Life and Other Dreams
Rick lives here on Earth now, with Cath. His life is boring, writing adverts for cat food and exotic holidays. When he’s asleep, he dreams vividly.

In his dreams, he lives as Dan, spending his time with his wife Vanessa. They live six-hundred years in the future, half a galaxy away. They’re explorers, searching for valuable minerals on Ecias, an alien paradise.

Dan has no dreams about Rick’s life, he lives on Ecias, loves his life and Vanessa.
When the two worlds overlap, Rick starts to question what is real. Events in his waking and sleeping lives are mirrored, similar people inhabit both and coincidences mount up. Then disaster strikes in each world at the same time. In his dreams, Dan is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Meanwhile, after one coincidence too many, Cath thinks that Rick’s dreams are hiding an affair and leaves him.

Is Rick going crazy, or can he be living in two places, in two times, at once? If not, then which one of them is the reality? Will one life carry on when the other is on hold?
Richard Dee’s fast-paced, edgy science fiction -cum- psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page!

My review
This book is crammed full of energy and originality. It’s a breathless read, and a lot of fun.
On one hand we have Rick and Cath living a rather mundane existence, although there’s plenty going on beneath the surface and threatening to bubble up. On the other hand we have Dan and Vanessa, where life is altogether quirkier and, in time, dangerous. We open with Dan and Vanessa, allegedly in a dream, but there are plenty of seeds of doubt as to which reality we’re actually in. But do we need to be rooted in one at all? Do we have to choose? Can’t we be in both?
These questions are amongst many that pop up as you read this clever, inventive novel. The sci-fi element has you thinking about technology and the way lives are lived in another world. Things are different enough to be interesting, but not too involved and futuristic to be confusing.
We meet plenty of intriguing characters in this story and face an assortment of dilemmas alongside our double-faceted hero. There’s never a dull moment. The imaginative plot keeps you guessing about many things and works very well. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining read.

Purchase links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Other-Dreams-Psychological-Thriller-ebook/dp/B07KVHG384
US- https://www.amazon.com/Life-Other-Dreams-Psychological-Thriller-ebook/dp/B07KVHG384

Author bio
Richard Dee is a native of Brixham in Devon. He left Devon when he was in his teens and settled in Kent. Leaving school at 16 he briefly worked in a supermarket, then went to sea and travelled the world in the Merchant Navy, qualifying as a Master Mariner in 1986.
Coming ashore to be with his growing family, he used his sea-going knowledge in several jobs, working as a Marine Insurance Surveyor and as Dockmaster at Tilbury, before becoming a Port Control Officer in Sheerness and then at the Thames Barrier in Woolwich.

In 1994 he was head-hunted and offered a job as a Thames Estuary Pilot. In 1999 he transferred to the Thames River Pilots, where he regularly took vessels of all sizes through the Thames Barrier and upriver as far as HMS Belfast and through Tower Bridge. In all, he piloted over 3,500 vessels in a 22-year career with the Port of London Authority.

Richard is married with three adult children and three grandchildren.

His first science-fiction novel Freefall was published in 2013, followed by Ribbonworld in 2015. September 2016 saw the publication of his Steampunk adventure The Rocks of Aserol and of Flash Fiction, a collection of Short Stories. Myra, the prequel to Freefall was published in 2017, along with Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café, a murder mystery set in space and the start of a series featuring Andorra Pett, an amateur detective. Sequels to Ribbonworld and The Rocks of Aserol have been published, together with a second Andorra Pett story, Andorra Pett on Mars. He also contributed a story to the 1066 Turned Upside Down collection. Richard is currently working on prequels, sequels, and new projects.
You can find out more about me on my website at richarddeescifi.co.uk. Head over there to see what I get up to, click the FREE STUFF tab or the PORTFOLIO tab to get all the details about my work and pick up a free novel or short story.
I’m on Facebook at RichardDeeAuthor and Twitter at Richard Dee Sci-Fi.

Synopsis

Welcome to the worst day of Chef Charlie Sheridan’s life, the day he’s about to lose his two great loves: his childhood sweetheart, Lulu, and the legendary Brighton hotel his grandfather, Franco Sheridan, opened in 1973.

This is the story of the Belle Hotel, one that spans the course of four decades – from the training of a young chef in the 1970s and 80s, through the hedonistic 90s, up to the credit crunch of the noughties – and leads us right back to Charlie’s present-day suffering.

In this bittersweet and salty tale, our two Michelin star-crossed lovers navigate their seaside hangout for actors, artists and rock stars; the lure of the great restaurants of London; and the devastating effects of three generations of family secrets.

My review
As someone who works in the hospitality trade, I appreciated the realistic (if occasionally tongue in cheek) view of the industry. Too often in literature it’s portrayed as all mainly being about icing cupcakes and dealing with wonderfully behaved guests. If only. As we see in this book, an awful lot goes on behind the scenes in a busy hotel, such as endless work, constant juggling to avoid the latest looming financial crisis, the need to keep abreast of all the latest relevant ideas and developments and building that customer base. For many people it will be quite an eye-opener, and it’s all very entertainingly done.
There’s lots of variety in how the story is set out – sometimes with a time and the relevant character’s name to head a section, sometimes as more straightforward narration, and there are letters, recipes and receipts too along the way. This keeps everything as fresh and bubbly as the author’s writing. Real events and people are woven into the fictional action, which definitely catches the tone of the various eras in which this action takes place, which is 1973 onwards. Trust me, I’ve lived through those times!
Charlie makes for a sympathetic hero, pretty much from the word go. We immediately start hoping he’ll find that £10,000 he needs, although it seems a tall order. We quickly realise Charlie is someone who won’t give up on his dreams and is someone to admire. We follow both his and his family’s fortunes in the course of the novel.
It’s definitely different, extremely enjoyable and absolutely to be recommended.

About the author

Craig Melvin holds an MA in Creative Writing from Sussex University and works as a restaurant consultant in London and Brighton. He was mentored by Albert Roux at catering college and has worked in the hotel industry ever since.

Buy the book here.