Words and Water group

We are an international group of authors who are supporting WaterAid with our stories and poems. We are publishing our work for free download and hope you will say thank you with a donation to WaterAid. After the acclaim received by Of Words and Water 2013 the Group has now published Of Words and Water 2014 - please help us make this year a success too by picking up a copy for yourself and telling all your friends.

Whatever you can spare will help the poorest communities in the world to help themselves gain access to clean drinking water and safe sanitation. Every penny, every cent will make a difference and we thank you for supporting this vital work.

You can make a donation on our JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/Of-Words-And-Water
or text DRNK67 (amount) to 70070.

Website: https://www.justgiving.com/Of-Words-And-Water
Twitter: @ofwordsandwater
Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: http://ofwordsandwater.wordpress.com/

Jay Howard

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charity    charity anthology    peggy seeger    poems    short stories    water    wateraid   

• Kings of Nowhere on April 11, 2014
  
  Review by Jay Howard, editor of Words and Water Group's anthologies This is the most original book I’ve read in years. It is beautifully crafted, each intriguing story having a very individual flavour but with a chain of finest silver drawing them together into a very rich whole. The stories distil the essence of what it is to be different, to live on the edge of ‘normal’ society. We meet lost and lonely people, magical creatures, a man who cannot die; we see the best and worst of human nature and are encouraged to think about who and what we ourselves are, and our own potential for good and evil. Every reading of these stories reveals yet more gems, missed on first reading as it is impossible not to follow the tale on to the next page, such is the excellent pacing of the stories. 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: … 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. Could you better describe that feeling of a cold winter night? When reading Like Clockwork my logical brain said it’s a nonsense, it’s not possible, but the quality of writing ensured my emotions were fully engaged. There is some very clever use of the it/him conundrum that subliminally tells us how Evie is changing her perception of the robot Adam, and so allows us to see Adam as an individual. Throughout it is masterful, gentle touch on our own perceptions that prove so powerful. The characters are fully formed, flawed and fractured, as are we all. Superbly drawn as the MCs are, I was pleased to see even the minor characters were rounded and ‘visible’ to me, completing my enjoyment of this superb book. Patrick de Moss deserves to be recognised as one of the truly great contemporary authors.