Backstories, by Simon Van der Velde

 

Backstories, by Simon Van der Velde

Smoke and Mirrors Press - 2021
General Fiction (for lack of a better category)
E-book
90 Pages

* I received this digital ARC courtesy of the author in exchange of an honest review. This does not influence the following opinions which are my own.

When I was approached by this author, and he was telling me a little about his book, he said "There’s a little bit of music, a touch of crime, plenty of mystery and bucket-loads of nostalgia…".

When an author or their rep tell me about their book, I know that they are trying to "sell" it - that is part of their job.  But when I can tell you that this is exactly what this book is like. 

Backstories is a collection of short stories. What makes this book so unique, is that the stories are the partially imagined past or "Backstories" of real world people who are either famous or infamous. Think history with a good dose of artistic license. Van der Velde has imagined the characters at a pivotal point in their lives or careers, and told that part of their stories - BUT, he never tells you outright who it is you are reading about. You take the clues, fill in the blanks and come up with the answer! This little book was so much fun to read. 

For most of these stories, I felt confident by their end, that I knew exactly who the story was about. (Don't worry, if you are unable to sleep at night wondering, the answers are available on his website, carefully tucked away and marked "spoilers"), The collection of characters is fairly eclectic, so there was one or two that I felt slightly less confident about, but there is pretty much something for everyone here. Some of the stories featured contemporary figures, while some were more historic. I could honestly see reading this book out loud with another person and making a game of each story to see who comes up with the right answer first! It would be a fun diversion on a road trip too. 

This little book was so fun to read, I hope to read other Backstories in the future!

Happy Reading,

Christine