Slice of Life

Today's is a non foody post. But it's about a vegan person who is very important to me - my brother, Paul.  I have written about him before, how he is fighting cancer with a vegan diet (amongst a million other conventional treatments) and has recently tried going raw also.

He has documented his journey with cancer for over 2 years on his blog. But where the posts aren't uncomfortably confronting (and sometimes funny) stories about what happens when you have cancer, or how his beautiful wife and 3 yr old daughter keep him going, the posts are about NASTY SHIT. To clarify, Paul Haines is also an award winning, speculative fiction writer.

If you like nasty, dark, disturbing, shocking, with a dash of twisted humour he's your man. Think American Psycho with more grit and no chapters on Genesis. I'm not a reviewer so I won't attempt to review his latest book, but I will let you know what others have said:

"Slice of Life contains seventeen original stories by Paul Haines that travel the dark back roads of horror. We're not talking mainstream horror here, we're talking confrontational in your face stories from the perspective of every day people. If you don't trust that weird old dude over your back fence then Paul Haines' collection could just give you the reason why.
...
Paul Haines has compiled a collection that is a highlight on the 2009 short story calendar. It's not for the faint of heart, there's some deeply disturbing visions going down, but is well worth reading if you appreciated decent horror of the short story form. I was pleased I finally got around to reading Mr Haines excellent collection and am left wanting more." Scary Minds

Slice of Life is not for those who like pretty stories of love and derring-do. Look elsewhere for that. What it does contain is original storytelling with a strong and compelling voice that you sometimes may not want to listen to and yet you’re powerless to resist. You have been warned. - Aurealis

Slice of Life is brilliantly nasty and engrossing. Haines may very well be the best writer of dark fiction in Australia today, and genre readers cannot afford not to pick up a copy of this collection. - HorrorScope

You can check out more reviews here, and if you care to pick up a copy, you can get your mitts on it there too.

PS. Yes this is a shameless plug, but from the looks of what some of you read, I thought it would be a welcome one worth sneaking in.