What Do I Know Anyway? / October '08 / £5.99
What Do I Know Anyway? is the first collection of poetry from young writer Jamie McGarry. With an inimitable narrative voice, he attempts to solve the question posed by the title - reviewing the humdrum events of everyday life, relationships (both real and imagined) and his own, often baffling thoughts and feelings.
The search takes him from the isolation of a farm in the Yorkshire Dales, to a disgruntled employee awaiting a tribunal, a lion plotting escape from a Liverpudlian zoo, and even twenty years into his own future. He looks for the poetry in all these things - and is lucky enough to find it.
'Accessible, engaging and entertaining...a breath of fresh air.' - Robert Johnson
'You can’t help but be stirred...he touches lightly, yet emphatically on the unspoken hopes, fears and feelings that so many of us know, yet so few of us share.' - Sylvan Rose
'The most effective poems seem natural yet fresh, direct yet unexpected. That's what he knows...it makes his best very good.' - Felix Hodcroft
- A few preview poems:
- Solitary (as featured in 'The Dalesman')
The Waiting Game / October '07 / £7.99
The Waiting Game is the story of Jason, an introverted sixth-former, waiting at a bus stop for the same bus he has caught every morning for the last five years. Like the other mornings, he is joined at the bus stop by Frank, a mysterious old man who never says a word.
Today, however, is different. Jason accidentally makes eye contact with Frank, and they start a conversation. It turns out that Frank is waiting for his long-lost son, who promised to return some day on the very bus Jason is waiting to catch.
It is an unfortunate situation, but no-one is more surprised than Jason when he finds himself heading out into the world on the detective mission of a lifetime - to find Frank's son, and maybe one or two answers of his own.
‘I thoroughly enjoyed it...a real page turner.’ - Heather Tigwell
'The Waiting Game has exceptional balance...provides a steady drip of surprises, like an IV bag hooked to the emotions.' - Paul Zarzeka
'A good, complex story...unfolds perfectly, from one cliff hanger to the next. A must read.' - Alexandra Haines
Autopilot / December '09 / £5.99
Autopilot is the second collection of poetry from Jamie McGarry. For the 'difficult second album', he has ordered a year's worth of poetic output into three sections - each telling a loose story, one that is both sweepingly epic and intensely personal. His subjects span the entire spectrum of human experience; from the 'credit crunch' and global warming, to declarations of 'facebook' love - or not, as the case may be - whilst never shying away from the awkward minutiae of our daily lives.
Led by a mysterious, semi-autobiographical narrator, the reader embarks on a journey through the depths of the human soul, investigating what it means to 'come of age' in the first decade of the twenty-first century. This thirty-six poem volume is a true unique, an example of singular literary vision, and a poetic experience not to be missed.
‘Darkly comedic...’A Love Insane’ joins the list of poems I wish I had written.’ – Holly Roach
‘Youthful and ambitious, but wise, and never callow...McGarry finds poetic truths in the sheer struggle of becoming who you are. A terrific writer.’ – James Nash
A few preview poems:
- Journeys (with video clip)
- Epilogue
