Glen Nesbitt, SUS: Short Unpredictable Stories, (Kindle, 2024)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216352172-sus
This work is comprised of three novellas.
In ‘Joe the Alien’, a gang of youngsters encounter a purple spaceship and meet Joe the Alien, who is as cute as ET. They promptly attempt to deploy every myth they’ve heard about close encounters. Should they splash it with water? Ask it if it comes in peace? Shoot it with a silver bullet? You won’t get the cultural references if you don’t know Taylor Swift songs.
Joe’s brain is in his tongue and eats with his bottom, cue lots of fart jokes. Bellamy defends him. ‘Sure, Joe is different, but so am I.’
In ‘Gwen Stefani’ (again, I don’t get the cultural reference) the narrator analyses point by point the key principles of friendship in pre-school and the psychology involved in strategies to deal with bullies. The difference between equality and equity. The efficacy of I-statements.
In ‘Templeton’, the farmyard animals from Charlotte’s Web reprise their relationships, as they make silly puns and plot to keep Wilbur the pig from being brought home as bacon. Charlotte the grey spider makes a sacrifice for her friend, and Wilbur wins a prize at the fair.
I thought they were charming, but as an adult I found the jokes a bit childish. It would be great for an adolescent readership. The strong point is the child-like Voice; each story takes you into a child’s eye view.
Susie Helme 
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