SEVEN CRIES OF DELIGHT
Tom Newton
SEVEN CRIES OF DELIGHT
Tom Newton
SEVEN CRIES OF DELIGHT
Short stories
This collection of twenty-four short stories explores unknown but vaguely familiar worlds. Charting the frontier between the real and the illusory, Seven Cries of Delight celebrates offbeat independent human curiosity, the unorthodox spirit of Renaissance enquiry into the nature of things, and its exposition in fiction unfettered by either convention or doctrine.
This collection of short stories explores unknown but vaguely familiar worlds. Charting the frontier between the real and the illusory, Seven Cries of Delight celebrates offbeat independent human curiosity, the unorthodox spirit of Renaissance enquiry into the nature of things, and its exposition in fictions unfettered by either convention or doctrine.
A man spends years planning to eat his shoes, another defines his relationships with people as musical intervals. Effect precedes cause. There is a conscious and malevolent reflection in a mirror, and a writer who is forced to use italics in exchange for help in overcoming writer’s block. King Arthur and his companions are sleeping in a cave below a septic tank. Someone possibly confesses to murder, or maybe not.The subject matter varies widely but what the stories have in common is their perception from unexpected angles—their serious absurdism.
Seven Cries of Delight by Tom Newton wins 2019 Dactyl Foundation Literary Award
"Newton appeals to a special literary taste, to those whose minds tend to wander, who question the act of thinking itself and who often catch themselves in the act, examining the form and structure of the process of meaning-making. In short, Newton writes about thought-art."
—VN Alexander, Dactyl Review
"Newton appeals to a special literary taste, to those whose minds tend to wander, who question the act of thinking itself and who often catch themselves in the act, examining the form and structure of the process of meaning-making. In short, Newton writes about thought-art."
—VN Alexander, Dactyl Review
Reviews
"Radically disorientating, witty and discerning, Tom Newton's new collection of stories plays with space, time and the interstices of consciousness, and in turn provokes, disconcerts and always entertains."
—Salley Vickers, author of The Other Side of You and Miss Garnet's Angel
"Tom Newton’s pen probes the nature of consciousness... Is it a dream or palpable reality? ... Totally engrossing! "
—John Ashton The Psychedelic Furs, Satellite Paradiso, musician and producer
Borges comes to the Hudson Valley. By turns haunting, harrowing, and hysterically funny, Tom Newton's stories force us to challenge reality as we prefer to think we know it. An artist whose chef d'oeuvre is devouring his own shoes. A steward on a cruise ship initiated into the mysteries of Neptune. An AI programmer who questions the anthropocentrism of consciousness. Read these stories and be prepared to question your own version of reality.
—Erica Obey, author of the award-winning The Curse of the Braddock Brides
"Radically disorientating, witty and discerning, Tom Newton's new collection of stories plays with space, time and the interstices of consciousness, and in turn provokes, disconcerts and always entertains."
—Salley Vickers, author of The Other Side of You and Miss Garnet's Angel
"Tom Newton’s pen probes the nature of consciousness... Is it a dream or palpable reality? ... Totally engrossing! "
—John Ashton The Psychedelic Furs, Satellite Paradiso, musician and producer
Borges comes to the Hudson Valley. By turns haunting, harrowing, and hysterically funny, Tom Newton's stories force us to challenge reality as we prefer to think we know it. An artist whose chef d'oeuvre is devouring his own shoes. A steward on a cruise ship initiated into the mysteries of Neptune. An AI programmer who questions the anthropocentrism of consciousness. Read these stories and be prepared to question your own version of reality.
—Erica Obey, author of the award-winning The Curse of the Braddock Brides
Pseudepigrapha
"In this slim volume, on which he spent years of meticulous labor, Tom Newton has created not a mere imitation nor illusory replica but an actual verbatim original work of the 2019 classic Seven Cries of Delight."
—Jorge Luis Borges
"Ironing board, plucked chicken, seven cries, a peach. Eat this book."
—Salvador Dali
"In this slim volume, on which he spent years of meticulous labor, Tom Newton has created not a mere imitation nor illusory replica but an actual verbatim original work of the 2019 classic Seven Cries of Delight."
—Jorge Luis Borges
"Ironing board, plucked chicken, seven cries, a peach. Eat this book."
—Salvador Dali
Available as an audio book
Listen to a sample
Hear excerpts and discussions on The Strange Recital podcast
Stories from Seven Cries of Delight
World Leader Retired
Italics
Effects and Causes
About the author
Tom Newton lives in Woodstock, New York with his wife and daughter. His novella Warfilm was published by Bloomsbury in 2015.
His interests lie in psychology, art, music, science, mythology, and history.
He spent many years working in the film industry as a prop man, while pursuing a parallel career as a musician and sound engineer. He was a participant in London's punk music scene in the late seventies.
Author website: tomnewtonwriter.com
Tom Newton lives in Woodstock, New York with his wife and daughter. His novella Warfilm was published by Bloomsbury in 2015.
His interests lie in psychology, art, music, science, mythology, history and meaninglessness.
After a spell as a seafarer he spent many years working in the film industry as a prop man, while pursuing a parallel career as a musician and sound engineer. He was a participant in London's punk music scene in the late seventies.
He has always wanted to be a painter.
Author website: tomnewtonwriter.com
The Author's Choice
We ask authors to recommend a book.
The Rest is Noise
by Alex Ross
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Picador, 4th Estate 2007
"This is a non-fiction book about 20th Century classical music. Mr. Ross combines his technical knowledge with a great generosity of spirit. It is a very inspiring book."