Independent publisher of long, short, and very short fiction
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“A straw man hung above my door like a ward of protection. Really it was a lure to charm my dead husband back. But it, like my other delusions and lies, drew lightning.”
Ten years after the death of her husband, Rosa struggles to move on and takes solace in rituals and superstition. Sol, a young fisherman, braves the sea to prove himself to an absent father. As a storm rips through the small community, disaster lays bare old secrets. Rosa and Sol’s lives tangle in tragic circumstances, forcing them to face the truth about themselves and the ones they loved.
Straw Gods is the debut novella-in-flash from Tom O’Brien, a heart-wrenching drama both moving and exhilarating, perceptively exploring the effects of grief and the lasting bonds of family and friendship.
Reviews
Straw Gods is a lyrical, fierce exploration of the dance of grief. O’Brien brings psychological depth to the characters with his understanding of the tricks of heart and minds that carry those who suffer. The beautiful writing will sweep you along the ebb and flow of pain, regret, yearning and ultimately self-knowledge. Unmissable.
—Stephanie Carty, Three Sisters of Stone
Tom O’Brien is an Irishman living in London. Amongst other jobs, he’s worked as a corporate and creative scriptwriter before moving to prose and specializing in flash fiction. He has words in numerous places including Ellipsis Zine, Reflex Fiction and Spelk, and in print in Blood & Bourbon, Blink-Ink and DEFY! anthologies. Straw Gods was longlisted for the Bath Novella-in-Flash Award and shortlisted by Ellipsis Zine.
| Weight | N/A |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781916111561 |
| Publication date | 17 November 2020 |
| Format | eBook, Paperback |
| Pages | 112 |
| Size | 198 x 129 mm |
Raluca Comanelea (verified owner) –
Straw Gods. A novella-in flash that takes an elegant seat, waiting for grief to accomplish its purpose. A grief measured in Rosa’s breaths and intentions. With the ocean waves reclaiming the body of her beloved Matteo, life hisses at Rosa and makes her wonder if death is not real. The ocean is deceptive, learns Rosa. It has teeth. Straw Gods. A novella-in-flash that penetrates deeply into a woman’s ritual of keeping death alive, a death which sips elegantly from a cup of tea. Rosa quenches her drought when the pangs of thirst try her. Beach rocks have carved her story, her tragedy, and her submission.
Rosa has lived a dead life for a decade now, yet with a breath still vibrant, electric, and alive. She thinks it her misfortune to live, weighed in rocks and grey stones, sometimes dry sometimes burning, boiling, hurting, cutting her skin open. And she conjures. Humanely, plainly. Ginger lemon scent fills up a room to call life back. Records, pearls, an empty chest, paper bearing the mark of his fingers, a straw man hung by the door, all to call a ghost back home.
But storm, fire, and smoke rebuild Rosa. From the ground up. Her son, Sol, fights the ocean and comes out alive from its blue depths. In a burning house, all her memories go up in smoke, but precious Ceecee, her niece, is saved. Rosa’s plea, “Bury me in the ashes of what I built,” is ignored by death as life battles to show her the depths and discoveries granted by her grief. Rosa’s faith unveils all the secrets of the pearls, in the end, showing her that self-knowledge is the truest kept secret of all that is.