Paperback 6" x 9" 118 pages ISBN 978-1-291-97565-9 Published
September 2014
‘After creating psychoanalyst James Kent as the centrepiece of a
compelling series of short stories, Urban Narratives
(Penniless Press Publications), Champion now works his descriptive
magic on a novella. Whilst notionally subscribing to a thriller
format, he has actually produced a highly disciplined novel of ideas
more readily associated with the European tradition, reflecting on
the nature of identity and the impact of class in a postmodern age.
Clever yet elegant, Champion benefits from the taut styling and
descriptive precision that derive from his poetry, capturing a sense
of time and place that transport us to his host locations, whilst
also slightly dislocating our commonsensical assumptions. Think Jean
Paul Sartre reimagining Alastair Maclean.
In
James Kent, Champion has created a textured and flawed hero, someone
who is opinionated, contrarian, vulnerable and humane; and someone
definitely deserving of further outings. More please, and soon.’
Chris Connelly, Hastings Independent Press (’14)
‘If you’re expecting to
read titles of comparative texts by well known writers littered
throughout a tribute to Ken Champion, you are mistaken - he’s not
that kind of writer. The author is rare amongst his peers in social
and literary relevance for he can present the lost, the mistaken,
the sophistication doggedly clung to in despair and bring into being
the deepest, unspoken tenderness. Following the psycho-geography of
much of Urban Narratives, a story collection whose
exploration of themes and ideas are broadened into similarly
disturbed planes in The Dramaturgical Metaphor, Champion
introduces a protagonist randomly and artfully directing
Kundera-esque scenarios across Europe to escape from a damaged ego
while searching for an idealised one. This new novella is not only
to be admired for its style and pace, but to be felt, to be angry
at.’
Philip Ruthen, Waterloo
Press (’14)
Ken Champion is an internationally published
poet and writer whose work has appeared in over 150 magazines and
anthologies. He has two pamphlets, African Time (2002) and
Cameo Poly (2004) and a full collection, But Black And White
Is Better (2008, reprinted 2010) all published by Tall
Lighthouse. His fiction has been published in literary journals
in the USA and extensively in the UK and he is a
Profiled Poet for South Magazine and reviewer for Write
Out loud. A selection of his poems and fiction can be found at
The Poetry Library and at www.kenchampion.org.uk
Ken lectures in sociology and lives in London..
