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Jump to navigationJump to searchGoing To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing by K D Knight (view source)
Revision as of 10:41, 29 July 2018
, 10:41, 29 July 2018no edit summary
Choosing a favourite story wasn't easy. K D Knight gives us twenty five short stories all about the glorious sport of horse racing, but unusually, they'll appeal to a wider readership than just the aficionados of the sport, much as Dick Francis's thrillers reached a wide audience. Unlike Francis though, Knight doesn't need to use sex to titillate his readers and he's no fan of bad language, which I found refreshing.
Francis isn't the only jockey to have turned his hand to writing fiction. John Francome (with the 'help' of Peter Burden) and [[Taking the Fall by A P McCoy|A P McCoy]] have also ventured into the genre, with limited success. They might have the in-depth knowledge of the sport, but lacked the imagination and had only limited ability to write a good story. On the other hand, Knight has the depth of knowledge which only comes from wide experience over many years rather than just research. He has a real talent for writing a top-class story. It's relatively easy to create a character or a location in the reader's mind in a full-length novel: in a short story both have to be created in relatively few words and any lack of ability is soon found out. Knight does this with ease.
Knight lifts the sport above the common perception, and turns the spotlight on the full range of characters who are involved, from the brave horses, through to the owners, trainers, stable staff and race goers who make horseracing what it is. I've followed horseracing for most of my life and it was a real pleasure to read stories which reflect the sport which I love.
