The Unlikely World of Faraway Frankie by Keith Brooke

This recently published book, which has an introduction by Adam Roberts, is the tale of an overweight teenager, the butt of cruel humour at school, who escapes into vivid daydreams of the way he would like his world to be. He is shaken when he discovers that the real world is gradually changing to match his dreams - his broken family is reunited and even his twin sister, killed in an accident two years before, reappears as if nothing had happened. He finds that he is able, with an effort of will, to change events to suit himself. But no sooner does he master this than he realises that his control is being challenged and is beginning to slip; for there is a rival power in the town, the mysterious, never-seen Owner, who seems to know exactly what Frankie is up to.

The Unlikely World of Faraway Frankie has a clearly-written style which will appeal to young and old alike, with an engaging combination of closely observed reality against a surreal, dream-like background. The story of Frankie's forced growth to maturity holds the attention to the unexpected but satisfying conclusion. I suspect that this is one which will stay in my mind for a long time, and will remain on my shelf for a future re-read.
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A rare sighting recently - a new review of my novel Scales. It has appeared in THIS blog. An extract from the introduction to the review:

Most likely you haven’t read this book because you didn’t know it existed. The novel was published through Authors Online LTD a British company formed in 1997 which publishes novels online and can also now print novels on demand.

Before I say anymore, I have to be honest here, I know the author of this novel through cyberspace. Tony and I have both been active posters at Yahoo’s Classic Science Fiction Message Board for many years. So, I will admit that I might have some bias. But those who know me and/or those who have read some of my reviews, know that I’m not one that minces words or lets authors off easy.

So you know I am being completely honest when I say that Scales is such a great Science Fiction novel it deserved a Hugo Award nomination.

I’m sure those who haven’t read the book are sort of checking out mentally or thinking to themselves, “this guy is a really good friend.” But those who have read the novel understand why it is worthy of such high praise.

A reminder: you can read my thoughts on writing the novel, plus all published reviews, on my website HERE , where you can also download the entire novel as an e-book free of charge - and you're not likely to get a better offer than that all week!