Reader Buzz
on SWITCH
‘Wow! Loved it … desperately wanted more after racing through the first 130 pages. Fast, thrilling, gripping, scary…When can I read the rest?
— Gavin Hilzbrich
This book is so cinematic . . . due to the punchy dialogue and the succession of crisp, sharp images which drive the narrative forward. I want to read more!
— Sam Eades
This is absolutely brilliant! A very compelling read but I was upset when I got to the last page because I wanted more!
— Jeanette Slinger
I can't stand crime novels that have a long preamble before getting to the action and this one certainly doesn't disappoint in that way. From page one it's straight in there, bish bash bosh and continues on in that vein, so you are frantically turning the pages to find out what happens next.
— Sandra Hawe
The material I read was mad, frantic, super quick and entertaining.
— Martin Higgins
Gripping… Explosive… Page Turning…
And that’s only 140 pages in!!
— Darren Elliot
This was great - I really wanted to read on. Very much made me think of Simon Kernick and Relentless actually - same kind of ordinary guy suddenly finding his life turned upside down when he just comes home from work... Decidedly scary and asks some very dark questions: just how far would you go to save your family?
— Sue Cook
Video Tombstones can help us get the last word
Story & Illustration
By Grant McKenzie
During my 40-odd years on this planet, I have been too darn nice to too many rotten people. And because it's part of my easy-going (albeit sarcastic) nature, chances are good that I will continue to be too nice until I skip gaily off this mortal coil.
Normally, bullying businesses love to take advantage of we unheralded gentler souls, but a few entrepreneurs are fighting back by giving us a chance to have the final say.
Unfortunately, we need to be dead first.
American inventor Robert Barrow of
The hollow headstone would house a computer with a hard disc or memory chip that allows the deceased to relay a video message via a flat LCD touch screen, according to a report in the British weekly New Scientist.
The tombstone would draw its electrical supply from the cemetery's lighting system, and to avoid disturbing other visitors, people can listen to the message through wireless headphones.
Now this sounds like a great idea to me. Not only could the quiet-spoken go on a verbal rampage about the inequalities and downfall of society (along with a few jabs at rotten relatives and bullying bosses), but think what a tourist attraction this could become with the right deceased clientele.
Who wouldn’t want to wander through a graveyard to see and hear the last words of movie icons like John “It was a great life, pilgrim” Wayne and James “Get off my grave, you dirty rat” Cagney? Or how about past presidents spouting their last confessions such as Richard Nixon explaining that, “Yes, I am a crook, get over it,” or Bill Clinton’s “Of course, I had sexual relations with that woman – and she wasn’t the only one, bub, let me tell you.”
Heck, with this technology, cemeteries will start to turn such a nice profit on gate admissions that Disney will start franchising them. I can see the advertising campaign now: “Find out what Bambi’s mom’s final words to her famous son were. And for spooky fun, be sure to visit our row of executed serial killers.”
And if you happen to become famous or even better, notorious, you can let your loved ones sell your remains and final confession to the highest bidder.
Future historians would also love this feature as ordinary folk could leave behind their impressions of the century – and all of the changes – in which they lived. Think of the history, and learning experience, this accumulated digital data could impart. In the future, students could study the history of their town or country by taking field trips to the graveyard.
Naturally, to make it fun and exciting, a few of us would have to pull some practical jokes, such as programming our image to leap at the screen whenever someone walks by and screaming, “Help, I’ve been buried alive!” Or, if you’re finally able to admit that you’ve been a real jerk all your life, you could show an image of yourself surrounded by flames, and then ask your visitors: “Is it hot down here, or is it just me?”
Now if an interactive tombstone is just too flashy for you, a Spanish company has launched a website that allows you to send a pre-planned e-mail message, which will be delivered after death.
TheLastEmail.com allows you to write individual E-mail messages to friends and family that can be revised or changed so they are always current and up to date. And if you want to get fancy, you can also add images, videos or music. There was no mention of emailing viruses to evil bosses, but, well, money talks.
I asked Alberto Iriarte, director of TheLastEmail, how he knows when to send out the final message since it could be quite a shock if you just happen to be away on vacation rather than dining with Capone.
The short answer is that the company won’t do anything until it hears from your trustee. Once you subscribe to the service (there are varying rates, one of which is free), you print a "personal document" and keep it with your Will, etc. Your trustee can then send confirmation of your death to the website and they’ll ship out final emails.
This could be fun if you happen to be stinkin’ rich and have a bunch of money-grubbing relatives. You could send a short email to everyone that simply says, “I took it with me,” and then send a separate email to your favourite charity with the pass code for your Swiss bank account.
The only downside to this service is if you’re not planning to die in the near future, you don’t have much of a guarantee the company won’t precede you into the great marshmallow-cookout in the sky.
Short Stories
An author Q&A,
plus my short Out of Order
appeared in Spinetingler's Summer 08 issue.
My short White Volcano appeared in
Out Of The Gutter 2
My short Ragamuffin Girl appeared in Spinetingler's Summer 07 issue.
My short She Remembers The Future appeared in The Late Late Show's Summer 03 issue.