“Spun Yarn” is a delightful new book that emphasizes a trust in the reader’s intelligence.
LB Sedlacek
Amazon USA“Spun Yarn”
Stories, Essays and other Miscellanies
By Richard Rose
- Publisher : Cyberwit.net
- Publication date : December 16, 2025
- Language : English
- Print length : 142 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9363547302
- ISBN-13 : 978-9363547308
- Item Weight : 6.1 ounces
Review by LB Sedlacek
“Spun Yarn” is a delightful new book that emphasizes a trust in the reader’s intelligence. Language is spun, yes pun intended, and used as a moral compass defining a culture with this very same tool. The author jumps right in to explore the depth of human experiences engaging readers in a critical examination of ideas in his short stories and essays.
The book is a mixture of short stories as well as reflective essays. They are all written in almost a conversational tone. Rose’s book isn’t confined to a single mode of expressions; instead, it weaves together threads of individual pieces with a variance in style and tone.
Rose’s essays part of the book addresses multiple themes. They have to do with art and culture, literature, language, society, and memory.
His short stories part of the book focuses on everyday situations. These range from an exploration of unspoken truths amongst families, the shaping of identity from silence, questioning what really defines wrongdoing, how making assumptions can wreck reality just to name a few. Stories also center on how resilience amongst creativity can emerge from hardship, reconnecting in relationships, a look at the daily life of an artist, and the social complexities (or not) of class.
Rose’s collection seems to value subtlety and observation. He is skilled at the offerings and miscellany of this mixed-genre collection.
The greatest asset of this book is indeed the author’s voice. Rose’s work is clear and confident. His stories and essays are accessible allowing it to be read in one sitting or savored story by story, essay by essay or even in reading it or dividing it out by sections.
From “From behind the net curtain”:
“In the stagnant existence that passed itself off as life for Miss Edna
Henshaw, Thursday afternoons provided some brief respite from the
monotony that characterised her daily routine. It was on Thursday
afternoons, or to be more precise, at 1.30 pm on that day each week,
that Miss Henshaw felt able to put aside her regime of dusting, sweeping,
polishing and re-arranging her collection of Staffordshire pottery
ornaments, to satisfy what she would have described as her innate
curiosity, but which others may have regarded as a vicarious intrusion
into other people’s business.”
This story is sharp reflecting on people observing others from a distance. It deftly captures that thin line you cross (or don’t) between rabid curiosity that may (or may not) border on intrusion. It goes on to perhaps show us how this unwanted attention can lead to an unreal reality.
From “Dylan – At Last!”
“It must have been 1966, the year that Dylan released Blonde on
Blonde. I recall sitting in my bedroom in Gloucester with my friend
Steve listening to such Dylan classics as Just Like a Woman and One
of Us Must Know, played on my Dansette record player, and debating
whether this latest album was better than Highway 61 Revisited, or
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. The latter had been and remains a
particular favourite of mine. It seemed to capture the mood of an era of
protest with songs such as Masters of War, A Hard Rain’s A - Gonna
Fall and Oxford Town, which considered some of the greatest
challenges of the time. With hindsight I now recognise this period of my
life as a time of political awakening and understand why such songs
resonated so strongly.”
This essay about Bob Dylan reflects on the singer songwriter’s talent evolving into a discussion of sorts about delayed recognition and cultural legitimacy. It also seems to examine the differences between what is considered to be popular and what is considered to be literary in art.
“Spun Yarn” is engaging and a thoughtful read for readers who appreciate a uniqueness to stories and essays. Rose is able to blend these multiple forms of writing into a diverse storytelling landscape. His writing has a human connection that offers inspiration.
~LB Sedlacek also reviewed “The Hidden Source” by Richard Rose. She is the author of several books of poetry including “Unresponsive Sky,” “Poem Medicine,” “The Poet Next Door,” “Simultaneous Submissions,” and “Ghost Policy.” Her short stories books include “The Jackalope Committee & Other Stories” and “The Renovator & Motor Addiction.” Her poem novel is “The Blue Eyed Side.”