Exciting new literary fiction novel entitled A Slow Fall by Mark Ayling is published
About the Book:
Alistair Duncan is nearly killed and its unclear this is an accident or deliberate attempt on his life. He returns from hospital to find his girlfriend has thrown him out and he takes refuge with Jon, a War Gaming loner with perceptive insight into people. Allys ex-wife goes missing and he is framed for her murder by a struggling painter with no talent who is having an affair with both Allys girlfriend and ex-wife. Meanwhile an Asian policeman suffering from a terminal condition and his female partner get caught up in these people lives which reaches a murderous conclusion.
There are ambiguous and unfulfilled relationships between the characters and all to a greater or lesser extent are living in a society they cannot fully participate in. The major themes are of being displaced and marginalised, of racism and the mediocrity of those included.
About the Author:
Mark Ayling lives and works in central London. Authors who have influenced his writing include Elmore Leonard, J G Ballard, Albert Camus, Philip K. Dick, Cormac McCarthy, Charles Bukowski and William Boyd. Mark previously published two other novels entitled Lying Down with Dogs and Dead Men Float and aims to carry on writing and producing quirky, thought-provoking novels.
Excerpt from the book:
High up on the cliff, a man with an arm like a piglet squinted through his telescopic sight. In front of him, a book of handwritten poems had fallen open at the page Uncle Cyril and Auntie Phyllis were Swingers. The scanning crosshairs momentarily paused to watch the seagulls leave muddy imprints as primitive as bow and arrow etchings on a cave wall.
Ally flicked at the red spot with ever more urgent motions, yet each time it rode serenely over his strokes and the contempt on Maggies face was obvious. The hat and scarf hed carefully arranged that morning to keep the wind off his chest, now made him feel trapped and unable to breathe.
Suddenly there was the sound of a stone thudding into mud. Except it wasnt a stone. Maggie stumbled and her bag fell to the floor spilling the shells she had painstakingly collected. A crimson worm emerged from her nose; it was the same colour as her lipstick. She dropped to her knees. Ally couldnt work out what was going on. Should he get help? But there wasnt anyone around, just the sand that circled ever more frantically. As her eyes locked with his, he glimpsed deep within them dark roiling waves like the oceans of a fading planet on which the last solitary creature was dying alone.
A Slow Fall can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk in paperback at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Fall-Mark-Ayling/dp/B0BP98Z8LP
or downloaded in e-book format from Amazon.co.uk at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Fall-Mark-Ayling-ebook/dp/B0BPB4FVL5
Press/Media Contact:
Literary Agent: The Inspira Group
Contact: Darin Jewell, Managing Director
E-mail: darin ( @ ) theinspiragroup dot com
Tel. 0208 292 5163
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