Topaz Talks: A Gentle Nudge by Mason Bushell
The Blurb:
Stories to soothe your soul.
In a world drowning in negativity and dark events, we all need a little light and hope. With a little adventure, romance and even music, these short stories will give your hopes and dreams a nudge as they draw a smile.
A Gentle Nudge by Mason Bushell wraps you in calm.
The Review:
Topaz Talks: Review of A Gentle Nudge by Mason Bushell
With the world still recovering from lockdowns and the onslaught of never-ending bad news and trauma, do we need a book of short stories crammed full of unceasing positivity and happy endings? Well, A Gentle Nudge by Mason Bushell suggests we really do.
Mason has written a book with wall-to-wall life-affirming short stories that end in a manner that literally drips with warmth, calmness and smiles. And, to be honest, for someone who writes spy fiction, this really isn't my thing. But I found myself turning the pages with glee and wondering what the next subject matter would be.
Interestingly, with all this in mind, Mason has managed to do the impossible. He's managed to paint landscapes, feelings and emotions in a series of stories that can only be three or four pages of A4 in length. You quickly understand the character and their decision-making process and have a sense of their mood and vibe, and that's pretty miraculous in such a short word count. So, hats off there.
A Gentle Nudge is a bit like a manifesto for positive narrative, for adult bedtime reading that won't leave you sweating or anxious about your favourite character and for a universe created and dismantled in less than a thousand words.
Are there negatives? A few, but they are few and far between. The domestic abuse story is a little naive and there are a few Americanisms which sit awkwardly in the text. But even then, Callie (the daughter of an abuse victim) does all the right things and we can forgive the author for speeding it up to get to the right conclusion, And what's a few gottens between friends?
The author's love for his dog(s) is writ large in the text, especially in the dog rescue story and Mason is undoubtedly a romantic - and that's a rarity in the cynical and unhappy 2020s. The fact that the protagonists get what they want, and what you want them to feel/see is also a joyful conclusion. There aren't twists or nasty blow-backs, it just happens as you want it to. The boy/girl finds/gets/saves the girl/boy, the dog saves everyone and people fall in love, find love or find that perfect someone. It will make your heart melt but it's not saccharine, and that's important. It's life - but it's charming.
I recently finished writing a book, my fourth, where my editor suggested it would be a good moment to kill off a key character to keep the reader guessing. And I did just that. But we all know, in real life, that simply doesn't happen. Nobody dies for our entertainment or makes a terrible decision that changes the course of their lives for our pleasure. Mason Bushell proves you don't need any of that. What you need, it seems, is a story that is as comforting as your evening cocoa and sprinkled with a real chipperness that, let's hope, stays with you for the rest of the day - or night.
Reading A Gentle Nudge has been an unexpected joy and I can heartily recommend it.