Cool Blue

By Wayne Mansfield

Alexander Monroe lives in Grasspatch, a town so small, the founders couldn’t even be bothered thinking up a proper name for it. He works at the newsagency/post office, where his duties include ordering newspapers and magazines, printing Lotto tickets, and delivering the mail.

One morning he has to deliver a parcel to the mysterious Mr Christian O’Neill, who lives in an oddly-shaped mansion on the outskirts of town. Not much is known about Mr O’Neill, although there is certainly an abundance of rumours -- a faded rock star, a media-shy actor. Alexander can’t wait to find out the answers for himself.

Rather than being odd, Christian turns out to be the most interesting person Alexander has ever met. In fact, he asks to come back, and with each consecutive visit, he learns more and more about Christian, and about the power of the mind and the wonders visualisation can bring.

But even as Alexander learns how to get what he thinks he wants, he loses Christian. Is it too late to find him again? And if he does, will what they had still be there?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jul 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781611529258

Wayne Mansfield

Wayne Mansfield is a Western Australian writer. He has been writing for nine years and has been published in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Additionally, he wrote a monthly erotic story for the German publications Macho and Dreamboys for two years. His novellas and stories usually have a horror, futuristic, or fantasy theme, although he does write contemporary stories such as The Hiding Place, which received Honorable Mention in the 2013 Rainbow Awards.

Reviews for Cool Blue

[crtsjffrsn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Alex delivers mail and packages in the small town of Grasspatch, where things are relatively quiet and nothing too exciting happens. But one day when he delivers a package to the Christian O'Neill, the mysterious man who lives in an equally mysterious mansion on the edge of town, all of that changes. Christian introduces Alex to a whole world he never knew existed and the power to bring anything he desires into existence. When Alex finds himself to be a quick study and one of his first wishes comes true, he even more quickly learns that one really must be careful when it comes to translating what one wants into reality.

I feel like the concept for this story had some great potential. There was mystery and what seemed like magic at the beginning and the early dynamic between Alex and Christian definitely piqued my interest. That said, there was just too much going on here that was farfetched - even for a fantasy story - and it caused the story to get a bit muddled. The way things suddenly turn out for Alex, the random alternate reality he ends up in, and even the ending - it just didn't really seem to come together for me.