I received a comment on here last month from Scott Bradfield, telling me that his first novel is now available as a Kindle download, with a cover designed by his son and a new afterward. I’m a huge Bradfield fan (see my review of another of his books), and this is great news. His writing style and themes just click with me, and I’m happy that more people will now be able to read him via tablets and smartphones.
The History of Luminous Motion is the story of an 8-year-old boy…wait, let me just tell you what it says on the back of the book, because that’s perfect: “An astonishing first novel–Blue Velvet meets Oedipus Rex–about an eight-year-old whose needs and intelligence are light-years beyond–and outside–the norm: a boy obsessively, inexorably, fatally attached to his mother.”
I remember thinking when I first read the book, “This narrator is eight years old?!” And then, “Damn, this book is phenomenal.”
Because of Bradfield’s comment, it’s made me want to read it again. I admit I won’t read it on a Kindle, since I have a couple of printed editions (why, yes, I do have the advanced reader’s edition, thank you for asking). However, if you don’t have it, download it, and fall in love with one of America’s greatest underrated writers. It’ll be the best $5 you spent this week. And while you’re at it, download his e-book, Confessions of an Unrepentant Short Story Writer, for 99 cents.
Scott Bradfield may not be on everyone’s lips at the moment, but once you read something by him, you’ll never forget it.
— By Jason Hensel
Send to Kindle
Hey Jason, thanks so much!
In just the last few weeks, I was contacted by a brilliant small publisher, Calamari Press, who are doing a paperback reissue of this new edition of History, with this new afterword, in August! The small presses are so much swifter of foot than the big ones…
I’ve also done a Kindle-only reissue, with a new afterword, of my last short story collection, Hot Animal Love.
Thanks for remembering these old books.
Scott