New book! Coming soon!
Although there's no guarantee it'll still be the cover by publication time. (Any thoughts, opinions or suggestions welcome).
A little context, history and flattery first.
Old book -- already available...
Way back, in 2011, I wrote a book of ten short stories called They All Die At The End.
Many short-stories are constructed as set-up and punchline. And there's nothing wrong with that.
But my idea was to turn that on its head. Give away the ending (in the title of the book) but still write a gripping and involving story with a thing or two up its sleeve.
From this review:
...the point of view and narrative voice shift around between stories, which provides a nice variety, keeps the ‘joke’ fresh and prevents any ‘samieness’ from setting in. I’m impressed that the author found ten very different ways (from the sublime to the ridiculous) to kill off his characters but I was also clearly aware that the stories are about much more than the endings and this is a valuable lesson to the reader (and aspiring writers). Don’t rush to the end point, savour the journey. I’m not going to go into detail about any specific story because I don’t want to spoil the experience for the reader. I can’t pick out a favourite. I can tell you there are no turkeys.. each story is self contained while connected to and serving the aims of the whole and I for one was sorry when the final death occurred...
Another old book -- also already available...
Then, in 2013, partly in response to being asked why all my stories had to be so dark, I wrote another anthology to turn the previous one on its head.
Everything Turns Out Just Fine was part-funded by a successful Kickstarter project. The perks available to people chipping in included allowing them to name characters, suggest themes (such as a wedding) or give me a "now get out of that" opening, such as an embarrassment in Nepal.
And so these stories don't end in death, except when they do, and are significantly lighter, except when they aren't.
But why take my word for it when you can read someone else's words about it? From this review:
...it’s also just as fiercely unique as the previous one. A real treat ten times over all over again. Again, I can’t pick a favourite, I enjoy them all so much. Again, I see so much depth beneath the absurdist humour that pervades. Again he ‘dovetails’ characters and the ‘author’ intrudes into the last story. If you were ‘ticking boxes’ for the elements of great storytelling, Peter Tarnofsky ticks them all. And then adds that little bit of magic. He paints himself out of a corner time and time again to get to that unpredictably predictable ending. The characters he introduces you to all come to life before your eyes, even (sometimes especially) when set in the most incongruous and impossible of settings. He melds domestic reality with complete way out impossibility artlessly. And throughout, he keeps you guessing. You can believe everything he says and not believe any of it at all, at the same time. It’s fun. It’s thought provoking...
So what's this new book? And why now, after all this time?
About a year ago (true story), the piston in my chair began to fail. Sitting at my desk, I would find myself gradually sinking lower and lower until I (literally, not metaphorically) hit rock bottom.
And so I did what any decent writer would do. I took that as a starting point for a short story, not altogether sure what would happen next, or what I was actually writing it for.
The overall theme had been rattling around in my head for a while. Probably since 2013. What if I threw away my own concept of giving away the ending, thereby turning the themes of both books on their heads at the same time? It sounds uncomfortable.
In other words, what about writing a book called It Could Go Either Way in which, er, it could go... well, you get the general idea.
It Could Go Either Way
I'm proof-reading it at the moment. Another ten stories with occasional nods to characters, situations or setups in the previous books.
You know how it is. You read it through, again and again. You ask other people to do the same. Take a pencil, make notes in the margins, find all the typing errors, grammatical errors, errors where you say the same thing twice, errors where you say the same thing twice, errors where you say the same thing twice, errors where you get the names of your own characters wrong, errors where your characters switch sides half-way through a conversation and errors where you've written a long paragraph that's basically just a list.
There will be a website for the new book shortly, at which point I'll link to it here.
In the meantime, here's the cover (again). This might not be the final one. Or it might. It could go either way.
