Still is the first title from Negative Press London, and it’s a very intriguing prospect indeed. Artist-photographer Roelof Bakker invited contributors to write a short story inspired by one of his photographs of Hornsey Town Hall in north London (there are examples on Bakker’s website). So this anthology is the book of Still the exhibition, but it also gives Bakker’s images a new context. For me, the mix of writers is so interesting that I want to do a story-by-story review. Here are the stories:
- Mark Piggott, ‘Midnight Hollow‘
- Nina Killham, ‘My Wife the Hyena’
- Andrew Blackman, ‘Sanctuary’
- Evie Wyld, ‘Corridor’
- Myriam Frey, ‘The Staircase Treatment’
- Jan van Mersbergen, ‘Pa-dang’
- Ava Homa, ‘A Rose for Raha’
- Nicholas Royle, ‘The Blind Man’
- James Miller, ‘From the Archive‘
- Tania Hershman, ‘Switchgirls’
- Mary Rechner, ‘The Playwright Sits Next to Her Sister’
- Aamer Hussein, ‘The Tree at the Limit’
- Richard Beard, ‘Lift Under Inspection Do Not Touch’
- Preeta Samarasan, ‘Odd Job’
- James Higgerson, ‘Noise’
- S.J. Butler, ‘A Job Worth Doing’
- David Rose, ‘Sere’
- Sarah Ladipo Manyika, ‘Morayo’
- Justin Hill, ‘Waiting’
- Jan Woolf, ‘Ten a Day’
- Barbara Manghami-Ruwende, ‘Opportunity’
- Claire Massey, ‘In the Dressing Room Mirror’
- Nicholas Hogg, ‘The Owl at the Gate’
- S.L. Grey, ‘Still’
- Deborah Klaassen, ‘How to Make a Zombie’
- Xu Xi, ‘Winter Moon’
The titles of those stories will turn into links as I work my way through the anthology. I’m looking forward to the exploration.
26th September 2012 at 1:31 pm
I rather like the picture of the maintenance room clock. 🙂
The photographic project sounds intriguing but the idea of writers being connected to and somehow inspired by this building in search of a new life or awaiting a demolition ball by the images adds a whole other dimension. Looking forward to your thoughts on the particular stories.
27th September 2012 at 9:40 pm
Thanks Alex – it’s a really interesting idea for an anthology, which is one reason I wanted to review it this way.
The maintenance room clock goes with Deborah Klaassen’s ‘How to Make a Zombie’. I won’t get to that one for a while yet, though!
16th October 2012 at 4:46 pm
Just received a copy of this book & my first impression was how beautiful it looked, can’t wait to start my own exploration .
16th October 2012 at 5:02 pm
I love it when a book has so clearly been published with love and care.