Description
In these glimpses of suburban life, Pete Court’s gentle yet sharp observations of the human condition manage to be both sardonic and compassionate. In language that sings with inventiveness and a joyfully grim humour, each tale is woven through with touches of the magical, little sparkling surprises that add a thread of mystic wonder throughout the whole. At the end of it all I was left contemplating just how well I was living, loving and being a Light in the Darkness.
– D.M.Cornish, author, Monster Blood Tattoo series
The Ballad of Charlie Hopes by Mabel’s House – Download MP3
Phillip Edmonds – author of “Tilting at Windmills” and “Leaving Home with Henry” –
Court’s prose is a world of its own. In these stories he gets into the minds of some desperate and ‘unbelievable’ characters. While the stories are gruesome, they make a case for our common humanity. Above all, they have verve and incredible energy.
Valerie Volk – author of “Even Grimmer Tales” and “Bystanders” –
Court’s precise evocative writing gives us troubling stories, inviting the reader into challenging worlds of grotesquerie and distortion. In scenes reminiscent of Kafka, all three novellas are a search for elusive threads of meaning, with the Dark as a linking motif. . . . Intriguing and compelling reading.
David Osborne –
Talented Wordsmith.
In Sub Urban Tales, the multi-talented P.H. Court once again has managed to pull a hat out of a rabbit.
Shining a quirky light upon unusual characters set in otherwise normal suburban settings, the author illuminates a mystical, questioning world that exists in the confusion between night and day, dark and light.
Three stories containing a distinctive voice. 4 and a half stars.
Lynton Grace, Adelaide Adverstiser, SA Weekend –
Here the veiled darkness under modern life emerges, silent hand outstretched, misunderstood but present under the suburban mundane.
An eccentric detective teams up with a whale priest (not a typo) to solve an unsolvable murder; a famous female popstar’s lyrics begin to vanish; and a man idly watches the turmoil of his domestic life.
Funny, deftly strange, Adelaide author P.H. Court’s stories slide from chaotic and overwhelming to satirical. When he nails it, it’s hard to stop reading, such as the final story: on occasion, the stories need more depth.
Bonkers but beautiful, Court tears apart marriage and fatherhood, media and inspiration, and skewers the commercialisation of modern life. Hunting for light he find the humanity of people – or, in some cases, a whale.