A Broken Circle by Clive Parkinson

Beginning in suburban and rural Ireland, the book is a work of speculative fiction that will take the characters on a quest to Iceland and twenty light years away to Polar Neridia. The first characters we meet are the Parsons family; Kyle, Crystal and their children Saoirse and Ellen, plus the family pet, a beagle called Mister Waggles. Kyle will meet up with a childhood friend, Jim Kelly who has befriended Kyle’s college bartender, Mick Flannery – a red bearded, giant of a man who turns out to have surprising origins. They will introduce Kyle to the next character, Amatheia – a nine and a half foot tall South Polar Neridian; who along with her people have suffered persecution and enslavement by the northern inhabitants of their home planet – the Kolassians. Life often repeats itself; certain rites of passage are cyclical but when a circle is broken, do we return to the beginning or become lost forever? Loyalty, trust and inner strength – qualities that often tie the bonds of family and friendship, are tested beyond expectation. Time unravels, causing the innocence of youth to swap places with wisdom normally garnered by age. Links created by blood and birth are tested; the results spanning not just race and species, but also the universe and generations. The book explores a family’s journey far away from everyday lives and their quest, also held by new-found relatives and friends, to return to where they most desire. A family is strongest when they are together, when their circle is complete. However, when the Kolassians and others conspire against that unity, sometimes it is necessary to break the circle in order to feel complete, to return back home. Kyle, the father, begins as the lead protagonist but in truth it is the female characters that drive the story; Kyle’s wife Crystal, Saoirse, their eldest daughter, a female Oikian by the name of Amatheia, Rosemary, the mother who threads all their lives together and little Ellen, the youngest daughter who holds more importance than her stature suggests. It is often said that decisions are ruled by the head or the heart but emotions are a combination of both. Fuelling the characters’ decisions so much so, they allow them to journey to destinations normally restricted by time and distance. Fact and fiction intertwine with everyday family struggles and mundane routines. A journey which is often a comic and tragic mix of experiences while the characters race towards several unknown bends in the road and time. Kyle ponders “There’s something about forward motion that allows the mind to travel in any direction”. The book is self-exploring, delving into what makes any existence worthwhile. Characters, big and small alike, are pushed by circumstance to consider what keeps us going even when the outcome seems futile.