Back in the early 80s, when I was knee high to most of the population, two unrelated events occurred across my relations. My aunt bought my cousin a small, white, plain desk as part of a plan to redecorate his bedroom. Meanwhile one of my uncles, living down south, continued to collect comics. In particular, 2000 A.D.
Read MoreI’m not posting this anywhere. I’m not promoting this (ha, ha) anywhere. I’m just putting this blog up on my site to see if anyone notices it.
You can’t be surprised if this sounds needy or egotistical. It’s a blog!
Read MoreNever mind. I don’t want to talk about DC. If I get onto DC, then I’ll have to talk about Marvel and how they’re going to ruin the MCU just by continuing to play the odds. They could have taken a step back with Endgame. It was a solid ending, it gave everything they’d been spinning together an arc. But, no, now it’s TV tie ins and cartoons and it won’t last. It can’t last. None of this can last. It’s going to reach a point where comic book movies become a joke.
Read MoreTime and distance have become oddly toxic to our mental well being in 2020. I think the odds are pretty high that, as most of us welcomed in the new year nearly four months ago, we didn’t realise events halfway around the world were about to stampede through our streets and hospitals. Even as the news began to talk about China in January, we didn’t quite understand the scale of what was coming. Now, here we are, time and space making far less sense than they did a month ago. If it was a month. Who can even tell anymore?
Read MoreI hate starting novels. Short stories, when they’re feeling generous and playful, can pop into being like you’re opening a bottle of champagne. Or, as is more my experience, they can budge into being like opening the stubborn lid of a fairly decent jar of coffee.
Maybe a better metaphor for this involves cars. Starting a short story can be like starting a car. The idea comes to you with some sense of theme and ending, if you’re lucky and you’re not trying to ignore the deadline breathing down your neck and asking why you’ve not got your shoes on yet.
Read MoreWe take in so much information on a daily basis. It makes sense that certain things will just slide past our attention after we’ve seen them enough times. Building sites, shops, queues at bus stops. They’re in our world every single day. They become white noise, background details. Scenery. I had a moment yesterday when I noticed something on my wife’s desk at work that I had completely been looking through for months. Don’t worry, it wasn’t divorce paperwork.
Read MoreHe’d watched too many versions of the same myth. He could spot the seams between the ad breaks now. The recognisable traits. The revolving carousel of non-threatening villains. The shiny fights. The interweaving soap operas. The cameos just for the true geeks, there to invest a marketing exercise with a little purchased history, borrowed as credit for credibility.
Read MoreLoose lips. Clenched fists. Raised voices. Raised to the rafters and tattered flags. Raised to the antique ads and the framed, signed shirts kept behind glass. Break in case of hero worship. I’m here looking for a crooked little voice that used to whisper from my shoulder. Pretty sure I left it in this room.
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