Jay Howard

Jay currently lives in Somerset, which she considers to be a gem among English counties. She has lived and worked in many places in England, Wales, Alberta and British Columbia. She describes writing as ‘enormously enjoyable and satisfying, but second only to golf in the level of frustration that must be endured to achieve the desired goal’.

Novels:
Never Too Late (Changes #1)
New Beginnings (Changes #2)

Short story collections:
As The Sun Goes Down
Similar Differences

Editor and contributor to Of Words and Water 2013 and Of Words and Water 2014 (short story and poetry collections published in support of WaterAid)

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• A Strange Boy on March 24, 2013
  
  This story distils the essence of what it is to be different from our peers. I strongly suspect that more of us would have remained dysfunctional in the eyes of society if we had had a Unicorn and South Wind as best friends. Lucky Nicholas! Patrick de Moss’ powers of description, the evocation of character, scene and time, are unsurpassed in my opinion. His use of language is poetic, rich and original. For example: a first whisper of darkness against white or So cold you can see every granule of snow, can hear the brittle, spent branches scrabbling towards the midnight sky, black on black, as they rattle the bones of summer. Yes, I know that sentence is not strictly correct, but could you better describe that feeling of winter? To my mind, certainly in context, it would lose something if it started It is so cold. It is a feature of the author’s writing that the unusual formatting and the breaking of the rules of grammar are done deliberately to enhance the atmosphere in the limited space of a short story. Like poetry. Bravo! Encore!
  
• Shopping on July 18, 2014
  
  I agree, Roy - simply splendid. I'll never again look at the cold section of a supermarket the same way. Or the people shopping there!
  
• Futile Deceptions - Book 1 of Basil Ackroyd's France on Aug. 28, 2014
  
  Tremendous fun Take a generous helping of Âllo Âllo, add an equal measure of Fawlty Towers and a soupçon of Brian Rix farces, whisk thoroughly into the batter of Douglas Wallis’ vivid imagination then pour into a very deep pan. Bake at a high heat to allow the many layers of subplots to separate out and voilá – you are ready for the rollercoaster experience of Basil Ackroyd’s France. Enjoy :)
  
• Agamemnon Must Die on Dec. 14, 2014
  
  I have only a very vague memory of Greek mythology as taught in school, but I do know it wasn’t such an entertaining read as this. I recommend, though, that you read the author’s preface about the main characters and draw yourself a family tree with a few notes before you start. Those Greek monarchs and their families led very turbulent lives. By the end I had arrows all over my diagram showing who killed whom, who were lovers, and who was seeking to avenge these murders and infidelities. It is an interesting amalgam of the thoughts, motivations and actions of a group of hot-blooded men and women, their gods and the Furies. The author often uses dialogue to keep the reader informed of relationships and relevant history; at times I got the niggling feeling that one character was telling another things they would already know, just for the benefit of the reader, but it worked well enough for me. Overall the story was very well told, with excellent characterisation and some lovely, though short, descriptive passages. There are very few typos, which is a pleasant change these days, but I did not like the frequent lack of correct paragraphing and suitable speech tags in much of the dialogue.