Book Details:

Book Title:  The Connection Game: A Novel by S.S Turner
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+) ,  272 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: The Story Plant
Release date:   Feb 2023
Content Rating: PG: There’s some violence and a small bit of profanity.
"A one-of-a-kind tale ... a surprising and entertaining piece of work."
- Bill Fitzhugh, author of A Perfect Harvest.
Book Description:

Benny Basilworth makes connections. A rare intellect, he sees things that others don't see and draws conclusions that others completely fail to grasp. He has the kind of mind that can make a person a national sensation on the television gameshow "The Connection Game"– and the kind of mind that can be the target of predators.

Despite his brilliance, Benny and his family find themselves destitute, living in a basement apartment with one tiny window that affords them only the view of the feet of passersby on the street above. It is from this vantagepoint that Benny once again starts making connections. Mad, inconceivable connections. Connections that can change lives . . . and turn the entire world upside down.

Humorous, surprising, wise, and remarkably perceptive, The Connection Game is a novel unlike any other and one that you are unlikely to forget.

Guest Post

Transforming data into a thrilling character

SS Turner

In my novel The Connection Game, the Basilworth family become obsessed with discovering what’s really going on outside their minuscule window which only provides a view of the passing feet on the street above. They’re desperate to answer the question: are there bad people doing bad things outside their window? To answer that question, the Basilworths start compiling data about the passing feet from the limited gaze of their flat window. Data is hardly famous for being interesting. So it may surprise some to learn the data develops somewhat of a character of its own in the novel. The question some readers may ask is how? And why?

Let’s start with the how. The data is effectively the connection between the Basilworths and the passing feet on the street above. It’s their one and only means of making sense of the human world outside their window. That’s all good and well but data is boring, I hear you say. The good news for readers is that the data is only ever presented in simple terms which connects with the story. In fact, Belinda Basilworth discovers she’s a natural storyteller, so she ensures the data is fleshed out with story to ensure it’s useful, and of course thrilling. So it’s a far cry from your typical data which may send some readers to sleep. What’s really interesting is that as the tension inside the Basilworth’s flat grows, the data’s value to readers increases exponentially. This explains how over time the data evolves into a sort of character whose main role is to feed the Basilworths crumbs of understanding from the outside world.

So why give the data character attributes of sorts in the book? The heart of the answer lies in the importance of building suspense as the story progresses. When I was writing The Connection Game, I felt the story needed a high level of suspense to do the story’s main themes justice. So I’d go so far as to say that as the Basilworths try to pull information into the flat through their minuscule window, the suspense builds like water trying to force its way through a narrow hose. In essence, I wanted the reader to feel compelled to read each next chapter of the book.

That’s the how and why of transforming data into a character of sorts. The feedback I’ve received from most readers thus far is that The Connection Game is a uniquely suspenseful novel. I believe the data’s role in escalating the tension between the Basilworth’s world and the outside world is core to the novel’s suspenseful attributes.

Meet the Author:

S.S. Turner has been an avid reader, writer, and explorer of the natural world throughout his life, which has been spent in England, Scotland, and Australia. He worked in the global fund management sector for many years but realized it didn't align with his values. In recent years, he's been focused on inspiring positive change through his writing as well as trying not to laugh in unfortunate situations. He now lives in Australia with his wife, daughter, two dogs, two cats, and ten chickens. He is the author of one previous novel, Secrets of a River Swimmer.

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