A REVIEW of
by
David Hughes
Private Worlds: A Revised Atlas is as entertaining and diverting an e-book--any kind of book for that matter--as I've read. With their economical yet evocative style, you get the feeling Scott Green's poems are about subjects he knows and loves.
Actually, this is the first time I've come across a collection quite like this: poems and haiku, each devoted to writers, actors, film-makers--heroes of the author's--spanning a variety of genres--sci-fi, horror, fantasy, crime, suspense, even martial arts--and media.
Opening with Addams' World, which sees Gomez picnicking in a junkyard at midnight--taking in Rohmer's World with its 'Limehouse shadows'
(interestingly, both these put me in mind of Jack Kerouac's dark moonlit imagery of Doctor Sax)--we pass by way of Dick, Chandler, McBain, Lovecraft, Karloff--even the Japanese monster films studios--among a wealth of other names you'd know. (And a few you might not.)
This varied collection is eminently browse-able. One of the reasons for this is its brevity (38 pages on PDF) --and I'm not saying that with any side--both of the individual pieces and the whole.
As well as engaging the reader with these short pieces, though, Mr Green really manages to capture something of the essence and feel of his subjects. Private Worlds: A Revised Atlas is a thoughtful, delicious dip into artists and works that have obviously fascinated the author for many years.