Blood Etc (Paperback)

This is a short-story collection (15 stories), with varied settings, voices and appeal to age-groups, although the strongest readership probably the biggest one for fiction: women 35-60. Its settings are mainly in a neglected corner of Wales: the north-east looking towards Liverpool, plus one story set in Liverpool and one on the north American frontier. A few bring in historical themes and one is set in colonial America. The major theme is power balance at the point that one party takes control: the narrative usually favours men over women. Class conflict is there too but understated. Also nature resisting our attempts to control it, and fatherhood. The whole collection has a rural and small-town feel, reflecting the reality of lives of probably the majority living here and certainly the majority of fiction-readers. It is gentle but certainly not soft: it is sophisticated and perceptive. Sex is quite raunchy in places. Imagery is particularly powerful and is used in a way similar to Jo Mazelis but possibly with more depth. Her control of how much information to include and its timing is excellent. Animals are very present, and represent nature, sensuality and their function at times of bestowing power, e.g. for teenage girls and older single women. Small workplace settings and politics are very strong and extremely representative of contemporary Wales - small businesses, run-down industrial estates etc.