MIND SLICES

I don't normally write reviews and don't consider myself good at it. This is a special circumstance because Kevin Tipple is a personal friend.  Actually, Kevin is a good friend of everyone in the Mystery writing community. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the many excellent reviews he writes at: http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/

 

You may not know Kevin is also a writer.  He has gathered and published seventeen of his short stories into a collection and I highly recommend it.

 

With all that said, here's my review.

 

 

MIND SLICES

A Collection of New and Previously-Published Stories

By Kevin R. Tipple

Reviewed by Earl Staggs 

You know the author is taking you on a different kind of reading experience when a story begins with this:   

“I am Dantelus, the many-generational grandson of Dante. I have received special permission in the past to visit Hell in the hope that my works would bring a message to a world bent on self-destruction.” 

That’s how Kevin Tipple begins HELL, HERE AND NOW, the first story in this collection.  

That’s not the only unusual experience waiting here.  In BARTHOLOMEW MORTIMAN, you meet  a man who tells you he has. . .”drifted, searching for meaning, a truth to the universe and my existence. “ He‘s sure he’s found it when he meets Sarah, but she leads him to more than he could ever have imagined. 

Not all the stories in this collection introduce characters in an altered reality.  Some explore the minds and psyches of ordinary people pushed to the edge of endurance and reason.  They may remind you of people you know who have had the worst of life dumped on them.  THE CLOCK IS TICKING AND SO ARE WE tells of a man who is out of work, his wife has left him, it’s stinking hot, the city will shut his water off soon, and his kids are driving him to the very edge of chaos.  In NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, a security guard patrols a desolate mall parking lot late at night. He has every reason to believe he’s been ambushed and takes appropriate action, but the results are disastrous. 

That’s only a sampling of what you’ll find in this eclectic collection.  In these seventeen short stories, Kevin exhibits a talent for developing characters in a mixture of genres, then peeling back their skin to expose the pain and anguish inside.   

Ordering this collection will not only provide an interesting reading experience, but will also help the Tipple family in their devastating and ongoing health-related financial struggle. 

MIND SLICES is available for $.99 at:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009OIV346 

Smashwords:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/243655

Barnes and Noble’s NOOK:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mind-slices-kevin-tipple/1113576100?ean=2940044983076