Two writers, one working in English and the other in German, set out to write a book of stories covering the twelve months of the year, with the tales set throughout Europe. In the end we have a dozen stories from England and Germany. After Gill Ainsworth and Frank W. Haubold work together in translating Frank's words into English, what is left is a unique body of work that touches upon insanity in each piece with each story from a separate month of the year. Thus the title of, Seasons of Insanity.
For some reason, I found myself more drawn to the work of Gill Ainsworth than that of Frank W, Haubold. The writing is capable and the theme of the collection is consistent thoughout, but not every story was great, some were just good.
There is one story that will live with me for a long time. It's the entry for June and it was written by Gill Ainsworth and it made me gasp more than once as I read the words on the page. The story is called, Fighting the Flab. It's the story of Gina, for whom exercise doesn't work and dieting's a waste of time. One of the most disturbing stories I've ever read and one that will likely stay with me for some time to come.
Both writers weave references to music throughout many of their stories, a technique I enjoyed and found that it added flavor to their writing.
I feel comfortable recommending this to all readers. It was an overall enjoyable read with one story, Fighting the Flab, that is not to be missed; although I don't recommend reading it right after eating.
Seasons of Insanity was released in December 2012 from Apex Publications and is available as both a paperback and ebook from a wide variety of retailers.
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