| Author: | Walter Otton | ISBN: | 9781310811432 |
| Publisher: | Gate 17 | Publication: | December 7, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | Walter Otton |
| ISBN: | 9781310811432 |
| Publisher: | Gate 17 |
| Publication: | December 7, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
Walter has accumulated twelve of his short stories and, as a result, called the book Shorts! The stories run in chronological order from the year 2000 through to 2012, concluding with an authors note in 2013 to round up proceedings.
As with his debut novel The Red Hand Gang, the material is a blend of fact and fiction. Four true stories specifically track the development of the orphanage Sure24 based in Nakuru, Kenya. It charts how it has exploded from an idea in a front room in 2000 to progress in caring, feeding, sheltering and educating 12 boys (off the streets) in 2008 to currently growing to house 198 boys and girls off the streets in the present day.
We are invited to stand in the packed pre match boozers sinking drinks before the football to hear Otton unleash raw, emotional rhetoric that has tormented him over these years as he struggles digesting the purpose of life and the existence of a loving Creator, especially after sitting in the filthy gutters with orphaned HIV infected street children who are hungry and dying, yet clutching precious glue in their trouser pockets to get high on in due course.
Themes of new life are explored intermittently throughout, the intricate beauty of a child developing in a womb and then born as Doug becomes a Grandfather and, in turn, a holiday rep in France becomes an Uncle.
Funny, moving, beautiful and at times harsh, Shorts! concludes with the tale of Aunty Meg, a trip to Monaco, a dip in the Mediterranean, a joke about a rabbit and a pair of bright orange luminous goal keeping shorts.
Walter has accumulated twelve of his short stories and, as a result, called the book Shorts! The stories run in chronological order from the year 2000 through to 2012, concluding with an authors note in 2013 to round up proceedings.
As with his debut novel The Red Hand Gang, the material is a blend of fact and fiction. Four true stories specifically track the development of the orphanage Sure24 based in Nakuru, Kenya. It charts how it has exploded from an idea in a front room in 2000 to progress in caring, feeding, sheltering and educating 12 boys (off the streets) in 2008 to currently growing to house 198 boys and girls off the streets in the present day.
We are invited to stand in the packed pre match boozers sinking drinks before the football to hear Otton unleash raw, emotional rhetoric that has tormented him over these years as he struggles digesting the purpose of life and the existence of a loving Creator, especially after sitting in the filthy gutters with orphaned HIV infected street children who are hungry and dying, yet clutching precious glue in their trouser pockets to get high on in due course.
Themes of new life are explored intermittently throughout, the intricate beauty of a child developing in a womb and then born as Doug becomes a Grandfather and, in turn, a holiday rep in France becomes an Uncle.
Funny, moving, beautiful and at times harsh, Shorts! concludes with the tale of Aunty Meg, a trip to Monaco, a dip in the Mediterranean, a joke about a rabbit and a pair of bright orange luminous goal keeping shorts.
