Hi everyone, it’s Robbie Cheadle with you today and I’m sharing my reviews of The Gowing Pigs: Snort Stories of Atonement, Tennessee by Teagan Riordain Geneviene and On The Verge of Extinction by Doug Jacquier. These collections are totally different but equally engaging and wonderful in their different ways.
I’m also sharing an experimental strawberry cake recipe I developed. More about this later in the post.
Click on the heading for the Amazon US link.
The Gowing Pigs: Snort Stories of Atonement, Tennessee by Teagan Riordain Geneviene
What Amazon says
Wild Whimsy for All Ages: These «snort stories» are part of the “universe” of the urban fantasy town created by author Teagan R. Geneviene ― Atonement, Tennessee. They continue the adventures of the otherworldly pigs and the residents of the quirky town.
My review
Teagan Geneviene is one of the most imaginative writers I’ve come across as an adult. Her whimsical stories filled with magic and mystery remind me of Enid Blyton and Eva Ibbotson, two of my all time favourite authors.
This short collection of a handful of short stories set in the author’s imaginary town of Atonement, Tennessee is no exception and I thoroughly enjoyed the tales, each of which included the perspectives and point of views of Deme and Honeybell, magical pigs with extraordinary powers. I knew all the main characters in the stories having met them previously when I read this author’s full length novels, Atonement Tennessee and Atonement in Bloom, set in this same mysterious and mystical town. It was most enjoyable to learn more about them through this engaging short stories collection.
Deme and Honeybell are an entertaining, and slightly troublesome, or should I say trouble seeking, pair, who manage to wreak havoc but also save the day. For me, it was intriguing to engage with magical pigs as I’ve never thought of pigs as being glamorous or magical in any way. It was really lovely to see such an ordinary creatures being given a upliftment with a clever pen.
If you enjoy a bit of escapism and well written stories set in a delightfully whimsical world, you will love this collection.
Purchase any of Teagan Riordain Geneviene’s many wonderful books from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Teagan-Riordain-Geneviene/author/B00HHDXHVM
On The Verge of Extinction by Doug Jacquier
What Amazon says
The genres in this collection are an omnibus of literary, science fiction, speculative, humour and memoir. The subject matter ranges through billionaires creating artificial planets, revengeful murders, farming life in the Australian landscape, modern relationships, and coming to grips with foreign cultures. These stories veer without warning from the lunatic to the lucid but for readers prepared to come along for the ride, I’m confident you will laugh or cry or groan and that, occasionally, you will shake your electronic fist at me. Some are based on my experiences during my life in Australia and on the road overseas but most are pure fiction.
I am 71 at the time of publication and the title ‘On the verge of extinction’ is both an ironic reference to having lived longer than my Biblically allotted three-score-and-ten years and the fact that many of the situations I describe are from a different time, both historically and electronically.
My review
I am so glad I picked up this collection of short stories by Doug Jacquier. It is a most extraordinary collection with each story being completely distinctive with regards to storyline and setting. This author has clever ideas and the twists in each story are unexpected and entertaining. The settings are widely varied and delve deeply into highly topical issues in modern life including crowd funding, attention seeking, teenage hormones, and social media. I found many of the stories to be eye opening and thought provoking when torn open by this writer’s sharp pen.
The Extraordinary Thing is an intriguing look at government ineptitude in the face of an undefined threat and the added effects of social media speculation.
Stuffing Mushrooms will have you looking at your offspring in a different way and, perhaps, rethinking the entire idea of procreation.
The History of the Cook was a story I particularly enjoyed. I am interested in stories of any sort involving war situations and this was a most unique take on the traditional war theme.
G.O.D.’s Miniature Planet intrigued me and I ended up thinking that I wouldn’t mind living in the neighbourhood created by Geoffrey Owen Davies.
Boys Driving Around In Cars was funny but also a little sad as the boys in question were so easily taken in by the older more experienced people they came across during their ‘joy ride’.
Scenes Involving a Fat Old Man in Asia is an assortment of flash fiction and paragraphs centering around the challenges of travelling to foreign countries. As someone who often travels to non-English speaking countries, I found this section highly amusing.
I could go on as there are a good number of stories of various lengths in this book, but I’ve said enough and hopefully the insights I’ve shared are enough to pique interest in this fascinating collection.
Find Doug Jacquier on his blog here: https://sixcrookedhighways.com/
Experimental strawberry cake recipe
I’ve been thinking about my parent’s wedding anniversary in September. Every year I make a special cake for them in honour of the day which is also in the first acknowledged month of spring so something to look forward too.
This year, I thought I might make a pairing that included coffee cake. I searched around trying to find a good pairing for coffee cake and I came up with berries. When I spoke to Mom about it, she immediately wanted strawberries. I looked at several cake recipes that included strawberries but none were what I wanted. So, I decided to develop my own recipe. This is the recipe I developed. It was very successful.
Golden Strawberry Cake
This cake has a denser texture due to the strawberry reduction. It has a strong strawberry flavour and is what I call a sophisticated cake. In other words, I would not serve this cake to young children.
Ingredients
Note: if you live in a humid climate, you need to reduce the sugar by 30 ml, reduce the strawberry reduction by a rounded tablespoon (+- 18 ml) and add 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
125 grams butter (I used salted)
300 ml white sugar
4 large eggs (separated)
125 ml strawberry reduction (300 grams frozen strawberries + 2 teaspoons white sugar + 15 ml cold water)
375 ml cake flour
125 ml corn flour
10 ml baking powder
250 grams whole strawberries, hulled and halved
Method
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a small pot on the stove top, bring the frozen strawberries, sugar and water to the boil. Reduce temperature and simmer until a thick puree results (about 45 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Soften the butter in the microwave and beat in the sugar. Separate the eggs and set aside the whites. Beat in the egg yolks. Beat in half the flour, corn flour and the baking powder, followed by half the strawberry reduction and repeat until all the dry ingredients and strawberry reduction are incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until frothy and firm. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
Pour half the cake batter into a prepared cake tin (I used a deep 15 cm diametre tin) and cover with half the strawberries. Pour in the other half of the cake batter and cover the top with the remaining strawberries.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Click on the slides below to see the progression of the cake creation.
The first photograph shows the cake batter with half the dry ingredients and strawberry reduction added. The second shows half the batter in the cake tin and the fresh strawberry layer added.
About Robbie Cheadle
South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
Social Media Links
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robbiecheadle.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
TSL Publications: https://tslbooks.uk/product-tag/robbie-cheadle/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robbie-Cheadle/author/B01N9J62GQ
Unsplash profile: https://unsplash.com/@r_cheadle
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