Let Them Float by Katie Wimhurst

December 08, 2023

Let Them Float

by Katie Wimhurst

Let Them Float by Katy Wimhurst

was published in December by Alien Buddha Press.

My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to

Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.

Synopsis

In these short stories, Katy Wimhurst creates off-kilter worlds that illuminate our own. Apocalyptic rabbits invade a town. People overwhelmed by their lives float above an urban park. A woman turns transparent after a virus. The Messiah helps a grieving widow to garden. A retired man is desperate to see mermaids.

The playful lens of magical realism and surrealism is used to explore physical and mental illness and our fragile environment. Most stories are set at a tipping point, just as change happens to a character or events escalate. Thought-provoking fiction with a good dose of wry humour and whimsy.

My Review

This is an intriguing collection of short stories that, in some cases, has you looking at aspects of life in a different way. The Main story, Let Them Float , is a moving story about suddenly finding the ability to escape the reality that the characters find themselves in, by floating in another existence.

I found this a very powerful and thought provoking read. How many of us have found ourselves, at times, wishing we could just escape from it all into our own private world.

Let Them Float is the longest story in the collection and the rest of the book is made up of very short stories and I particularly liked Gardening with the Messiah , a story that has you reflecting on life after you have lost someone and how it is sometimes the small and seemingly insignificant aspects that you miss, such as just sitting in companionable silence with someone rather than just being on your own.

For me though, I found the last story Gone with the Gypsies the most poignant and moving short read. Those six pages, part told by Alan and part told by his mum, who is suffering from Alzheimer's , are some of the most powerful six pages I have ever read. It is so cleverly written and your thoughts will continue long after you read the last sentence4.

"Yes , I forget so very much these days...even the lines....that take you there....that go.......elsewhere......."

About the Author

Katy Wimhurst’s first collection of short stories was Snapshots of the Apocalypse (Fly on the Wall Press, 2022) and her second collection Let Them Float will be published in December 2023 (Alien Buddha Press). Her fiction has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The Guardian, Writers’ Forum, Cafe Irreal, Kaleidotrope, and ShooterLit. Her first book of visual poems, Fifty-One Trillion Bits, was published by Trickhouse Press (2023). She sometimes writes literary essays on speculative fiction and interviews writers for 3AM Magazine. She blogs at https://whimsylph.wordpress.com. She is housebound with the illness M.E.