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Railway lines
Obscured
New Book Announcement- Our Voices In The Chaos
I'm really excited to announce my debut chapbook is being published by the fine folks over at Selcouth Station. It's called Our Voices in the Chaos and is a combination of blackout poems and actual poems. It's an anxious little hybrid of a book, dealing with societal collapse, ghosts and what the rain says.
Despite it all
Illusion
Escape into Another World
There is a persistent view that refuses to be shaken that science fiction and fantasy are pure escapism. Usually, this view is from people with limited experience of the genre. People like Ian McEwan, who when promoting his last book was sniffy about the escapist aspects of science fiction:
Brand Ambassador
we are just hear to tell the truth / tell the good as well as the bad / counteract all the lies / get our message out there / provide some much needed perspective / all hail the benevolent bosses / let's keep it light guys / we are just here to better inform you / no need for such language / you do not have all the facts / you are misinformed / you are a child lost in the woods / alone / with only a failing torch / we have the map / we have a gps and we can lead the way out of this forest / we know where you are / we haven't implanted the gps in you / silly / of course not / the technology doesn't exist yet / we know all the routes / if only you'd listen / we're going to have to insist / please do not raise your voice / aggression will not be tolerated / please stay seated / allow the machine to do it's work / do not cause a scene / this won't take long / we are here to help / we are giving you another story / the one you won't hear or read / the media hates success / your echo-chamber is too limited / not long now / stop squirming / people are jealous / those stories are false / our workers are happy / look how happy they are / they are part of our success / look at their smiles / they enjoy it / everyone wins / they have adequate breaks / of course / we are not monsters / we calculated what is enough / to the second / so nothing is wasted / we are not cruel, we are kind / everything is optimised / everything is efficient / that is what you desire / after all / embracing life fully / sometimes we give our workers a minutes rest / please stop the hostility / this is your final warning / the machine is almost finished / it is not calibrated to hurt / your pain is an act / we have the information we need / and more / we know everything about you / two seconds / stay seated / stay quiet / listen to what we are saying
How to Be Free
Draw a line before your flat door.
Put up a sign saying Do Not Cross.
Disconnect your phone, gas,
the broadband, electricity.
Tear up the quarterly newsletter
issued by the resident's committee
Subject: My Demise
to: Computersciences@bru.ac.uk
Be quiet and listen
Open mic nights are wonderful spaces. They are brilliant places to try new work in front of audiences and get instant feedback. But more than that, they are places where you can listen to the voices of others and learn from them. It's essential in these times to be in the same space as others and listen to their words.