It is a sad time when there is more horror in reality than there is in any of our imaginations.

Our thoughts go out to anyone caught up in the atrocities in Ohio and Texas.

No nonsense this week. Not that I haven’t got reason to moan, I’ve been annoyed by the usual three biggies; politicians, mobile users and adverts, as well as PC genres, local poetry, more AI, most TV, Sainsburys, growing grass, people, children and enthusiastic tolerance.

But I have no space for any of them as we have a Saturday Special for your reading pleasure.

For any of you who are not familiar with this, it is for pieces of work that we wouldn’t necessarily label as a story but there is something about it that makes us believe that it needs to be showcased.

Over the last four years and nine months, we are getting very close to our fifth year anniversary.

– Who would have thought that! Probably not even us if truth be told. This will be only the fifth time that we have done this…Not our fifth year anniversary, that would mean it would be coming up to our twenty fifth, I mean the Saturday Special.

If anyone wants to have a look at the previous postings just type in Saturday Special on the ‘Search Stories’ box on the RHS of the home page.

I’ll introduce this later so first off, we’ll get last weeks stories dealt with.

We had two new writers, one old friend on his fourth and me.

Our topics this week included; A different POV, parenting, realisation, self-esteem and a morning crawl.

As always our initial comments follow.

 

First up on Monday was me with ‘Collar And Cuffs‘.

I had written a version of this quite a while back but it was refused as both Nik and Diane felt that it wasn’t complete and it needed some perspective. It had been niggling at me ever since as I enjoyed writing about the MC. The story kept whispering at me and I eventually came up with this version. I reckon that means Nik and Diane were right the first time! I thank them as always.

 

Our first new writer was published on Tuesday.

We welcome David Flynn, whose first story for us was, ‘Morbidity.’

‘His depression and desperation were believable and the idea of accepting your ability to commit suicide is the best way to decide whether you want to do it or not.’

‘His temptation with necrophilia was beautifully balanced with the reveal of his revulsion.’

‘Due to his relationship with the living, you could understand why he had a relationship with the dead.’

 

Marco Etheridge was published for the fourth time.

He has taken something that is well known and put a completely different slant on it.

‘The Last Lost Eye‘ was next up on Wednesday.

‘Unlike a lot of mythology, this was gripping and accessible.’

‘Brilliant tone, consistent voice and actually a lot of depth.’

‘Marco’s stories have been very visually descriptive. This shows how inventive he can be.’

 

I don’t know if many folks noticed but we had a technical problem on Thursday.  All is resolved now.

This was good news for Marco as he had another day of headlining!

 

And we finished off with Tara Wine-Queen.

We look forward to seeing a lot more work from all our newbies.

‘An Appalachian Story‘ was published on Friday.

‘There is a natural flow to Tara’s work.’

‘Being in not the best of circumstances and being self destructive doesn’t mean that you don’t love your kids.’

‘The consistency of the voice lifts this story to very good.’

 

That’s the stories dealt with.

The usual reminders.

Please keep the comments coming. We see all the regular contributors and we can’t thank you enough. But the more the merrier, so why not get rid of your shyness and say something!

And we are always looking for suggestions for the Sunday Re-Run. We will publish what you say if you send us a spiel about an older story that you have enjoyed. Throw in a couple of questions to get into the mind of the writer.

 

Now onto our special for today.

This is the first time that Alex Ryan has submitted to us. He has been courteous and professional and he understood why we didn’t consider this a story.

What it is though, is an absolutely brilliant piece of social statement through observation.

This is an excellent example of a writer truly listening and letting the events tell the story. Those who don’t write may think this is easy but it isn’t. If you can write exactly as you would speak, that is a helluva talent. It’s the same with what you see and hear, it sounds simple but it isn’t. Alex’s timing is spot on and that is a very difficult discipline. When you hear a comedian telling a joke, it is all in the timing, with certain pieces of writing it is the same. You need to find a way to put this across and Alex does this beautifully.

Hugh

So here we have Alex Ryan and his first piece of work for us:

‘Overheard.’

***

Overheard #1: A Predictable Ending

 

INT. Piccadilly Line train, London Underground, London, UK.

Conversation in progress. 

‘Yeah. Yeah. That’s what he said.’

‘He said that?’

‘Yeah, man.’

‘Fucking hell.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, bruv. Girls like, always come up to him, man. All the time.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah.’

Pause.

‘His girl is peng though.’

‘Yeah.’

‘She’s so peng man.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Wasn’t he gonna marry her?’

‘That’s what he said.’

‘Fuck … How long have they been together now?’

Pause.

‘… A long time, man. Long time. They were-’

‘It was year ten right?’

‘-they were – no, it was … year-’

‘Year eleven?’

‘Yeah … Yeah, it must’ve been. Because it was – do you remember Finn’s party?’

‘Yeah yeah – the house party, yeah?’

‘Yeah. Yeah, it was Finn’s party. They hooked up at Finn’s party.’

‘He’d been into her before though.’

‘Oh yeah, man. For sure.’

‘Yeah. So that’s what? Three years? Four?’

‘Hang on … it was year eleven, then … then two years of sixth form, then-’

‘Then now, right? Then first year of uni? So four years?’

‘Nah, because … because gap year, right? We all took a year out.’

‘She didn’t.’

‘Yeah, but we all did.’

‘Okay yea. So that’s-’

‘Five years.’

‘Five years. Fuck.’

‘Yeah.’

They sit in silence for a short while.

‘Five years.’

‘Yeah, man.’

‘Fuck.’

‘Yeah.’

‘And girls just … come up to him?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Fuck … that’s …’

‘What?’

‘Well, it’s just … Why don’t they come up to me? Ya know?’

‘Don’t they?’

‘Nah! I mean they do. Like … they do …’

‘But they don’t.’

‘… Yeah.’

‘You fucking idiot.’

‘Fuck off!’

They laugh, shoulder-barging each other a little.

‘So you think he’ll marry her?’

‘That’s what he says.’

‘Yeah …’

‘What is it, bruv?’

‘What?’

‘What is it. You’re thinking, yeah?’

‘Nah. I mean, yeah. Not really. It’s just. Girls come up to him, yeah?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And how does he feel – how does she feel – about that?’

Pause.

‘Wait … Aren’t they-’

‘Yeah.’

‘Are they?!’

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he didn’t want to. But yeah. They are.’

‘Fucking hell. How long has that been?’

‘Not sure. He doesn’t … He doesn’t really go into it. Like he’s … I mean, yeah. You wouldn’t.’

‘He told us he was gonna marry her.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that’s gotta be part of it.’

‘Part of it?’

‘Part of – I don’t mean part of it. Part of why he doesn’t want to talk about it.’

‘Oh yeah. Yeah. Gotta be.’

‘Gotta be.’

Pause.

‘But girls are coming up to him? He says?’

‘Yeah, that’s what he says.’

‘On nights out?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Without her there?’

‘I mean, you’d imagine so, bruv.’

‘But he … Does he still see her?’

‘Yeah. I mean, I think so. I reckon so, yeah. I don’t know if it’s like that.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Yeah.’

Pause.

‘But girls come up to him.’

‘Apparently.’

‘Hm. Sounds like he’s … like he’s making the most of it? Ya know?’

‘I don’t know if it’s like that, either.’

 

Conversation shifts to other topics.

Alex Ryan