Tells of a young man fighting to find meaning to his life. Leads him from Paignton, England, to Cyprus, then Crete, ends up in London...
'Undeclared War' is the first book of the 'Paths of Error' trilogy, which is more a triptych than a trilogy, giving us 3 views through the same window of time. 'Undeclared War' sees rebel-born Tom Newson fighting his way out of Paignton, into the army, through Cyprus and out of the army. In 60s Brixham he discovers drugs. In Crete he finds a life worth living. Then he finds an old girlfriend. But he ends up, lost, dealing in 70s London...
Excerpt
The only beauty Paignton had was if he stood with his back to it and looked out to sea. Then he had as many combinations of colour, and nuances of light, as water, sky, wind and cloud would allow... an enamelled calm under a static sun; a ripple of a red sunset stroking the ochre sand; a summer's grey swell crashing in rainbows against the brick brown promenade steps...
To turn from that mysterious immensity and confront the town required a courageous act of will, an heroic dulling of the finer sensibilities.
First, looped between the stubby iron lampposts on the promenade, and strung out along the red sandstone harbour wall, and out to the coin-clinking arcade at the end of the skeletal pier, were row upon row of coloured bulbs. At night their prissy pretty reflections polluted the ebony sea.
Just as life during the pandemic was color-coded with different hues representing different levels of danger, life in its aftermath has become shaded in similar ways. As a self-styled “Seeker of Beauty with Beauty,” (borrowing from a quote by W.E.B.
The deep-dive literary meditations presented as stories, poems, and essays in The American Poet Who Went Home Again, A Mosaic of My Soul at Work, have captivated and inspired readers ever since its first paperback publication in 2008.
