Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #11 February 2015 | Page 70
“And we’re back with the books hour here on Severn
FM. With me are Felicia Brett, the author of ‘Wiccan
Wessex’ and Tom Ashley, who has a new book, ‘The
Rock Pool’, just released today. Tom, what can you tell
us about your novel?”
“Well, it’s about childhood and what makes us who we
are and, most importantly, it’s about truth.”
The presenter, whose name Tom could not recall, having been introduced only seconds before they went on
air, jumped in, clearly wanting to keep control. Well,
fine, if that was how this was going to go Tom felt he
had sufficient command of the English language to
make his points in whatever time he was given.
“So, truth is important to you?”
“Of course,” Tom replied, “it must be the novelist’s job
to reveal truth to the world. I think that we can do that
in fiction in ways that are not possible in non-fiction.”
“Which seems a good point,” said the presenter, “to
turn to Felicia Brett. Felicia, your book is, presumably,
non-fiction. How would you respond to Tom’s point
about truth? I mean, Wiccan means witches, right?
How much truth is there really in that?”
“Yes, it’s about modern witchcraft. I believe I’m trying
PAGE 70
to show the truth as much as Mr. Ashley here. There’s
a lot of assumptions and nonsense said about Wiccan
beliefs and I wanted to try and set the record straight.”
Tom rolled his eyes at the last point. Was the eccentric old woman his only competition among the new
releases from local writers this month?
“And before you ask, no I don’t dance around naked in
the woods at midnight.”
Ye gods, Tom thought, don’t plant that image in my
mind. She must be pushing eighty.
***
Tom turned his phone back on as soon as he got out of
the studio. He tried to phone Louise but there was only
the message service.
“Hi, Lou. Tom here. Just done the radio thing. Went
well. Managed to get the title mentioned three times.
Should stand out from the other stuff they were talking
about. I’m off to see if they’ve got copies displayed in
Waterstones. Love you. See you tonight. We’ll crack
open that bottle we’ve been keeping for a special occasion.”
As he put the phone back in his pocket, Tom realised
that Felicia Brett was standing nearby.