Flyer Fiction: The Cornerhouse Project #4

Today marks the beginning of Flyer Fiction. Over the next four days, I will spend three hours per day in the Cornerhouse cafe, watching the bike stands out of the window, scribbling down my observations in an obsessive Oulipian manner, and hopefully producing at least one short-short story per sitting stint with which to fictionbomb the steeds. I may even squeeze in a light beverage or two. It's a hard life, but someone's got to do it. I'll be there at different times in order to capture different moods and activities, and the whole writing in situ part of the project will add up to 12 hours, covering 11 in the morning to 11 at night. The 12 is significant for a future piece I'm plotting to work on and which will also involve a system, if it comes off. We shall see.

Flyer Fiction: The Cornerhouse Project #3

So here we are - what you need to keep your eyes peeled for if you're a cyclist about town Friday through Monday this weekend.

Flyer Fiction: The Cornerhouse Project #2

As we wend our merry way towards the weekend, and the start of Micro Commission: Flyer Fiction, I thought I'd tell you about a story I've already written that's set at Cornerhouse - in Cinema 1, to be exact. Everyone Has A Favourite Spot is published in Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine and has been recorded by Les Malheureux, the results of which you can listen to on Soundcloud by clicking here. Enjoy.

Flyer Fiction: The Cornerhouse Project

This weekend, the next round of Site Specific Stories will be written in situ at Cornerhouse, as part of the Micro Commissions programme. If you're around, bob by and see if you can spot me; say hello, and I might pop you into the stories I'm going to be writing - I'll be there Fri 5-8pm, Sat 2-5pm, Sun 11am-2pm and Mon 8-11pm. You can read more about Flyer Fiction on the Micro Commissions website and I'll be updating this blog with information as the project unfolds over the next few days...
 

Taking Work Home Again #3

Taking Work Home Again #2

Taking Work Home Again #1

A while ago, I wrote a short-short story called Working From Home. It's totally fictional, but set in a real place: Ancoats' backstreet garage Blossom Motor Co, which occupies a space between Gun Street and Henry Street, just near the corner with Blossom Street. I liked the name, and took a photo, and the story grew from that. Once I'd written it, I printed out the story and sent it with a proper letter (remember them?) to the boss of Blossom, having already telephoned to ascertain the full postal address. The same day, I read the tale at the Bad Language spoken word night in the Northern Quarter, thus cementing it in literary history. A month later, I popped into the garage to see if the letter had arrived, but the boss was off, and I still don't know. Oh well. I've since rewritten the story and renamed it Taking Work Home Again, and this incarnation was recently published on the excellent Thick Jam flash fiction site here. I am currently in the process of an even newer version, cutting it down so my "band" Les Malheureux can perform it at our next gig, at the end of the month.