S.W. Lothian – Author

CLICHE | Allison Rose & Aerin S. Grey
Kindle Edition | YA | Satire | Fantasy | 116 pages
Released 17th June 2018

Handsome rogue Xander Portmanteau has a problem. He’s the only chauvinist left in the feminist fantasy realm of Landria, whose problematically patriarchal tendencies have not been smashed. Why? Because his authoress, Jen Penrose and her (totally unrelated) protagonist, the elegant and opinionated Lady Jen, are madly in love with him.

Lyra Jones is in a similar bind with her author, pulp fiction aficionado Ryan Petrie. Try as he might to write that perfect strong, female protagonist, he’s falling back on old habits. Lyra knows she needs more than an impractically scant suit of armor and the emotional range of a Barzümian monkey-lizard to be the best Space Huntress on the moon.
But can she prove it to Ryan?

With a little help from a mysterious, magical intermediary known only as the Guardian, these two poorly-written protagonists emerge from their manuscripts’ pages to confront their poorly writers…. GOODREADS

This novella from Allison Rose and Aerin S. Grey is a blend of two worlds colliding. A merging of fiction and reality in a fictional setting. Confused? It’s simple really. Cliché is a clever concept that explores the works of two writers, unknown to each other, whose characters break into the real world and bring them together.

Both writers (in the story) have created characters that fit stereotypes and preconceived ideas of what they should be. Unable to ‘live’ with their predictable existence, they finally decide that enough is enough and come to life to stand up for themselves and show the writers that they are capable of so much more.

I like the concept of characters driving their own development and growth. After all, it’s something that we all try to do for ourselves, so why would a character be any different? The underlying message I got from the book was that characters are more than just thoughts and ideas tied together by plot, they’re part of the writer’s being and as real as the world around them. You could say that the jump by the characters to a physical existence is showing just how real characters can become to a writer.

In an important supportive plotline (that I can see being ripe as a base for all kinds future stories) there’s a bookshop owner who quietly oversees a fictional utopia. His bookstore has become a refuge for characters who have also escaped a clichéd existence in the worlds in which they were created. It’s a safe place for them to meet and grow into what they want to be.

This is an entertaining and engaging story. The characters were all easy to like, and as the title says, it’s a book where the only villain is that of cliché.

Enjoyable story. Good, clean entertainment.

> Please click here to see my Review Policy <

Click or tap the cover below to read chapter one.

DISCOVER NEW YORK CITY’S BIGGEST SECRET IN S.W. LOTHIAN’S AMAZING SUBWAY SERIES.