The stories I enjoyed most in Russell’s book were those that felt like this, concentrated and stimulating: The Meeting, Escape from the Butcher’s Shop, Extraordinary Elsie, Harry’s Quest and The Shining Flower. I often enjoy short stories for this reason, if a novel is a holiday, then a short story is a weekend break, perhaps a bit intense because of time constraints, but stimulating nonetheless. There is a feeling that each one has been condensed down to its most concentrated form. I found each story easy to visualise even with the often quite minimal detail provided. Russell’s writing style is clean and unfussy, and there is often a wry humour tickling at the edges. For example, in Extraordinary Elsie, the elderly lady of the title makes an unplanned visit to the theatre, but to say any more than that would just be to tell the story in different words. Even those I enjoyed the most can’t be blurbed in the usual way. They aren’t really the kind of stories that can be explained, however. It’s a deceptively quick book to skip through and each story reads a little like a thought experiment – a place for the imagination to leap off from. The twenty stories in Nothing is Strange by Mike Russell are all fabulously odd. I can’t promise that this didn’t affect my feelings about it, but a book is a book is a book, however I acquire it, and I can promise that all opinions are my own. Now, I'm an old softy at heart and I very much approve of that sort of thing and there were a number of stories here that I enjoyed very much and am looking forward to diving back in to Mike's imagination for the second volume.A copy of this book was very kindly provided me by the publisher. Outside of his playfulness what's most apparent is his sentimental side with love and friendship at the core of much of the work but in many cases slightly obscured by the darkness. Stories morph and change in front of your eyes often lasting no longer than a page or three which in many cases is ample time for Mike to squeegee your third eye but there were times when I would have dearly loved to linger longer. This, the first, is a collection of short shorts of a whimsically surreal and playful nature.
Mike contacted me here at Wyrd Britain to ask me if I'd like to check out his books for possible inclusion here, obviously I said yes and he kindly sent two over. Mike Russell so put on your top hat, open your third eye and enjoy: all of these words have been used to describe the stories of
Liberating, otherworldly, magical, surreal, bizarre, funny, disturbing,
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