Lawrence G. Taylor – författare

Updated 6.1.23: The story first appeared in third person, but a year ago I changed the storytelling to first person. The narrative is set in Stockholm, Sweden in the early 70s. I've chosen the categories literary, contemporary & historical fiction    The story presents a psychological portrait of gender struggle between the two main characters, James is from the Caribbean and Maud is from Sweden. Both are full of themselves––two ego-strippers. The storytelling is character-driven, and the plot has a few surprises.     For years, James behaved like a playboy, shying away from a meaningful relationship until he began to feel like "e;a sex machine"e; and lonely. The time to turn a new page in his life had arrived. He had lost faith in meeting the right woman.    James then meets a woman of his dreams - she's attractive and intellectually stimulating. His old seductive tricks become a threat, but James is disciplined. On the first date, a heated discussion erupts, which threatens his dream.    James and Maud are argumentative and egoistic, and wage a battle of sexual politics against the other. Whether feminist Maud will stick to her gun or succumb to her affections remains a question. Former lady's man James has the choice of compromising to achieve his desire, by letting go of misogynistic inclinations – or walking away in despair. Opposites do attract. Solid 5 stars.Byvermont reviewer on February 5, 2017Verified PurchaseThe main character in the story James certainly could be described as a ladies man. He finds out that love is just around the corner and his life is about to be changed when he meets Maud Magnusson who is a journalist and also a feminist. James finds that a more meaningful relationship can be developed with someone who is much different than those whom he had met previously. One of my favorite lines from the story. "e;The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves."e; James had a goal in his life to become a writer. Another line that I liked. "e;In general, people aren't good in giving up bad habits!"e; I wondered what kind of relationship James and Maud would have? The old adage opposites attract certainly holds true. One more line that I liked "e;Guilt is an emotion that people experience because they're convinced they've caused harm."e; The references to the music really added to the story. Both characters had enough flaws to have the readers relate to them. Lawrence G. Taylor shows his readers a great story through his characters. I look forward to reading more works by Mr. Taylor. I have rated this one a solid 5 stars.

Foreword I wrote this essay as an assignment during my university days which was in the late 70s. Go Tell It On The Mountain was the first novel I read by James Baldwin, and I enjoyed it immensely.Religion was very much a part of my life while growing up. My parents were practising Christians, so I had to attend church Sunday morning mass and Sunday school at midday and occasionally participate in evening service. In early adolescence, I became a choirboy. Then, as a young man and after leaving Guyana for Great Britain, my church attendance became infrequent, and finally, it faded. I'm not sure why I turned my back on the church. Perhaps I might have become disenchanted with indifference or mild hypocrisy that appeared in some churches I attended in London. Or, it might have been my infatuation with atheism. But memory can be unreliable, owing to its dynamic nature. However, I can honestly say that I have invariably regarded myself as a Christian — if not a practising one, which probably entails regular church attendance.James Baldwin's novel inspired me to choose two themes for the academic essay—namely, religion's role in some folks' lives. The function of religious faith can be twofold: positive and negative, which I try to show in the essay. Lastly, I have omitted page-number references.

TWO GIRLS IN A CAFÉ London, England: The 60s. Two Girls in the Café is about an English and an American who were once close friends, meeting for old-time for a cup of tea, chatting and giggling to the delight of their hearts. By chance, the American sees a young man in the street walking she claims to know. The English girl is surprised since she also claims to know the young man, and the idea amazes the girls that they both know him. But there is a tossup because the girls know the young man by two different names.
 "e;Contemporary, witty, honest and ironic."e;   Reviewed by Ms Fiza PathanRated: 5 StarsThe style reminds me of O. Henry my favorite short story writerReviewed in the United States on April 16, 2020I loved this short story. I loved the character development, the suspense as well as the unusual twist in the tale which I never saw coming. Lawrence Taylor is an exceptionally talented short story writer & he reminds me of O.Henry who is one of my favorite short story writers. The story is about a chat between two young women, Felicity & Ruth in a cafe. They see someone passing by whom they recognize & then begins a wonderful intellectually packed conversation as the reader decodes who is telling the truth & who is not. I really liked this short story & it was a fun read. I highly recommend this short story by accomplished short story writer Lawrence Taylor to everyone wanting a quick, intelligent but enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more short stories & books by Lawrence Taylor in the near future.

Description Through the prism of memory, middle-aged Harry sets out to recapture his youthful years and the right but mostly wrong turnings he made.Making Sense of Past Time is a coming-of-age story of an idealistic young man's attempt to escape his provincial hometown in pursuit of a life of enrichment. Just age twenty, Harry could not know that leaving his country to enter another would place him in a state of total uprootedness and that success may not come his way. He hoped to fulfil his ambition of obtaining a better life and self-realisation. Harry chronicles his fears of not amounting to much if he remained in Georgetown, Guyana, and struggles with his father. He was overjoyed to leave his provincial country for "e;greener pastures"e; in the big-city energy of London. However, surprises were in store for him and challenging his character. He had difficulties finding employment, housing and happiness in the environment of racial discrimination in Great Britain during the early 1960s. Life in London wasn't everything he'd hoped it would be. "e;Living on the dole"e; from the Employment Exchange to "e;beating the tube"e; and learning to shoplift with a rough group of friends. His idealistic pursuit of an authentic life runs into trouble and becomes contradictory, compelling him to compromise. This ultimately saga is full of humour, youthful passion, and dreams and allows the reader to glimpse at the British class system and the social life of immigrant London. Harry Holmes's story involves introspection, self-flagellation, irony, determination, and perseverance. Follow Harry as he makes another attempt by quitting London for Stockholm and meeting Nordic people whose way of life is a mixture of reservedness and hospitality. He faces challenging times again––most of all, a new language. BOOK REVIEW — Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' FavoriteLawrence G. Taylor crafts a narrative that is deceptively simple in plot structure but one with a sophisticated protagonist and themes that capture the reality of what it feels like to experience racism. "e;In London, I'd learnt what it was like to be black and a second-class citizen. A couple of practices, customs appeared questionable during my search for work and rented lodgings."e; The narrative is replete with social and cultural commentaries that give readers powerful insights into social constructs and race relationships. The underlying conflict is personal and mostly internal, a young man's struggle to redefine himself in a society that wants him to be someone he is not. The conflict is introduced from the very opening of the novel. Readers meet a young man who left his country in frustration to try his luck in another. Making Sense of Past Time: A Novel is told in a strong first person narrative voice that forces the reader to see the world from the viewpoint of the protagonist. It is confident, the prose is great, and the elements of the setting are skilfully written into the story. Making Sense of Past Time is both entertaining and inspiring.

Description A tragicomedy: Charlie Cheddar suffers from sensual deprivation. He practised celibacy and yoga for three years to liberate himself from thought-provoking fantasies and desires. Charlie espoused a hermit's way of life after being pissed off with relentless teasing from friends and foes about his failure to find a girlfriend. He is zealous in his admiration of book knowledge and has never failed to flaunt that knowledge to his friends. The reciprocal antipathy between him and them persists.

 Charlie suffers from anxiety attacks and dark moods but manages his suicidal fantasies by reading poetry and yoga. Both seem to nourish his soul. Sometimes he is proud of being a misanthropist. Charlie retreats to his imaginary bubble after nine to five clerical tasks at Her Majesty Post Office.

 But the sensation of isolation that suddenly comes over Charlie has him in its grip; he torments himself with it like a thorn, and it eventually takes its toll on him. On a Sunday at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, a lanky Caribbean stranger approaches dark, short and skinny Charlie. Julian, the stranger, becomes his friend who may rescue Charlie from the jaws of bitterness and despair by introducing him to a lady of high self-esteem, intellectual interest and poetry enthusiast. The lady, Helen, dated Julian once, but they were never lovers since he philandered. Julian promises to arrange a date with high hopes for Charlie. Charlie is excited but harbours fears about his foreseeable transformation.

Young Harry is dissatisfied with his existence in Guyana. He wishes to travel overseas to establish himself and distance himself from an authoritarian father. He selects London, hoping for “greener pastures” while cherishing his goal of reaching the shores of America. But young Harry is in for surprises and a test of his character.

Betty and the Black Puppy is a story about a couple at the opposite ends of the spectrum after Betty rescues an abandoned puppy in the midst of heavy traffic in London. Binky's Reverie describes a young Guyanese man's unsuccessful pursuit of a romantic relationship with a Swedish woman The Ballad of Calle & Maja offers two different ideas of love. In Two Girls in a Café, there is a toss-up after the girls claim to know a young man. In The Eternal Struggle, James searches for the right woman, meets Maud and takes a bumpy ride. A Day in the Life of Charlie Cheddar is a lonely and frustrated poet who longs for a woman in his life. A new friend vows to change his fate. Benji is a poet from an imaginary Caribbean island, in Getting It Right If Ever. He befriends a Swedish woman and seizes the opportunity to visit Sweden. The love relationship does not work well, however. Later, he becomes infatuated with another woman with a complicated love life. Benji remains optimistic about gaining the affection of the woman. Strangers In Another Country is about a young Caribbean man's life as an outsider in a predominantly white environment where racial discrimination is difficult to discern. Moby is reluctant to succumb to a victim's image. Darker than Blue - This Mortal Coil is a conglomeration of fantasy, comedy and satire. The appearance of inhabitants and their status quo range from pink, yellow, brown, and black. Boy Blue is an antihero, but a giant burdened with seasonal depression and personal misfortune. He faces ten years in prison for imaginary rape, unless he signs up for Dr Google's experimental vaccine. Democracy is a hero struggling to survive against autocracy orchestrated by evil forces. Tell Me Who My Enemy Is is a 4-act closet drama. A West Indian and Afro-American are not close friends. They have contradictory views on how black people should live in Sweden. Berry is proud to be a hospital porter. Sam describes himself as an art student. There is a dispute between the two men, of which Gun (Bank clerk) and Kerstin (auxiliary nurse) try to make sense. Both girls are Berry's friends.These stories have been published before, some as singles, others in a collection.   Review Rating: 4 StarsReviewed By Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' FavoriteRelationships can be complicated, but sometimes people make them complicated... But there are other kinds of relationships, too: relationships between women and between men, not just between a man and a woman. Relationships define the people we are and it takes a clever storyteller to weave the magic of a good plot around multiple varieties of relationships. That's what readers will find in Lawrence G. Taylor's Short Stories, Novellas: A Closet Drama. Each story is well developed, using an effective descriptive narrative and believable dialogue. Tell Me Who My Enemy Is is a four-act play that begins with a list of characters and character highlights, a brief setting description, and then launches into the drama itself. The plot follows two men, a West Indian and an Afro-American, as they discuss their differing views on how black people really should live in Sweden – an interesting and diverse theme that many would view as timely. The author has a keen sense of plot and character development and tells a good story.

Moby is only one of the countless people originally from the Caribbean and countries from the African continent who have relocated to Sweden and become a part of the black diaspora there. His life in the Nordic region has given him reasonable contentment. Moby is fond of dating women but avoids protracted relationships, which might be a personality fault or from fear of commitment. He is passionate about a few different topics that are significant to him. One of these is his optimism for universal black solidarity, which is put to the test when he comes across a black American who has found himself in a difficult situation and needs his help. Themes include unattainable dreams, loneliness, alienation, disappointment and frustration.This story first appeared in my debut book (a collection of four stories) bearing the same title). Consumer Review 1:"e;...These are not sympathetic characters you cheer for. Even knowing their insecurities and difficult backgrounds, they seem selfish and narcissistic. Sometimes you want to reach inside the pages and slap them, yet despite it all you can't help turning the pages to follow their journey. …But the real magic of this book is its style. There is a particular and recognizable sound and shape to the fiction written by men in the 60's. The voice, tone, pacing are all quite different than today's stories, and in this collection Taylor manages to brilliantly capture that 1960's narrative style. Within the first 10 pages I was entirely enchanted by this unexpected time travel.I am impressed with the raw potential of these stories. I hope to see more of them."e; Consumer Review 2: "e;What a fantastic piece of literature!Honestly, I have not read anything like this since my university days.A collection of two short stories & two novellas, are as much intense social studies as they are stories. It's as though the author has held a mirror up to a lost piece of time and allowed us an indepth insight into a very specific social set up.Lawrence G Taylor has a wonderful ability to capture feelings and translate them on to paper. You do feel the characters loneliness and isolation at times, the desperate sense of wanting to understand, belong and be understood. You get a real sense of their camaraderie – how various characters are propelled together because they are similarly socially isolated.This is not a book that is about plots or storylines. It is about acute social observations, the exploration of themes. It deals with social and racial obstacles and prejudices, of traversing those complex boundaries and trying to find and assert your place in the world.Set in London and Sweden in the 1960s, I think the author has a wealth of autobiographical material he has drawn from to bring us this wonderful literary 'study'. I would fully expect to find this text on a university reading list."e;

Moby är en av flera karibiska människor som flyttade till Sverige i slutet av sextiotalet, och blev en del av den svarta diasporan. Han är ganska nöjd med sitt liv i en homogen svensk kultur med enstaka gnäll om små saker. Moby låtsas ignorera rasdiskriminering som riktas mot honom. Han känner sig frustrerad i samband med svensk förnekelse. Moby vägrar dock att tro att hans klagomål ofta berott på hans fantasi. Moby tycker om att dejta mer än en kvinna åt gången. Han har problem med långa engagemang i relationer. Han blir lätt uttråkad, vilket kan vara rädsla för engagemang eller ett personlighetsfel. Moby har ett hopp om svart solidaritet, vilket sätts på prov när han stöter på en svart amerikan som är i trubbel och behöver hjälp. Är det önsketänkande eller kommer Moby att förbli trogen sitt hopp?

Moby är en av flera karibiska människor som flyttade till Sverige i slutet av sextiotalet, och blev en del av den svarta diasporan. Han är ganska nöjd med sitt liv i en homogen svensk kultur med enstaka gnäll om små saker. Moby låtsas ignorera rasdiskriminering som riktas mot honom. Han känner sig frustrerad i samband med svensk förnekelse.Moby vägrar dock att tro att hans klagomål ofta berott på hans fantasi.Moby tycker om att dejta mer än en kvinna åt gången. Han har problem med långa engagemang i relationer. Han blir lätt uttråkad, vilket kan vara rädsla för engagemang eller ett personlighetsfel.Moby har ett hopp om svart solidaritet, vilket sätts på prov när han stöter på en svart amerikan som är i trubbel och behöver hjälp. Är det önsketänkande eller kommer Moby att förbli trogen sitt hopp?

The scene is an outdoor café near a lake. It is early autumn in the 70s in Stockholm. Berry an Afro-West Indian and two Swedish cronies Gun and Kerstin are socialising. Sam, the Afro-American in time, encroaches on the trio. The black men have conflicting views about how it is to live in Sweden. Berry is belligerent towards Sam: suspects him to have something up his sleeve. Sam, on the other hand, is calm and collected though contemptuous. The girls are puzzled by the bickering between the two men.

"e;Getting It Right, If Ever"e; is a blend of fantasy and realism. The action takes place in two imaginary countries at the beginning of the seventies.Benji is a forty-year-old light-skinned gardener, handyman, and aspiring poet who hails from TeeGee Island, an imaginary island in the British Caribbean.After Sunday service, Benji meets forty-five-year-old Molly, a visitor to TeeGee Island. They become pen pals, and she invites him to Vikland––an imaginary country in Northern Europe.Benji is beside himself with joy and gets the opportunity to visit another country for the first time.A few personal grievances plague Benji­. His youthful appearance––hairless face and bright eyes––bothers him, prompting him to sport a full beard and dreadlocks of grey to appear older and hoping it will enhance his self-esteem.Another grievance is his light complexion. The tropical climate did little to make him darker and was not sufficient to Benji's liking. He is known in his village YoYo as 'reds' because of his complexion, but Benji refers to himself as African––wishing he was jet black.Benji also treasures the ambition to become a published poet but hasn't had much luck.Then a year or more later, Benji catches sight of a beautiful, brown-skinned woman in Vikland, becomes spellbound and sets out to win her affection. However, Benji's wooing becomes anything but straightforward, as if the woman's beauty casts a spell over him. His approach is courageous though not conventional.  Olga's Review:5.0 out of 5 starsSuch a deep understanding of human nature on every page!Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2019 This is the book of life and love, of friendship and loneliness, of hope and despair and a lot more! While reading, I am always trying to imagine what the ending will be: this time I haven't come even close. Lawrence G. Taylor has created his novel in that amazing style, that one simply wonders how writing could have ever been this great! I was impressed that this fascinating read could evoke such warm memories and feelings in me. To develop the story of the relationship of Benji, the 40-year-old Caribbean gardener, and Angelica, whose affection he is desperately trying to win, the author uses simple but so greatly chosen details that speak a lot about characters and events. Benji's love for jazz, the way he compares his beloved woman to actress Dorothy Dandrige, and many more things help to create a picture that is so easy to visualize. I was stunned by Benji's analogy of human beauty when he compared it with "e;fresh flowers in a vase"e; – the metaphor was used in an unexpected way. However, my favorite thought from the book is: "e;It's not the thing itself, but how we understand it that affects us emotionally."e; So simple, yet so true! The picturesque characters of Benji's friend Monica, Angelica's ex-lover Ram-Paul and numerous flash-backs just add miraculously to the whole narrative, leaving a great after-feeling of reading a true life story. The author managed to convey such a deep understanding of human nature - both man and woman - on every page of his book. I recommend this book to everyone! Reading it was like looking inside of oneself and experiencing different feelings through the masterfully crafted characters and story.

For those without luck or courage for a consummate love Binky's Reverie is a YA story that first appeared in my debut book, Strangers in Another Country––a short story collection. The story is about the coming of age of Binky Brown, a young Guyanese man with an idealised view of love and, to a lesser degree, about his quest for self-realisation and his place and calling in life. Linda is a young Swedish woman who has broken up with her boyfriend and takes a university break to spend time in London as an au pair. She meets Binky at the Lutheran Church's social club; they become friends and indulge in a gentle romance, but not beyond. For Linda, it's a romance without a future. The romance offers enjoyment and frustration for the man who has never gone to bed with a woman but loves dating beautiful girls who set their agenda because he lacks the confidence to move matters forward. Linda's message is clear to Binky. Only romance. Their friendship continued through letters (hers: I miss our dates, your jokes and humour, yours truly or loving) after she returned to Sweden. Linda then invites Binky to Sweden for a holiday. Linda likes him a lot, but only as a friend. Binky hopes to go beyond kissing, caressing and cuddling. His hope is consummate love. But in his courtship, mere words and low confidence prevail. Binky hopes Linda will take the initiative to take him off the shelf.

"e;The most interesting feature of the book for me is how the author masterly writes about relationships, interactions, and personal reactions."e;-- Customer's Review Betty and the Black Puppy is a story about a young Scottish woman and her love of animals, which leads to a dispute with her much older Caribbean boyfriend David. The dispute arises over an abandoned puppy in need of shelter. However, the story also sheds light on Betty and David's personality and love relationship. Betty finally finds herself in a compromising position and needs to find a way to resolve the dispute.Recently revised, this story is one of four stories that make up my debut book, Strangers in Another Country.  Reviewed by Kitt O'MalleyRate: 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified PurchaseThe Black Puppy Moves BettyReviewed in the United States on May 18, 2022At first, Betty rescues the black puppy. But, as it turns out, the black puppy rescues Betty. The moral of the story is that we must respect ourselves enough to demand that others respect us, too.