On ‘Who Needs Anything Anymore?’

Singapore Air Force flying over Western Australia, 11 April 2020

I have published a piece on Medium titled Who Needs Anything Anymore? — about writing, reading and technology during the pandemic. This piece has existed in various incarnations for almost 12 months now, and, maybe tellingly, no where has been especially interested in publishing it. But I really wanted it out of my head and removed from my writing path, so it was either here or Medium.

Now, I’m clearly 5-6 years late to Medium, and trawling through the stories it looks like it’s overrun with bitcoin, wellness and conspiracy theory content. Possibly I’ll regret putting it there, but I’m curious to see if it finds any sort of audience. We’re all online more than ever, but online publishing feels increasingly like shouting into the void — also sort of the point of the piece.

926 Years review + more III

Equus Press reviews 926 Years

Firstly, 926 Years by Kyle Coma-Thompson and I has been reviewed at Equus Press by David Vichnar. It is part of Vichnar’s fairly comprehensive look at Sublunary Editions‘ output in the first half of 2020. We have had some lovely and lively reviews of our book, and this one is no different. This line was especially appreciated: Another kind of cohesion is the pragmatic one: the “effect” of this stories leaves one humbled, aware that “there are 7.8 billion live people in the world, each with their own story” (Jyoti Verma). With thanks to David and Equus for taking the time and the head space.

Secondly, Vichnar’s thoughts on the book were nice to see, of course, but it was especially welcome because, unbeknownst to him, it almost perfectly coincides with the first birthday of our little book. I can’t really comprehend where and how the time has gone since January 2020, but it’s hard to argue against the calendar. To make matters more baffling, Kyle and I worked on the text all the way back in 2019, a period which now seems to occupy some obscure spot on the time-space continuum – our email exchanges seem like they were both a million years ago but also just last week. Peter wrote: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. Maybe we are all gods now.

On ‘The Dead Man’s Circumstances’

My piece The Dead Man’s Circumstances has been published in the final edition of RIC Journal for 2020.

The Dead Man has again accompanied me through the year, guiding me through the madness of 2020 like Virgil. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: I couldn’t have continued to write The Dead Man without RIC’s support. Though I need The Dead Man – and, this year, needed him more than ever – without RIC there would no need to write on him.

With thanks, as always, to S.

On ‘Ueno Zoo’

Very pleased to be able to share that my piece Ueno Zoo has been published at Fugitives & Futurists, an exciting new lit journal out of the UK.

Wrote this while watching nature documentaries and reading Kafka’s Lost Writings but also while holding in mind a couple of pieces I wrote a few years ago, specifically Then God and Economies of Scale. I love the image that accompanies the piece, it matches the intent perfectly.

With thanks to Andrew.

On ‘The Dead Man’s Unpaid Debt’

I’m pleased to be able to report that my poem The Dead Man’s Unpaid Debt has been published in the October 2020 edition of RIC Journal.

This piece continues the Dead Man project, which has also, over time, become a RIC project – actually, I don’t know that any other publication has published any Dead Man…

Anyway, because it is also a RIC project, it means that regardless of how much – or little – I’m writing in a month, I am obliged to track the path of the Dead Man. Seeing where he ends up, and how, the mischief he makes, the lies he tells, is always a delight. For this I am very thankful to S.