A Writer's Life by Eric Brown

Isn't co-incidence a strange thing? I bought New York Nights on a Saturday, and was given a review copy of A Writer's Life a couple of days later. Initially, I thought it was an autobiography - Wrong! It is actually a science fiction novella, but that will not be apparent until you get virtually to the end. It starts out as a mystery, perhaps even a ghost story. It concerns the hero Daniel Ellis and his partner Mina. Daniel is an author who collects works by obscure twentieth century authors. It turns out that his latest discovery - Vaughan Edwards, may have been copying a Victorian author E.V.Cunningham-Price. So concerned is he about plagiarism from an author he respects that he goes in search of Vaughan Edwards and discovers a lot more than he expected. This is an elegant little tale. Devoured in one sitting, with an excellent twist at the end.

Publisher: PS Publishing Date: 2001 Pages: 78 pp Price: £8.00? Format: trade paperback Reviewed by: Rod Cameron Review Date: April 2001