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Unknown Soldier
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This is an extraordinary surreal story about an unconscious soldier who has yet to realise that all his limbs are missing after treading on an IED. The narrative takes the reader on a sub-conscious emotional journey where the protagonist is both victim and hero. The book opens in a hospital ward where the soldier lies in a coma, we follow his flow of unconscious sexual thought, revealing that somewhere he is aware of the tragedy that's befallen him. Behind his sexual fantasising lies the truth of his condition, fragments of reality are intermingled with strange ideas of his childhood, masochism and self-deprecation. Following his immediate outpouring we begin the surreal and strange journey that wanders into fantasy, fairy stories, semi-consciousness and dreams as he travels through multi-coloured landscapes which result in him sacrificing each limb in a bizarre circumstance. His journey is like a surreal painting with many layers peeled away as he tries to rationalise his predicament. Each sacrifice contributes to the readers understanding of the soldier’s mental state and how reality and the sub-conscious are intertwined in how we feel about ourselves.