Death, anxiety, masculinity, family and children, social good and rocks. All things that touch the life of a middle-aged man. In these stories, written over the past two years, Miki Lentin goes in search of a rock with his child in Ireland, travels to Istanbul with his wife while sleep-deprived, recounts memories of working and growing up in Dublin and explores what it means to do good in society today. All told with Lentin's minimalist tone, Inner Core portrays his life on the edge.
"Miki Lentin's short stories are always consistently enthralling. I've loved the way that they have drawn me into painful, familiar male experiences. In particular, they explore men's emotions and troubled relationships in an honest, original and entertaining way. I can't stop turning the pages when I settle down to reading them. They are funny, moving and disturbing in equal measure. They slice through contemporary life for me, and expose the underbelly of what is really going on unconsciously, but are always framed by enlivening action and drama. Very highly recommended!" Francis Gilbert, Head of the MA in Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths, author of I'm a Teacher Get Me Out of Here and The Last Day of Term.
"Great opening paragraph. Narrative slides effectively in and out of time, and the voice feels authentic," about story Inner Core. David Shields, author of Reality Hunger, The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead and The Trouble With Men.
"Miki Lentin takes linear time and smashes it to pieces, reassembling the shards as narrative mosaics. There is beauty, sadness, love, loss in the fragments but you need to stand back and take it all in to appreciate the bigger picture." Lynda Clark, author of the short story collection Dreaming in Quantum and Beyond Kidding.
"With delicacy, Lentin lets the most ordinary items and details - a rock, clothes that smell of bread, meringues, a café mess, a butter dish - to suggest larger, more nuanced and complex feelings and perceptions. There is an admirable urgency, authenticity and grim humour throughout these stories." Gerry Stembridge, author of The Effect of Her, co-writer of the film Nora and the crime comedy Ordinary Decent Criminal.
"Miki's stories about working with refugees are sensitively observed and moving - and they will enrich your understanding of an ethically complex subject." Daniel Trilling, journalist and author of Lights in the Distance and Bloody Nasty People.
