When her fortune changes, and money is no issue for a change,Nell's husband is keen to move away from their hectic lifestyle in London and put down roots in a country village. Nell isn't really keen but is railroaded into the decision. Nell feels like she didn't really have a choice to move away from all that is familiar to her. Apart from the change of scenery there appears to be a change in Nell's husband too. He soon becomes a different person, and not the person Nell married. Nell becomes lonely and isolated but makes new friends who seem to revel in stories of their open marriages and are the most materialistic people Nell has come across. Nell's life is soon complicated further when an encounter with a young man at a nightclub and a friendship struck up with a local builder soon have Nell questioning everything in her life.

Fly or Fall is one of those books that draws you in right from the start. Immediately I felt sympathy for Nell and how everyone else seems so in charge of her life and she is merely a bystander. She initially is a woman who feels uncertain about her place in the world and is so desperate to blend into the background that she becomes invisible to the very people who should care about her. Nell's life and marriage are typical of many. She married young with very little choice in the matter and simply accepted her fate. She is constantly taken for granted by her children and manipulating husband Trevor. Kept in blissful ignorance about all aspects of her marriage and accepting of the loveless sex life, Nell simply just gets on with things and accepts her lot in life.

Initially, Nell appears to be an older woman and I found it shocking that as I read on I realised that she was in fact a much younger woman with all the regrets of someone who has lived a life full of regret and broken promises. Her outlook on life was jaded and her self esteem was in her boots. There are many underlying stories throughout the course of the book and Nell becomes embroiled in each of them. She struggles to understand the strange feelings that Patrick the builder evokes in her and David, the man she encounters at a nightclub. 

Fly or Fall is a book about love, life and a desire to change, despite the fear of failure. In this story we see Nell change into someone that even she struggles to recognise. It is a story of regret too. Regret for those things not done, those adventures never embarked on and those feelings never given in to. However, soon Nell begins to wake up from the life she has sleepwalked through and a change is awakened in her. However, not everyone in her life is happy about it and Nell herself struggles with the range of emotions she feels and the desire to be a different person that suddenly appears from nowhere! Coupled with an attraction to two new men in her life, Nell struggles as her moral compass is unsure which direction it should be pointing.

Fly or Fall is a grown up book. It is a book about having the courage to fly when you are so afraid of falling. Highly recommended.

Nicky’s books offer glitzy, glamorous romance with rock stars—imagine Bridget Jones ROCKS Notting Hill! If you’ve ever had a crush on any kind of celebrity, you’ll connect with Nicky’s heroes and their leading ladies.

A citizen of Bellingham, WA by way of Southern California, Thomas Duder is a firm believer that a writer should write.  "Forget the drama of writing, forget the politics of writing, forget even the rest of the industry.  Writers should write, period."

An independent publisher and author, working in close collaboration with a fierce team assembled and hand-picked by he himself, Thomas Duder is a seasoned general of various projects beforehand, bringing those skills to the fore as The Crew plunges directly into the world of action-adventure literature!

His vanguard series, "The Generalist," is an action-adventure extravaganza, a veritable rollercoaster ride through a Neo-Los Angeles of the near future.  Loaded with witty dialogue, fast-paced action and sequences of brilliant violence, you're sure to find plenty to keep you entertained for hours on end!

Download The Generalist - Taboo 0: Cliché of Memories for free!

And if you'd rather your violence short and poignant, then do be on the lookout for the upcoming short-story saga, "Killer XIII."  Follow the brutal misadventures of the malevolent, marauding murderer in a desert wasteland filled with killers, cannibals, and Daemonkinder and the general malcontent of all sorts and types.  Revel in the absolute loss of logic and sanity, of a world gone inexplicably and completely wrong, and the harsh wanderers of the hungry wastes teeming with madness, death, and the strange quest known only to 13, the man named after the brand and his ever present Meat Cleaver, the blade named after itself.

Outside of writing, he is also a man of other artistic endeavors - a lyricist and blogger as well as a fierce orator and vocalist, using these skills to deliver the thirty to forty-five minute program "Haymakers and Hellhounds."

Enjoy this excerpt from The Generalist - Taboo 1: Where's the Beef? 

 

Frank screamed as his gloved hands scrabbled for purchase, attempting to drag himself away from the booted feet that stomped on him for a moment before one particularly strong one kicked at his ribs, nearly busting one if not for his tough jacket.

Grunting, one of the Monster-gened, this one a wereape, hauled on his leg and slightly lifted him in the air, his fingers once again scrabbling for the street before his body slammed back down to the ground on it's own in a power lift. As the pinstripe-suited wereape and his two equally snazzily-dressed hyena-headed henchmen continued to put the boots to Frank, behind him several of the bigger goons worked Dash over, two more of the hyena-heads on each arm and another wereape holding him with both hands on the back of his head, the ape's arms looped under his, a business-suited werewolf worked his face over with powerful right and left hooks before tenderizing the troll's tough trunk with underhanded blows.

Growling, the wereape stomped, signaling that the hyenas should let go before tentspiking Dash into the street with a powerful, full-moon strengthened belly-to-back suplex, his back bridging with unnatural (for either human or ape) flexibility as he slammed Dash's skull into the pavement.

Getting up and laughing, the werewolf walked over to Frank and kicked him once in the face, forcing him to his back before leaning over and spitting on him.

"You tell Vitto we're comin' for him, tonight. He's dead. His family's dead. His goons are dead. We're going to kick his f*****g dogs. We're going to eat his f*****g children's hearts in front of him. Everyone he loves is f****** dead," the werewolf opened up his semi-muzzle, hawking up phlegm before spitting it at Frank's face again, causing the smaller man to groan and try and curl up, "And you Shop freaks are next."

Laughing, the group walked back into the Bantam Club, bringing the guards in for a round of drinks in celebration of the ass-whooping they had just dished out.

Waiting a moment Frank coughed, reaching up to wipe away at his face with a grunt before groaning out, "Hey Dash?"

Dash's body finally came down, catching itself on his knees as his skull and neck reformed again. Shaking his head with a shotgun-sound of crackling, he groaned aloud, slipping to his chest for a moment before answering, "Frank?"

"You okay, chief?"

"Yeah boss," Dash shook his head again, coming up to his knees and beginning to dust his torn and bruised clothes off, "Just gimme a few. Maybe an hour."

Frank slowly got to his feet, his own energies turned inward beginning to limber his stiff and bruised muscles, groaning as he felt every abused inch of him beginning to heal a little, "Hey. Dash?"

Dash blinked, craning his neck this way and that, about to bemoan the destruction of his good clothes until Frank got his attention, "Yeah, Frank?"

"I hope you realize...," Frank glowered darkly as Dash's face lit up with an inhuman grin, finishing their most favorite declaration, "This means war!!!!"

Adele Symonds - Editing

Krystain Brown (A.T.P.) - Marketing

Massive Entertainment - Publishing

Care to invite Thomas Duder, Author of the Things as a speaker or guest to YOUR convention or event?

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