Wrapped Up In Nothing by Oli Jacobs published 2016

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Mr Blank, his own choice of name, wakes up in the scorching desert covered head to toe in bandages and with his tongue cut out and finger tips cut off. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there.  Obviously someone doesn’t want him identified or dead as there is the money and water and a phone, although there is no wifi in the desert and he can’t speak.  He decides to try and find out who he is and why he was left in the desert.  He ends up in Rattlers Creek, but rather than finds answers he finds himself asking more questions which the residents don’t want to answer.  Mr Blank finds out he has a talent for making people talk, but will he get the answers he is looking for.

The genre of Noir/Thriller is not one I have really read before, but I really enjoyed this book.  The book is narrated by Mr Blank and is told in a very matter of fact way of speaking; no extra drama or histrionics.  He becomes the hero of the story; a chain smoking, alcohol drinking, disfigured hero.  The writing is very good, especially  the candid way the narrative is written as if the events  in. the book are everyday occurrences, including a man with covered in bandage just walking into a town where no one acts strangely to how he looks.  This opens the door to plenty of dark humour

The book grabs your attention from the start and keeps it throughout Mr Blank’s  journey which is fairly gruesome at times; you find  yourself just accepting his injuries, which lets be fair he must have got from a bad encounter with the wrong people, and care what happens to him.  There is no conclusion to this book so you will need to buy the next in the series, Night Train which is not out yet.  I for one will definitely be buying it to learn more about Mr Blank.

Hello readers. I am Oli Jacobs, and I am a man of words.
Not literally a man of words, I should say. I’m not literally made up of words. That would be weird, and physically impossible. Then again, it could make a good short story…
(Note to self: do a short story called Man of Words.)
(Second Note to self: make sure Man of Words doesn’t rip off Ray Bradbury’s Illustrated Man.)
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! Hello, I’m Oli Jacobs and… you know what, let’s leave it at “hello”.
I’m mostly known for my Kirk Sandblaster series of Sci-fi Comedy adventures (think Ash from Evil Dead meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with a slash of Flash Gordon) and the Filmic Cuts collections of Short Stories. Aside from that, I’ve just started a Noir Mystery series following the adventures of one Mr Blank, who wakes up in a desert with a thirst for vengeance.
As you can tell, I like my Genre Fiction. Especially the pulpy kind.
Like most writers, I’ve been writing for a long time. There is a legend that I was born with a pen in my hand and a 1000-word synopsis in the other. This is, of course, nonsense, as I was part of a natural, bearded birth.
In terms of actually being a writer though, I’ve only seriously taken my literary ambitions since 2012, when Sunshine & Lollipops (Filmic Cuts volume 1) was published on Amazon Kindle. Since then, I’ve tapped out over a dozen books including the aforementioned Kirk Sandblaster and Mr Blank, and plan to continue assaulting the reading world with more in the future.
Why? Because I’m like most writers: mad and slightly driven by a faint need for praise…
Which brings me to the writers I like the most. Give me an HP Lovecraft or Stephen King, and I’ll probably wonder who you are and how you got into my bathroom. But after that, I’d thank you for the book, and dive into a world of Horror, both cosmic and based in Maine (or both!). I am a film snob as well, so a lot of my stories have that hint of the cinematic, with filmmakers like Kubrick and Fincher taking high spots in my favoured visual tastes.
Now, people ask me how they can become an author, and I usually say a strong thirst for alcohol, and the ability to hide yourself in a dark room with only a typewriter for company. Aside from that, the simple answer is to just write. The old cliché of everyone having a story inside of them is, some would say, just plain ol’ nonsense. But, everyone has a voice, and if you can figure out how to apply that voice to page, then you can probably bash out a quick tale or two. Hell, look at internet comment sections for example. If they can do it, anyone can!
Most of all, though, one writes because of the passion. I love telling stories and sharing them with the world, whether they like them or not. As long as one person has got something out of the words that have spilt from my head, then I’ve done my job. Not that writing is a job, of course, because if it were I’d definitely be asking for a pay rise right about now. The wolves are at ol’ Oli J’s door…
So yes, that’s me, Oli Jacobs. Writer, rambler, and questionable human being. If you want to read more of my words, check me out on Amazon and Lulu.com, or simply go to your local bookstore, demand a copy of my book, get kicked out, and then go onto Amazon or Lulu.com.
Just don’t turn up outside my shower. My paperbacks get wet inside there, and it’s weird. So very weird.