Hi all
Another McAllister’s Mates where I tell you about some of the many great writers on Substack that I have stumbled upon and become enthralled by. This week I have the pleasure to introduce the diverse author, critic, and current affairs writer Seth.
Seth
Seth is a versatile writer covering current events, artistic critique, fiction, and what I would call poetic narrative (but more on that later). It’s the last two I’ll concentrate on today as a reviewer focused on creative writing, but I do encourage you to explore his portfolio for yourself. He brings the same polish and originality to all his pieces - and it’s fascinating to see how his style and techniques cross over into other genres and fields of enquiry.
The Ventriloquist
It’s a rare skill to write truly chilling yet funny stories. Ideally (as a reader) you should laugh BUT uncomfortably…. Seth’s story “The Ventriloquist” kicks off immediately with the killer line “You’re a psychiatrist? I’m a sort of … ventriloquist.” I was having a chuckle at the cleverness of the pun… then the implications hit! A frantic exchange follows where the Ventriloquist hits our protagonist with a rapid stream of facts about his life and even predictions about his behaviour. The Ventriloquist feels a bit like a cross between David Lynch’s Mystery Man and David Tennant era Doctor Who - amusing and unpredictable but gradually ever more omnipresent and alarming.
The story holds up a series of fairground mirrors to our notions of individuality, freedom, and identity. The snappy dialogue and witty asides serve to make the bigger questions sink deeper into the reader’s mind. Where ponderous dialogue might slow the pace or become a poetic conundrum to be leisurely analysed, this is an urgent threat. I don’t want to give too much away but as the Ventriloquist harries and psychologically dissects his victim, he also does the same to us. The dialogue is pointed and specific, but somehow universal and you’ll likely find yourself disquietingly identified by the Ventriloquist. Not to spoil the story’s revelations but the stakes get ever higher leading to some all too plausible revelations about the narrator’s reality. Philosophy and metaphysics dragged from their armchairs onto the battlefield, perhaps that’s where they always belonged.
Yes, Now
This story occupies the liminal spaces between prose and poetry, memory and dreams, even between worlds…Again we have an all-knowing omnipresent voice, a symbolic motif I believe Seth enjoys delving into. This time however the voice is gentle and affectionate where the Ventriloquist’s was dismissive and menacing. Where the Ventriloquist would put our efforts in the world on trial to frame us as automatons, this voice reminds of how our small seemingly insignificant deeds reveal our character. Both characters have ambiguous origins which I will leave you to discover for yourself. The actual truth of the characters origins and their symbolism for your own life is a topic you will be pondering for some time.
Yes, Now and The Ventriloquist offer a very interesting experience when read together. I believe they describe opposite sides of the same coin, an observation of self from a third person perspective. The Ventriloquist hits with rapid fire damning judgments on the predictable and shallow routines we fall into. Yes, Now however, gently nurtures moments of kindness and insight, following their wider implications making us see how we’re perhaps more consequential than we believe ourselves to be. Taken together these two stories cast a light on the turmoil of forces that shape, even manipulate our understanding of our immediate experiences. Internal, societal, perhaps even those forces described in our myths and spiritual traditions. Seth’s stories however, do not feign understanding or some secret knowledge - they crystallise the experience.
I Of The Beholder
This story shares a thematic connection to the other two stories I’ve featured, in that the topic concerns some pervading force that knows the protagonist better than they know themselves. However, where the others flirted with the idea of a dual self (along with various other possibilities), this one runs with it! The content is a little more graphic than the other two, it is perhaps needed to ground a very metaphysical concept. This one again occupies the interesting space between narrative and poetry, balancing a tight plot with rhythmic prose and poetic imagery. It’s very true to say society at large and the curated media presented to us have become intolerant of differences in opinion, outlook, experience. Everything seems engineered to reassure us with and trap us in our current identities. It would have been very easy to go down a political track with this and take swipes at certain demographics and organisations. However, Seth takes the higher road by again keeping the focus on the intricacies of personal experience. In my own poetry I often enjoy writing about personal explorations of the layered psyche. Seth offers a countering and balancing narrative. This story serves as a reminder that true communication with the self should be challenging, confrontational even and should guide us in our dealings with the outside world, not shelter us from it.
This is of course a small sample of Seth’s wide ranging portfolio, and I’ll admit I grabbed for the pieces that are closest to my own heart. His work is both prolific and varied from metaphysical contemplations to analysis of current affairs, even some great thought pieces on creative writing - go explore and tell us all about the treasures you find.
I hope you enjoy these beautiful works as much as I enjoyed reading and writing about them.
You can meet some of my other friends in the previous instalments: 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Substack has proven to be a treasure trove and I already have another gifted writer lined up for my next review newsletter.
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