British-Guyanese author Gareth R. Miles read from his debut novel, Soul Shakedown: A Metaphysical Adventure, and talks about the experiences and inspiration that led to the metaphysical adventure that readers take with the lead character, Compton. If you don’t have a summer reading list or you just want something fun to read, this is the book that you should have on your list. Soul Shakedown is different.  It’s fast-paced, it’s exciting, it’s funny and simultaneously a little unsettling, but you won’t want to put it down. You’ll also learn a new language, sort of, in Guyanese Creole — the dialect used by grassroots Guyanese on the streets. Take a listen.

Book Cover text
SOUL FOOD – IT’S NOT JUST A SOUTHERN CUISINE… Everything seems to be looking up for young Guyanese father Compton Sharpe. He’s got a beautiful baby daughter, a devoted fiancee, a dirt-cheap place to stay at his Dad’s house in New Jersey, and to top it all off he’s just landed an incredibly well-paid yet ridiculously easy job as a janitor in a local lab. Sure, there does seem to be something a bit… peculiar about the scientists in the lab, but with a meal ticket like this, Compton’s more than happy to put up with their little eccentricities – until, that is, he stumbles upon the true nature of the scientists’ experiments, and is forced to embark on a desperate quest to save his daughter from a fate too sinister to contemplate – with a little help from a colourful cast of family and friends… and from the Natural Mystic.Blending elements of SF/fantasy, Caribbean folklore and metaphysical speculation, “Soul Shakedown” is a roller-coaster ride into the spiritual realm for thrill-seekers, deep thinkers and soul adventurers everywhere.

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