Title: John
F. Kennedy Lives in the Future! : Subtitle: & other strange but not
entirely unbelievable short stories of fantasy and the mundane
everyday lives of many of us.
Author: Matthew Glenn Ward
This website last updated on:
3 July, 2010 1:26 PM->
" ICH
BEIN EIN... The FUTURE! "
Book
Trailer for 'John F. Kennedy Lves in the Future!'
ABOUT THE BOOK
What
does a middle-aged Australian man know about John F. Kennedy,
his Camelot years, the Democrats, Republicans, the Addams
Family, and American Gothic the painting? Only what he read about,
or watched on TV – and
that was a lot!
Matthew Glenn Ward always had a fantasy about
saving Jack Kennedy's life and now with this book he has his
chance – and
you the reader can come along for the ride!
'John F. Kennedy Lives in the Future!' is a collection of short,
mostly satirical modern day fables that take real life, and twist it 'til
it leaks 'funny'. We have JFK as time traveler, Elizabethan poet
John Donne as serial killer, a ghoul shotgun wedding, an unemployed cat, rivers
getting married, old men taking revenge on young hoods, cheapskate heart attack
victims, chocolate iPhones, plenty of booze, some drugs, gambling, stories
that just make no sense plotwise, and a bit of love too – nothing
is meanspirited.
Influenced by such great writers as Jack Kerouac, Woody Allen,
Mel Brooks, Monty Python and The Goons, 'John F. Kennedy Lives
in the Future!' is
a book by an Australian that Americans and the rest of the World
will devour.
What does a middle-aged Australian man know about John F. Kennedy, his Camelot
years, the Democrats, Republicans, the Addams Family, and American Gothic the
painting? Only what he read about, or watched on TV – and that was a lot! > MORE...
Dr Hugh Fox ('Opening the Door
to French Film') -
blog
July 02, 2010
The title story here, "John F. Kennedy Lives
in the Future!" is a sci-fi /fantasy tale about time-travelling
back to Kennedy before he is killed in Dallas and bringing way
way into the future, escaping his murder. Fun, and nicely done,
but most of Ward's work isn't sci-fi-ish, but fun trashing,
satirizing, ridiculing the contemporary world.
He's an Australian,
but he sounds like he's an aging Kansas City hippy, a graduate
of Rockhurst University and works for The Kansas City Star :
"The disheveled man approaches you from behind. Your feminine intuition
detects him immediately, and you turn to look at him with a quiet
curiosity, then look away, and continue eating. He presumptuously
runs a grimy, calloused hand along your side while puffing on
a greasy cigarette. "You’re a beautiful girl, you
know that? My name is Carlos, what’s yours?” ("Decide,"
p.79).
It's
refreshing to find someone who sees everything around him satirically,
one big twisted, sour, stinging joke. Like "Death has just
signed up to go on the Internet, and now instead of having to
personally visit thousands of people he just sounds out Letters
of Termination via email ... Death’s figures were so impressive
that The Great Beyond made him Reaper of the Month ... He had
more time to do the gardening, visit the Grand Canyon and he
even finished a long-shelved screenplay on The Civil War." ("Death
Joins the 20th Century," pp.117, 119).
On the back cover there's a photo of Ward and "Influenced
by such great writers as Jack Kerouac, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks,
and The Goons." See
what I mean?
Lor (Goodreads
Review)
Jun 09, 2010
Lor rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I wasn't sure what to expect when I won this as a Goodread
giveaway. The title sounded intriguing and I have come to really
enjoy short story collections recently.
This book just draws you in with the first story, which reminds
me of a Douglas Adams novel, with its uses of wordplay, humor
and sci-fi. Every new page and story is a treat in itself, this
book is endlessly re-readable and I plan to share it with my daughter
who is an inspiring writer. I found this book strangely addicting
and finished it in a day.
This book was a lot of fun and laugh out loud funny. The stories
made use of wit, satire, puns and double entrendre. For me, a mark
of a good writer is one who can convey a big message using few
words. This book was just excellent and I will be looking for more
work by this author.
– Lor (Goodreads
Review)
With satisfying
absurdity, and short
flights into the surreal, the Author's
often poetic and clever
wordplay delighted me
with humor reminiscent of Monty
Python, Groucho Marx
and Woody Allen. I would read
a bit to break up my day, and it made for a well needed escape
from the mundane, workaday world. Fresh, spare and modern in appeal.
(Though modern is such an old-fashioned word, isn’t it?)
– Diane Havens VO, Audiobooks & Narration,
NJ, USA
I have been reading and following the writer Matt Ward
and his work for years. Matt has an eclectic style for sure,
and being from Australia only brings that home to those of
us not from Down Under. But with this collection, Matt’s
stories are in their own, new genre. Because after all science
fiction and fantasy are genres where writers try to imagine
strange worlds. But Matt has already created his own, strange
world. – M. Stefan Strozier World Audience publishers, NYC, USA
Matthew Glenn
Ward has served up a surreal meal; a juicy
absurdist burger with slapstick fries on the side. Clever,
fast-paced and unpredictable. There are laugh-out-loud moments,
and the convoluted wordplay will make you groan cheerily
when you work it out. – Clark Gormley Published Author, Australia
'John F. Kennedy Lives In The Future,' is
a collection of devious and irreverent tales which elicited
more than a few sly smiles. I also thought that your stories
possessed an offbeat, sometimes black sense of humour; with
the collection sometimes feeling like Paul Jennings for adults.
I really enjoyed reading through it. – Michael Kontoudis Published Author, Australia
Matthew Glenn Ward lives & writes
in Newcastle, NSW Australia. In 2004, his novella, 'Jake
With a Snarly Smile On His Chops' was published by Independence
Jones (Australia). In 2006 World Audience (USA) published his
short story anthology, 'Her Mouth Looked Like a Cat's Bum'.
In 2008, his book of poetry, 'Cats Creep the Fire to Art' was
published by World Audience. His short stories have appeared
in several magazines, printed as well as online. 'John
F. Kennedy Lives in the Future!' is Matthew's 4th published book.
