Guest Book: A Hole in the Pavement by Tahlia Newland

Genre: Short Story, Fantasy

See my review of A Hole in the Pavement and the other short stories in the collection, A Matter of Perception here: http://katepolicanisreviews.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/a-matter-of-perception-by-tahlia-newland/

Synopsis

Every morning, Norris watches his goddess walk to the bus stop in front of him, the gap between them far wider than the physical distance. This morning, she stumbles. He wants to run and help her, but finds himself stuck in a hole that appeared along with his self doubt. By the time he gets out, she’s long gone. He vows that if it happens again, he won’t hesitate, but when she falls the next day, he has more than just his own hole to deal with. Can he find his heroic self before she walks away?

 This heart warming, humorous and profound magical realism short story (5000 words) is a readers’ favourite from ‘A Matter of Perception,’ a collection of short stories by Tahlia Newland.

Author Bio

Tahlia writes fantasy and magical realism for adults & young adults that challenges readers to contemplate the nature of reality, mind and perception. She has studied philosophy & meditation for many years and is an avid reader, an extremely casual high school teacher, and an occasional mask-maker. After creating and performing in Visual Theatre shows for 20 years, she is now a bone-fide expatriate of the performing arts. She lives in an Australian rainforest, is married with a teenage daughter and love cats, but she doesn’t have one because they eat native birds.

 Links

A Hole in the Pavement is an ebook available on Amazon and Smashwords. It’s also one of the stories in ‘A Matter of Perception’ and it’s free if you sign up for Tahlia’s newsletter on her website.

Tahlia’s website http://tahlianewland.com

Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tahlia-Newland-author/188047104605893 

Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/TahliaNewland

Goodreads page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5283573.Tahlia_Newland

An interview about A Hole in the Pavement

Where did you get the inspiration for your characters?

Norris is based on a really lovely student that I taught once. He was extremely bright, well organised, always neat and well presented, very shy and the sweetest person you could imagine. Everyone loved him, but his shyness was a handicap when it came to relationships. When I wrote Norris, I had the warmth in my heart that I always got when I thought of this person. His smile was a blessing to all who saw it.

What does the symbolism of the deep holes mean in your life?

The holes Norris and Georgia fall into represent their emotional holes, the ones we habitually fall into.  It’s dark and muddy in those holes and falling into them make us miserable and holds us back from doing what we want to do. We often don’t realise that we make them ourselves and that we can get ourselves out, and better still, that once we are aware of them, we can avoid falling in at all.

I really liked the chemistry between Georgia and Norris! Do you have any plans to give them their own story?

I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll let the idea percolate and if an idea for where the story could go pops up, I’ll definitely consider it. I really enjoyed writing this and the other magical realism story in ‘A Matter of Perception’ – my collection of short stories – so I’m writing more in that style, presently a YA novella with a bullying theme.

Why did you publish a single short story?

Single shorts, as I call them, are tailor made for busy people, perfect for reading in those in between times, like when you’re waiting for the rest of the family to sit down and watch a movie with you, or you’re waiting for an appointment, or you’ve just finished a novel and aren’t quite ready to dive into another one. They’re also a really good way to taste an author’s style because they’re cheap and don’t require a big time commitment.