THE SHINGLE BAR SEA MONSTER AND OTHER STORIES

THE SHINGLE BAR SEA MONSTER AND OTHER STORIES uses surrealism and black humour to explore human predicaments, emotions and aspirations, and to suggest solutions to life's challenges. The situations are extraordinary, the aspirations and emotions are common, and the solutions debatable. 
A young woman is taken to a sea monster's underwater palace and helps the mermaids preserve seaweed. A girl finds that her right hand can no longer feel. Another girl becomes her younger sister's guardian angel. Two men of different tastes and habits struggle to co-exist after the head of one is grafted to the body of the other. An executive experiences uncontrollable anger after undergoing open-brain surgery. Two sisters continue their childhood rivalry after being reminded of a favourite TV programme. A male scientist is forced to give up the child that he himself gave birth to. On the verge of burnout, a jaded London lawyer heads out to the Mojave desert to set up a new life for herself. And so on...........

About the author:
LAURA SOLOMON was Joint-Winner of the inaugural Proverse Prize (2009) with her novella, Instant Messages, subsequently published by Proverse Hong Kong in 2010. Born in New Zealand, she spent nine years in London before returning to New Zealand in 2007. She has an honours degree in English Literature (Victoria University, 1997) and a Masters degree in Computer Science (University of London, 2003). She has published two novels in New Zealand, Black Light (1996) and Nothing Lasting (1997). Her short story collection Alternative Medicine was published in the UK in 2008 and her novel An Imitation of Life was published in the UK in 2009. Her first poetry collection, In Vitro, was published in 2011 by HeadworX (New Zealand). Her plays have been produced at the Wellington (New Zealand) Fringe Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK). Among other writing prizes, she has twice won a prize in the Bridport (UK) International Short Story Competition. Her short story, "Sprout", first published in the 2004 Bridport Anthology, and later in her short story collection, Alternative Medicine, with Flame Books in the UK, was translated into Czech by Olga Walló and appeared in krásná in the Czech Republic in 2011.

Publisher - Proverse Hong Kong, P.O. Box 259, Tung Chung Post Office, G/F, 6 Mei Tung Street, Tung Chung, Lantau Island, NT, Hong Kong, SAR.

Tel: (INT+) 2259-3456; Fax: (INT+) 852 2688-0546; email: info@proversepublishing.com;

web: http://www.proversepublishing.com

Format: pbk, pp. 200.

Size: 210mm X 145mm

Price: HKD138, GBP14, USD22. NZ$22

Pub date: 20 November 2012

Distribution worldwide by: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong. Canada stock-holding retailer: Elizabeth Campbell Books, Main Street South, Kenora, Ontario, Canada. Canada distributor: Rosedale Publishing. http://rosedalefr.com/?page_id=22.

Singapore stock-holding retailer / distributor: Select Books. 

UK distributor: Miss Christine Penney. 

Available online from: amazon.com, proversepublishing.com, and many other online retailers.

For immediate order: http://www.proversepublishing.com/fiction (Scroll down the titles, arranged in alphabetical order).