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David Francis

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first registered 13.07.09

last online 477 days ago

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The re-calibration of the authonomy rankings has done me no favours at all: my book dropped two thousand places overnight! No sour grapes, but it took me a year to get that far, and so this seems the moment to channel my energies elsewhere.

I don't consider my time on the site to have been a complete waste. I got some very positive comments, and there have been useful, intelligent criticisms that prompted me to revise the book for the better.

"What a wonderfully irreverent re-imagining of Greek mythology!"

"Beyond the Gaze is the cleverest spoof I've seen on or off Authonomy."

"You write beautifully... I really enjoyed it and the storm chapter is particularly well written. I could feel the boat's rise and fall and almost taste the salt."

"This is delicious literary fiction. Colourful, clever, entertaining... "

"Hilarious. A quirky romp filled with surprises. Fascinating, other worldly characters with real emotions. Excellent dialogue and narrative. Intriguing storyline. Laugh out loud wit."

"What a treat to find something so different, and so well written."

"Beyond the Gaze is too clever and inventive for the masses; in other words, it's a great book. Anybody who knows how to read and who loves literary humour will love Noughtaless (nice) and follow him on his adventures, rooting for him all the way."

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Beyond The Gaze

David Francis

An irreverent small cyclops falls in love, stumbles on a postmodern argonautica and discovers his true identity, before making a dramatic homecoming.


A small cyclops called Noughtaless lives on Sicily, an outcast without family, friends or memory of who he is. He falls in love with Galatea, a sea nymph. She finds his irreverent humour irresistibly entertaining, though he infuriates as much as he intrigues, and she mocks his aspirations by joking she'll be his - if he brings her the underpants of Eurydice.
The cyclops Polifemeo asks him for his help in an affair of the heart. When the ogre reveals the identity of the girl in question, things get out of hand and Noughtaless decides the time has come for a change of location. Soon hopelessly lost, he only just survives a series of encounters with legendary characters and hazards, ineptly sending up the exploits of Hercules and Jason and the Argonauts in the process. Eventually he descends into the Underworld, where he discovers his real identity... and rescues Eurydice. He goes astray again, but help is finally at hand.
The scene is set for a dramatic homecoming, in which he must find the courage to confront Polifemeo and take responsibility for his own destiny... and the lives of others.

 

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JohnDoe wrote 445 days ago

Hi David, Just asking as you have some room on your shelf if you'....

Elizabeth Wolfe wrote 494 days ago

Dear David, You and I had the pleasure of backing each other’s books....

Jim Darcy wrote 520 days ago

Dear David, I am writing to you as someone who has been kind enough t....

hikey wrote 532 days ago

Hello David Could I ask for your support for ' Breath in the Dark ' ....

gillyflower wrote 533 days ago

You kindly backed Belfast Girls a while ago. You might like to know t....

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I wrote 971 days ago

I would agree with another reader that there is too much documentary exposition here, and that not enough is made of the inherent tension. If you say that the music case contains barely-recognisable rifle parts, you give away all the sense of mystery. The assassination attempt in chapter 1 is only... view book

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