@phenryward
Books, art, theatre, and telling people I liked the thing they made. Writes Weird / Gothic short stories (see pinned thread) in Macabre Magazine, Gavagai, Thin Veil Press, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Bristol Noir. Forthcoming in Frost Zone, Rat Bag.
This is great. Reminded me strongly of Ben Winters' Last Policeman trilogy, which I loved. The same pervasive sense of a principled or disciplined despair that somehow becomes a sustaining integrity, a flashlight - for what it's worth - in the void. Hideous creatures and lovely sentences too!
Cc @davidallengreen.bsky.social for mix of "Birmingham mentioned" and a touch of SF geekery which I believe is your thing too. I've lived very happily in Birmingham for years now but think of this incendiary line all the time.
I may have one to add if it fits the scope? JE Flecker’s The Last Generation (1908), which IIRC has a revolutionary death cult that develops expliclty from a labour movement. (Text below from my abandoned PhD that I'm always trying to find uses for.)
This is great. Reminded me strongly of Ben Winters' Last Policeman trilogy, which I loved. The same pervasive sense of a principled or disciplined despair that somehow becomes a sustaining integrity, a flashlight - for what it's worth - in the void. Hideous creatures and lovely sentences too!
Thanks! From responses elsewhere, there seem to be only pockets of recognition. I'm using an esoteric analysis of it - essentially a gender studies reading - and coming to the conclusion that the value of a hidden meaning needs the casual detailed knowledge that maybe only exists in the UK...
Having just bought a copy of Rashomon I've discovered I already own a copy of Rashomon, and, uh, I guess I remembered that differently?
A question for non-UK users, if you wouldn't mind? Do you know the children's book, The Gruffalo? It's an absolute cultural behemoth here. I'm using it as both a core reference for a story and ideally, the basis for a piece of creative non-fiction. Will anyone know what the hell I'm talking about?
Pretty panicky about you guys dealing with a book I know and like, by an author I respect.
Having just bought a copy of Rashomon I've discovered I already own a copy of Rashomon, and, uh, I guess I remembered that differently?
Thank you!
A question for non-UK users, if you wouldn't mind? Do you know the children's book, The Gruffalo? It's an absolute cultural behemoth here. I'm using it as both a core reference for a story and ideally, the basis for a piece of creative non-fiction. Will anyone know what the hell I'm talking about?
This incredible novel doesn't let up. An aspiring genocidaire (possibly the 'hero'?) steals a cat to illustrate his chemical weapon manufacture and one of the glass beads of death rolls off a table, smashing to release the poison and I'm like: THE ROCK (1996): Dir Michael Bay, starring Sean Connery
Talk in the barber’s was of Shropshire, Mablethorpe, Skegness, fish and chips and, inevitably, the war.
We'll be TOC buddies! I've got a story in that issue too, of cliff jumping and strange disappearances. Look forward to reading yours!
I'm young enough to have been seduced at the time into a reading of Fight Club that was about masculinity, rebellion and freedom; I'm old enough now to see it as not only a road map to fascism, but to recognise how lucky I was to not have global hate engines turning my warped sympathies into action.
I'm young enough to have been seduced at the time into a reading of Fight Club that was about masculinity, rebellion and freedom; I'm old enough now to see it as not only a road map to fascism, but to recognise how lucky I was to not have global hate engines turning my warped sympathies into action.
I like @404ink.bsky.social and looking forward to this, but grimly funny that the webpage for a book about "keeping a cultural organisation afloat against an unstable economic backdrop where purse strings are ever-tightening" has this banner:
I like @404ink.bsky.social and looking forward to this, but grimly funny that the webpage for a book about "keeping a cultural organisation afloat against an unstable economic backdrop where purse strings are ever-tightening" has this banner:
I thought of this punchline the other day but couldn't conceive a set-up, so I salute il miglior fabbro
Open now until March 7th.
You know it's best when you give us your weird.
Image courtesy of unsplash @heathergreengreen
#submissioncall #submissioncalls #opencall #opencalls #weirdfic #ratbag #FlashFiction #writingcommunity #flashfiction #fiction #writing #drabble #drabblecall
Love seeing love for @drawingbloodpod.bsky.social !
All three seasons available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - with a fourth season hopefully coming this year!
Always makes my day to hear that people listen to (and enjoy!) our silly little side project
First time listening to @drawingbloodpod.bsky.social and it's excellent. Crimes Of The Future is such an elusive / allusive film and this is a great dissection. pca.st/episode/7cc2...
THE BEETLE (1897) sets off at a ridiculous pace. Reading so I can more knowledgeably engage with the @mealofthorns.bsky.social episode.
This is exactly right and the only purpose that can offset the tremendous damage of social media networks.
Excerpt from A Named Storm: Now’s as good a time as any to say how Henry differed from the rest of us, other than being related to the sheriff by marriage. He was a good man. You wouldn’t hear otherwise from any of us on our hardest day, let’s get that straight. But there was something about him that was feminine, exploitable. A weakness: for being liked, worse, for liking people. He wanted everyone just to get along, like a mother on Christmas morning, and it was just as needy, just as pathetic, just as impossible. The natural state of things is to not get along, and to not know that—or to know it and suppress it?—why, the rest of us fairly shivered with contempt. For what is the point of men if not to thrive when people are not getting along?
A chorus of barflies describes the aftermath of a murder in a town where almost everyone has a secret. Dark, violent and funny, A Named Storm is a gothic Noir and a real good time. Thanks to Macabre Magazine for selecting!
macabremagazine.com/a-named-storm/
Part of how this Gruffalo reading revealed itself was the extreme familiarity (bordering on contempt) with a text that every parent can recognise. It's about 700 words long and I've read it about 700 times. Under these conditions, new patterns assert themselves.
Excerpt from A Named Storm: Breaking glasses is nothing new at Harve’s. Funny touch, if you haven’t noticed: those are brooms lined up against the walls, not pool cues. You can break whatever you want as long as you sweep it up and tip good. If our women saw the cleaning we did here compared to home—paying for the privilege, to boot—they’d fairly shit on the floor. We’d have to sweep it up after, too.
A chorus of barflies describes the aftermath of a murder in a town where almost everyone has a secret. Dark, violent and funny, A Named Storm is a gothic Noir and a real good time. Thanks to Macabre Magazine for selecting!
macabremagazine.com/a-named-storm/
Some great books in comments here but my vote is for Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt novels
