Martin Knox releases Love Straddle a novel

Aug. 11, 2014 - PRLog -- Prolific writer M.P. Knox has released his second novel Love Straddle – a fiction story thatcaptures the mood of the 1960s, the era of the Cold War, the youth revolution, hippies and women’s liberation. The author has created a unique, unusual hero with flaws, quirkiness and emotions he struggles to express. Selwyn is a sexual version of the asexual Sheldon character in the sitcom, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, not unlike Don Tillman in ‘The Rosie Project’ and Doc Martin in the BBC TV series. Selwyn lives by theories and over-thinking when others expect understanding, this sometimes make him appears emotionally cold; at other times charming. Readers can diagnose Selwyn’s behaviour, decades before his unusual behaviour is labelled.

"…vast in scope, scintillating in the brilliance of its conception and staggering in the creation of its hero." - Ian Lipke, Media Culture Reviews.

"Readers interested in a more calculated approach to a love story may enjoy Love Straddle, as may those who enjoy an antihero who doesn’t always win." - Vera A. Pereskokova, Luxury Reading.

Selwyn is attending Liverpool University of Technology in the UK, with all the excitement of the sound of The Beatles. His plans do not include falling in love with alluring and smart biology student Vicki.

He may be an ambitious and successful engineering student, but he has much to learn about relationships. Each of the 105 chapters concludes with humour and insight in a rule he has learned.

Vicki is his obsession but she won’t pass on ‘free love’ the way town girl Barbara will. To be invulnerable to relationship uncertainties, Selwyn invests in non-sexist love with the two girls as a straddle in the commodity: love. Will Vicki ever forgive him for ‘selling her short’? But with each girl behaving nothing like he predicts, how can it result in anything but tragic consequences? Selwyn is literally on a cliff’s edge.

He climbs the corporate ladder and becomes the CEO of a major oil company in Canada. His compulsive love spirals down into sex addiction, then alcoholism, becoming a workaholic and a foodaholic and his relationships crumble. When a disgruntled employee exposes scandalous waste of the World’s oil, an African government makes demands that lead to disaster. Vicki goes to help him. Will he be blamed for the catastrophe? Ultimately, when he is finally free from his work and family loyalties, will he ‘close’ his trade of Vicki’s love? He seems unemotional, lacks empathy and avoids social contact. His behaviour leads to the question: will he ever accept the terms of love with one woman? The ending is a surprise with a twist.

This novel is an insight into how career and partner choices can affect personal well-being. It takes the reader on an epic journey of thought and discovery. It is a story that will have you pondering long after you put the book down.

See more about the book at: http://www.lovestraddleanovel.wordpress.com/

By the same author, a speculative fiction novel

The Grass is Always Browner (Zeus Publications 2011).

LOVE STRADDLE is available from Amazon both as a paperback and as an e-copy for Kindle or from bookshops. Review copies available from author mpknox46@aapt.net.au

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Straddle-Mr-M-P-Knox/dp/099246...

LOVE STRADDLE

by M.P. Knox

ISBN: 978-0-9924623-0-7

R.R.P.: AUD & CDN 29.80; USD 26.70; GBP 15.95

Ebook: AUD & CDN: 9.99 USD 8.99; GBP 5.40

from Amazon Fiction.

A (in part) review by Ian Lipke:
This novel by Martin P. Knox is vast in scope, scintillating in the brilliance of its conception and staggering in the creation of its hero. This is the work of a major talent, and I am very, very surprised that no traditional publishing house has published his work before now. That Martin Knox has decided to put his faith in the quality of his work and step out alone into the world of self-publishing says a lot about the character and courage of the man. His writing is tough and unrelenting and a real pleasure to read.

Love Straddle (http://lovestraddleanovel.wordpress.com/) has a structure that is ‘in your face’ at one level while bubbling away underneath where it is almost unnoticed. Every reader very quickly notices that there is a prologue followed by fourteen parts containing 105 chapters, and that the naming of each part is accompanied by a pithy saying. There’s nothing particularly original about that, but what is striking is that each chapter is completed with what the writer calls a rule. We are told in the prologue that the main character is an engineer who has recently discovered “the natural laws of behaviour”, and that if he had known about these laws he could have avoided the unsettling events he has had to experience. The prologue ends with this little gem, surely the most telling observation that an engineer might not want to hear:
What a hoot! This book is recommended very highly. Get hold of a copy from Amazon. You’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Ian Lipke is the Editor of Media-Culture Reviews at Queensland University of Technology