Simon Smith who regularly writes for Welsh Country has a new book published Hunters Moon which is an angler’s journey through the seasons of the year.
From the privations of deepest midwinter, through the new life of spring and on to the rounded fullness of summer, the passage of the seasons has ever played an intrinsic part in our lives. Even in a modern society that no longer lives by the boom and bust turn of the calendar, there are those who still observe the old cycles, allow time to unfurl and keep a weather-eye for whatever comes next.
This book traces one such journey, charting the exploits of an angler as he follows the “senescent” slide of the months that bloom, wither and die, chronicling the sights and sounds of the rolling year whilst waiting patiently for the emergence, once more, of a bright hunter’s moon.
Comprising of a series of essays, poems and short stories the format of the book. Ideal for those of us that don’t seem to have time to sit and read for a longer time, enabling the reader to pick it up read a little and then go back busy life without losing the theme or story of the book.
Simon has the most wonderful writing style reflecting his thoughts, about so many aspects of life.
Whether you enjoy fishing or not these reflective thoughts which aren’t all directly fish related can so easily apply to all of us. Simons observations of the world around him are beautifully put into words such as his meeting with a Sparrow Hawk for his short essay The Sunbird.
“I never saw the killer, but the sparrow hawk suddenly burst back into my mind, resurrected by Lynne’s words to shred that fine line between memory and actuality with renewed purpose, as I pictured it swooping low and clamping onto its victim. Only a week previously, those piercing gold eyes had fixed upon me, running me through over and over. I stumbled on it by fluke, ambling through the back door with a cup of tea. My clumsy, surprised gawp followed its own unmoving, awkward line while the sparrow hawk never stopped moving, fending my gaze with constant small, sharp adjustments of its head, much like an experienced fencer flicking the wrist almost imperceptibly to throw their opponent off balance and score a hit time and time again.”
Paper copies can be bought from Amazon, or direct from the publisher, Cambria Books, www.cambriabooks.co.uk/product/waiting-for-a-hunters-moon/. The paperback price is £10.
Hunters Moon can also be bought from Amazon as an e-book for £2, or is free to those with a Kindle Unlimited account.
