by Tom Cotton
First published 2020
Tom Cotton sits at his desk at 86, pen in hand, drawing from ten years of writing that spans invented stories and real memories. The retired industrial chemist has spent two decades in retirement exploring words instead of formulas. His short fiction mingles with personal stories from his own life. He writes factual essays alongside his opinions on subjects that matter to him. Cotton served in the Royal Artillery during National Service and later authored books on Roman history and military memoir. Now he turns his attention to the English villages he has watched change over decades. His poems capture people and places that time has swept away. The collection reveals a man who found his voice late in life, moving between imagination and memory, between the world as it was and the world as he dreams it could be.
Genres: essays, 20th-century, autobiography, poetry, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: England, Royal Artillery
Period: National Service, Retirement
230 pages · Paperback · Lulu.com