The Sticky Rock Cafe : Dekaydence, Teabags, GeeZers And Haggoids

One thing that stands out, even only after reading the back cover is the number of fuzzzywuzzy, cutesey names which most of the characters are blessed with. The GeeZers are a group of teenage eco-warriors fighting to save the dying planet Earth. The King and The Prime Minister, on the other hand, create Stick Rock Cafes, developed by the Company Of Dekaydence, to take the GeeZers’ minds off the environmental stuggle. The Cafes are places where young people can go to drink cappuccinos and listen to (manufactured) rock songs. Will, the King’s nephew, secretly supports the GeeZers. Ruby Q Cooper is a want to be journalist, looking for her mother, who abandoned her as a child. Piccolo wants to be become a musician.

All three of them embark on an adventure which takes them through the mysterious, hi-tech world of Dekaydence, meeting Tartan Guards, wild haggoids, Eye-Spies, a composer knighted for his services to loud music, and missing decorators.

Being a fananatical tea-drinker, this book has to have one of the best opening lines I’ve ever read: ”I blame the teabag for the collapse of civilisation,”.

The Sticky Rock Cafe has so much going for it, bright characters, weird creatures (which would do well to scare people into helping to save our planet today). Unfortunately, there is too much going on at any one time, with seperate stories and more than a handful of characters; it would have been better if it had been lengthened slightly to allow breathing space, as at time it’s claustrophobic. There is a Dramatis Personae at the beginning which lists the majority of the characters and their roles, which is a good idea.

The characters are believable, with Piccolo (the want to be musician) and Taylor (the just want to be famous, probably an actress) coming across as most realistic. It makes a refreshing change to see a group of teenagers help to save a close-to-home world, rather than a totally fantasy one. There are some truly funny scenes, but these are sparse, with the action seeming to revolve around a lot of running and ‘right place at the right time’ narrative. This works well for younger readers (which appears to be its audience).

The story also disturbed me in a way too; it seems to echo something which is quite plausable, an entity setup by the ‘powers that be’ to curtain people’s thinking and actions.

Definitely a fantasy for the younger readers amongst us.

Susie Cornfield was given a typewriter when she was seven years old and can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer. She trained as a journalist on a local newspaper before joining The Sunday Times. She went on to be a columnist on The Sunday Telegraph Magazine while working as a documentary writer for BBC TV. She has written for a variety of newspapers and magazines and was a TV presenter/producer for United Artists.

She works from a garret on a hill in south London, emerging sometimes to spend time with her family, friends and cat, BB Edwards, play tennis with a group of retrobates, The Racqueteers, listen to or play music, and read.

Read Chapter One
http://www.garretbooks.com/srctext1.html

Listen To Martin Jarvis Read Chapter One
http://www.garretbooks.com/srcmj.html

View Page Design
http://www.garretbooks.com/srcspread.html

The Sticky Rock Cafe by Susie Cornfield (Garret Books, £6.99) is available nationwide from all good bookshops including Waterstones and your local independent bookshop, as well as on-line.

ISBN: 0955227909 or 9 780955 227905