Customer Reviews

On the Fringe : And Other Uncommon Tales of Golf

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a delightful collection of golf stories! Each chapter transports the reader to a unique period in time and on occasion, a different planet. These gentle stories are very sweet. Upon completion, the reader will feel as though they just finished eating chocolate chip cookies straight from the cooling rack.

Using golf as both a background and a metaphor for life, Barton has crafted 14 short stories with conventional, historical, supernatural, and/or paranormal elements. Although personal experience with the physical and mental challenges of golf make the book even more enjoyable, it is by no means a prerequisite. Readers will enjoy its stories of gateways to other worlds, ESP, heaven, hell, magic clubs, and love (both lost and found again). Even the Civil War provides a setting for one of the stories, and Barton's mixture of actual history with fictional elements in it - and in some other stories - makes for a fun read. While some of the stories were published previously in magazines, some are new as well. The collection certainly would make a great gift for anyone who's interested in golf and would enjoy a sometimes fanciful, sometimes reverential, look at the game in unusual settings.

I uncovered this classic by pure chance, but enjoyed every page. Barton is wildly inventive and his love and respect for golf comes through in every tale. The stories are smoothly written with engaging characters and situations. I'd very much like to see what kind of work Barton would produce working at novel length. Great stuff.

On The Fringe And Other Uncommon Tales Of Golf by Gregory G. Barton is an eclectic and adventurous anthology of fourteen off-the-wall tales of life, golf, and mystical mysteries. From the hidden secrets of the Bermuda Triangle, to what it's like to have a clairvoyant caddie, On The Fringe And Other Uncommon Tales Of Golf blends fantasy with golf gaming enthusiasm for a unique experience which is enthusiastically recommended for golfers who are also connoisseurs of original and inventive storytelling.

This exciting new author blew me away. He weaves a tale that binds you to the page. Page after page and I could not put it down. The best thing is that, unlike many authors, if you read one story you have not even started to get the feel for what his writing is about. I sure hope he writes more. I don't play golf but just the same I loved the stories.