The Sound of Loneliness

Manchester in 1991 is a town suffering under the weight of high unemployment and massive government budgetary deficits that is plunging the UK into a recession. To Daniel Crabtree, a struggling writer, it is the backcloth to his first novel, one that will see him become a famous published author. Living off mostly water and flour, Daniel has embraced penury into his life under the mistaken belief that many young artists have: one needs to suffer for success in art. But Daniel is a terrible writer. In the three years since signing on the dole, of every morning chastising his Irish singing neighbour for waking him from his sleep, and scrounging food from his close friend Henry Soperton, Daniel Crabtree has produced one short story. His heart is bereft of words as much as his pockets are of money. 

The Sound of Loneliness is a story of love, and how a poor starving man chasing a dream came to the understanding that amidst the clamour of life, the sound of loneliness is the most deafening of all.

Paperback US,  $16.95
Paperback UK, £9.99

E-Book US, $16.95
E-Book UK, £9.99

"Craig Wallwork has a strong and steady voice, well deserving your time and attention" 
Dan Fante, author of Chump Change.

"Tune your ear to Craig Wallwork's prose and you'll soon make a fascinating discovery: he's really funny. And he's a damned fine writer."  
 Mark SaFranko, author of Lounge Lizard.

"Craig Wallwork's The Sound of Loneliness has a few things in common with the agonized work of Thomas Bernhard, where the pain of ailment sometimes crosses the threshold of pleasure, and the reader is revolted and riveted at the same time. I enjoyed my time in Wallwork's pages." 
Kyle Minor, author of In the Devil's Territory.

"Craig Wallwork's writing is adventurous and comical, and joyfully anarchic." 3AM Magazine.

"Wallwork is a hugely creative thinker. An emerging talent who won't take long to reach the limelight." 
Nigel Bird, author of Dirty Old Town.

To Die Upon a Kiss

After a foolish act of rebellion uncovers a horrible truth about his father’s death, SADLER TRUMAN is forced to accept the certainty that in less than six months time he will die of a rare heart disease.

Fearing madness will arrive quicker than the last beat of his heart, Sadler immerses himself in the humdrum daily activities of sleep, going to work, and visiting his father’s grave. A regular part of this routine is attending the Accident and Emergency department of his local hospital, a ritual he finds hard to break after reading heart attacks mostly occur during the hours of 6.00am to 9.00am. Here he meets Prudence, an overly sexual Dispenser who works at the hospital’s pharmacy. To Sadler, Prudence is the perfect distraction, a welcomed interruption in his new routine. But Prudence’s persuasive charm and reasoning draws Sadler into the seedy underbelly of mortality. Believing to witness death firsthand will help assist his fears about his own, Prudence involves him in an experiment that may cost him his sanity and the lives of innocent people.

As each month passes, Sadler begins to question Prudence’s motives, and how their lives have become so fortuitously interlinked. But has the weight of all his victims become too much? Is the line between life and death interchangeable? Can one suffer a life worst than death? Seeking these answers, Sadler sets upon a voyage of self-discovery, one that will involve unearthing secrets to his past and revisiting memories he fears may reveal a sickening truth about his mother.

Spanning just six months, the story raises questions about humanity, and the need for acceptance. And like Sadler, the reader is forced to accept that some truths are much darker than lies.

E-Book US, $3.07
E-Book UK, £2.02

Quintessence of Dust

Quintessence of Dust delivers a world where the Minotaur exists in modern society, drinks in bars and is scared of the dark. Where to lose memories and extract all the pain you’ve brought on others is easily achieved by pulling twine from your rectum. It is a world where the Devil is an old man digging a hole to Hell in his garden, and romance is nurtured by spearing an umbrella through the chest of a winged demon. Here, there are talking camels, and should you ever want to crawl back into the womb and begin a fresh, birth can be reversed. Wishes can be granted, ugly can be erased, and those without ardor or enthusiasm can be nymphomaniacs by pinning a photograph upon a wall. In this world the girth of a neck can bring on suicide, sleep can summon death and people can live within the inner ear canal of others. The streets are always crimson. People are broken. Lust is a commodity measured out in chocolate, and love is lost more than it is conquered.

In this world, the dust bites and never settles.

Paperback, $2.95
E-Book, FREE