do these men work at. I also got confused as to who the girl was with. Frank or Bernard? Maybe an other read will clarify this.

The second one reminds me of Raymond Carver. Very simple and you instantly get a sense of this old guy living alone with his dog. Dark, subtle and very descriptive. All of which I like!

The mere mention of Kerouac in your title drew me in and I'm glad your writing was just as interesting.

I'll happily shelve this and come back for more.

You might enjoy my book, and of course a return review would be much appreciated.

Best of luck!

:-)

Eddie

Broken Up, Breaking Down.

Wow, chapter one is crisp and neat and flow and rhyme.

Your writing serve as example of how a book should be written. I'm glad I stopped by

MAX STARS

I've been reading through these stories--since I promised a read for your other book a long time ago, and it's now gone--and I have to say that "The North is Better for Youngsters Today" is my favorite. I laughed a lot reading it! I'm not surprised to see that they've been previously published. They are very literary stories, something I don't read often because of the abstract point of writing, but I "got" the point of each of yours so far. Wierd in a good way.
But #4's a favorite!
~Hannah

These are good, effective stories. The calm, detached nature of the prose accentuates the surreal and sometimes bitter edge. There's a kind of quiet urban madness underlying some of the stories that disturbs even though the prose remains controlled and precise.

Very intelligent, provoking and humourous, written with a distinct prose style that, although very different from Kafka, has the same effect; the seemingly calm, detached observation hightening the surreal nature of the stories. Very impressive.

I've read the first several short stories. It reminds me much of when I was a kid reading Eerie magazine. Surreal and quirky, I'm not surprised that these stories have each been published. After reading the first three chapters I wondered if there wasn't some sort of wheelchair motif connecting the stories; I'm not sure it was intended. My favorite so far is For Murder Just Add Water. You have a twisted (in a good way) and original imagination.

Very well written twisted stories each one very graphic and yet spellbinding. I found each one twisted yet I couldn't stop reading. Very addictive. You are gifted.

...hi Ian, just had a chance to skim your book intro, which i thought might be much more clear and interesting with paragraph breaks... for ex.

Eat Where Jack Kerouac Ate (in heavy text... as title for itself)
Today’s specials are darkness, danger and a sense of humanity


A christmas tree with the ability to kill, and Dean Moriarty dying in the snow.
A man stumbles on some lovers, and a detective brings someone back from the dead.

The search for glue is over, and then there's racism in England, while a visit to St Peter’s Square, Rome, is cut short by a volcanic eruption. Leaving your sofa out in the Manchester rain could seriously damage your health.

Evolution plays tricks on a man who learns some human anxiety while a couple on a stricken space ship face oblivion together, along with the elephant in the room. A man moves into the house from hell, and inadvertently feeds a kitten, and then a surveyor enters a house and finds it’s still occupied, and subsiding.

One retired couple - One holiday suicide pact.

Two young people find love in a bad situation, while Dementia and Alzheimer’s patients respond to trite phrases repeated endlessly.

Now let’s eat.

Could this be an idea? The book sounds amazinf... giving it in the meantime 6 stars...!
Best wishes, Linda Horowitz

...hi Ian, just had a chance to skim your book intro, which i thought might be much more clear and interesting with paragraph breaks... for ex.

Eat Where Jack Kerouac Ate (as title for itself)

Today’s specials are darkness, danger and a sense of humanity


A christmas tree with the ability to kill, and Dean Moriarty dying in the snow.
A man stumbles on some lovers, and a detective brings someone back from the dead.

The search for glue is over, and then there's racism in England, while a visit to St Peter’s Square, Rome, is cut short by a volcanic eruption. Leaving your sofa out in the Manchester rain could seriously damage your health.

Evolution plays tricks on a man who learns some human anxiety while a couple on a stricken space ship face oblivion together, along with the elephant in the room. A man moves into the house from hell, and inadvertently feeds a kitten, and then a surveyor enters a house and finds it’s still occupied, and subsiding.

One retired couple - One holiday suicide pact.

Two young people find love in a bad situation, while Dementia and Alzheimer’s patients respond to trite phrases repeated endlessly.

Now let’s eat.

Could this be an idea? The book sounds amazinf... giving it in the meantime 6 stars...!
Best wishes, Linda Horowitz

Hi Ian

What an interesting collection of writings....very edgy and contemporary. Well written. I wish you all the best.

Blessings,
Lyn Ventura
With All My Mind

Just read "A Letter Writer Discovers That Stamps Have Gone Self-Adhesive" and would recommend this insanity to everyone who thinks they may have gone mad.

I'm enjoying these - I'm a big fan of the Beat style. I love the humorous turns mid sentence, the dialogue is spot on. Very well executed, more than mere mimicry, the stories themselves - especially the xmas tree one, I loved that - are nigh on perfect

Dumbfounded at first. getting into the book slowly after realising they were published before.
Pat

Brilliant. For anyone who wondered what became of the Beat generation, just read the title story of this collection - a post-modern coda to one of the twentieth century's greatest works. Bug Infestation and They Don't Know a Damned Thing have overtones of Carver in the economic prose, touches of dark humour and the lack of an intrusive narrative voice. That these stories have been published in magazines is proof of their quality - hopefully they'll reach a wider audience now.

This one's a page turner that tickles the brain with each flick of the wrist.

Jack Kerouac Eats Here is a surprisingly amusing collection, considering that it is essentially a collection of darkly surreal 'vignettes', rather than actual short stories (and slightly reminiscent of 1980s Ian McEwan in its black humour). Sofa Sorbet, and the tribulations of a real-stamp-licker are quiet prods, with a sharpish stick, at the populist thinking of the herd, and the frustrations wrought by minor acts of 'progress' in modern life. This is a clever, quirky and completely refreshing collection. Jack Kerouac Eats Here deserves to do really well, somewhere. It would be lovely to believe that there is still a place for the genuinely orginal in the contemporary popular-list literary world...

Just read the Christmas tree one, but will be back to read some of the others.

I was surprised to see you're English, because the prose had a distinct American twang to it.

I think it shows great promise but obviously short pieces are hard to sell to publishers. I am going to look at your other book now. Have sprinkled some star lovin' for you!

I just read through the first two chapters, and honestly-- brilliant. Very clean prose with just the right amount of grit. I can see it being "too literary" for many, but I find this collection very finely crafted. I will be interested to read more.

Thanks for the friend request.

-Ella