What Ven Knew
- Andy Bracken
- Aug 1, 2015
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 5
Steve Parsons was once a person that he no longer is. In fairness, for twenty-five years he’d been just about content with that, thanks largely to utter indifference to the world in general, and what might be termed low self-esteem. Until, prompted by a colourful change of clothing, his mind begins to question everything that he’s hitherto accepted as his crappy little lot in life.
It’s a questioning that takes him on a voyage of self-discovery, as Steve morphs into Ven, and seeks to revert to the person he’d largely forgotten existed - a journey that tests his relationships to their limits.
Author Notes
This wasn’t actually intended for publication. I’d been dicking around with literary agents and publishers for so long, getting nowhere, that I had three books ready to be published, and needed a holiday.
I wrote this, my fourth, in thirteen days so my wife could have something to read while we were away for a week. It was almost a stream of consciousness approach.
Anyway, my wife loved it!
On return, I corrected any typos, and generally tidied it up a tad. At first, I didn’t even have a proper cover idea, so used a stock image ‘just to get it out there’. The ‘cassette cover’ came a little later. I think there are three or four different versions.
It’s a zany little book, about a man who gets up one morning and decides to wear brightly coloured odd socks in place of his customary black. This leads to the transformation of staid Steve to vibrant Ven!
Cynical, scathing, farcical. Yet uplifting and funny. That’s what I remember about it, as Ven rediscovers his loves in life. Not least of which is his aptly named band, ‘Mid-Table Obscurity’.
It’s poignant, too. In books and film, I find the funniest moments are frequently to be found in the saddest settings. And, similarly, the most heart-breaking can lurk in comedy. It’s the contrast of emotion, I suppose. It can catch us off guard, and the impact is greater as a result.
There you go! A throwaway book that I left in publication because, as it turned out, it’s actually a bit more than that.
Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Charity begins a tome...
"...each of Andy Bracken's books is a beautifully crafted character-study of everyday (and not-so everyday) people who live and love and laugh and cry and struggle with joy and regret just like so many of us...
Steven Parsons has been struggling for a long while without even noticing it.....Until one morning, a pair of mismatched socks and the cathartic realization that his spirit had gone dormant decades before....this book chronicles a man's sudden rediscovery of his will to live, after having been completely unaware that he'd lost it in the first place....As with every Bracken book, this one is well worth your time and money..."
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