Saccade

"Chris Bell's Saccade is a beautifully constructed, heartfelt work. Expertly weaving in multiple plotlines, Bell creates a story of loss, love, and ultimately redemption ...It is, of course, a testament to his skill that he constructs such a complex plot without allowing too many threads to slip away, but that he is so precise with his diction is what sets him apart from other writers. He has a gift for emotionally loaded, short, concise statements." Sophia Ioannou, Seven Stories Press saccade (sa'ka:d) n. [French, twitch, from Old North French saqiuer, to pull] any of the rapid, involuntary jumps made by the eyes from one fixed point to another. "Sometimes I think they can't even see me. I ask myself sometimes, in supermarkets and places, if I actually exist, or if all this is just in my imagination." Sam Kite is plagued by panic attacks, lives alone and works in a dead-end job. But like most of the people he knows, he only pretends to be working. His life is pathetic. He lives in fear of "The Almighty Crunch", which he senses is impending: "I can think of a lot of terrible things that could happen. Most of them small, personal things, so that's just me being selfish. The sad thing is that most of the big things might be doing the planet a favour." His fantasy is to live "in a comfortable glow of self-appreciation". When his half-hearted suicide attempt is foiled by a nameless 'guardian stranger', by chance Kite encounters "The White Woman", an eye-catching squatter called Grace Starling; a deep, once seen, never to be forgotten kind of woman. Sam Kite tries to impress himself on the world by repeating to the mirror each morning, "My name is Sam Kite and life is great." Half right is as good as it gets. His happiness finds its true expression only on film, in his collection of classic DVDs. "If I felt I was in the rat race I'd want to get out of it, but I'm a non-starter." Yet even a man like Kite is capable of changing things for the better. By the author of Liquidambar.

Table of Contents:
Front matter 86 chapters Recommended listening Recommended viewing Recommended action The author The typeface

About the Author :
Chris Bell was born in Holyhead, North Wales. After working as a musician, a messenger for a small London record company, a freelance music journalist and editor, he moved to Hamburg, Germany where he was employed by a guitar company and an independent music publisher before emigrating in 1997 to New Zealand, where he is a writer. His short stories have appeared in The Third Alternative; Postscripts; Grotesque; The Heidelberg Review; TransVersions; Not One of Us; Takahe; as well as on the internet. His short story 'The Cruel Countess' was anthologised in The Year's Best Fantasy &; Horror (10tI.h Annual Edition), in which his collection The Bumper Book of Lies received an honourable mention. 'Shem-el- Nessim' appeared in This Is The Summer of Love, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 21 and That Haunted Feeling. His poetry has been published in Workshop New Poetry; Snorkel; foam:e; and most recently in the New Zealand Listener. His first novel, Liquidambar, won UKAuthors' 'Search For A Great Read' competition.