Monkey Nuts and Mayhem by Sue Gerrard
Time for a Laugh
There's laughter in the air as writer Sue Gerrard, an individual member of NAWG and regular contributor to Link magazine launches her new book Monkey Nuts and Mayhem: a humorous collection of Cautionary Tales. This is a departure for Sue of St. Helens, Merseyside who explains:
"I normally write and perform ghost and horror stories but I realised that I had, over the years, got quite a collection of humorous poetry. Last year I decided that it was time for a change and started work on my latest book Monkey Nuts and Mayhem: a humorous collection of Cautionary Tales.
It contains poems which comment on the humorous side of life when things go wrong. So there are a series of 'Blues Poems' such as Alimony Blues right through to poems about the British weather with Catching the Rays, a poem about the perils of sunbathing. I also decided to try something different when it came to the cover as it is hand drawn by the artist Carole Anne Eaves and is available in two colours peach or cream. This has proved a great talking point among buyers as normally you are given a book without any say in what you want.
I did wonder how people who are used to reading or listening to my ghost stories would react to this other side of my work. My concerns were unfounded as there was plenty of laughter at the book launch at Rainford Library, near to where I live.
However, I have not given up on the ghost stories as I did a ghost story reading at the atmospheric Fir Tree Farm on Friday April 24th. This was called The Bewitching Hour and features some new ghost stories. I am already booked in for October 31st !
It has been an amazing time and to add to the celebrations I have just won second place in The International Poetry Box Hallowe'en Competition with the poem The Witches Tree collecting a prize of £100 and a beautiful certificate."
Monkey Nuts and Mayhem: a humorous collection of Cautionary Tales, priced £5 plus P&P (75 pence) is available from good bookshops or directly from Sue via her web site or by email. Editor's contact number: +44 798 555 6539.