Short stories and flash fiction from writer Simon John Cox.
If you haven't heard of Clean Reader yet then allow me to enlighten you: it's an app that automatically changes swears and other types of "profane" words in ebooks into more acceptable language. I know! What kind of terrified baby would want or need something like that? Well, apparently some people do. Though what they make of the internet I have no idea. Here are my thoughts on why it's kind of OK in one way but mainly not OK in pretty much all other ways...
Image © David StewartHe’d arrived that morning in a blue Hyundai and skipped up the steps to the bandstand with breezy nonchalance. "Jerry's not well," he'd said, "I'll be conducting today."They played three songs straight through, and when they stopped he told them to keep going. When Earl raised a hand and said that they… Continue reading 100WC – The Replacement Conductor
"In the lawless regions of the galaxy, Confederation rule has dwindled. Now the gangsters and smugglers are doing their best to make a quick buck, and maybe just survive.Knox, a disgraced Confederation officer, is hired by a mysterious woman to escort cargo across dangerous territory. It's a payday better than anything he's ever seen...but there's… Continue reading Fool’s Gambit
Two less successful collaboratorsCollaborators usually get a bad rap. The term has generally negative connotations in everyday use, and no-one ever talks about Vichy France with misty-eyed nostalgia. Recently, however, I decided to put all that to one side to try working with Bernard Schaffer (check out his new website http://www.bernardschaffer.com) on Fool's Gambit, a… Continue reading Literary collaboration: three reasons why you should consider it
Image © Rachel BjerkeThe beast that roamed in from the moors that night was mad with hunger and painted black by myth. It took the children by the ruined forge, and when they found the bodies at the stone trough they wished they hadn’t.By then they’d pushed the wolves out into the wild and empty… Continue reading The Last Wolf
I wrote recently about book covers (and Slavic pimps), and ended the blog post with the tantalising threat that I would write more about what I thought makes a good book cover in this confusing modern era of ebooks and online retail.So this is me doing that. As I see it, a modern book cover… Continue reading A melange of pixels and what makes a good electronic book cover
The mushrooms first appeared at the bottom of the garden by the bleached wood fence. They prodded up through the carpet of dead needles and spread their bone-white caps for a week before sinking back into the earth.That was the first year. The second year they reached the tree, the third year the washing line.It… Continue reading 100WC – Mushrooms
A draft cover for Something In The WaterI just finished designing a cover for an ebook by the Tunbridge Wells Writers - Something In The Water, an upcoming collection of "unreliable biographies" of historical figures related to Tunbridge Wells - and it got me thinking about how cover images work in an age of electronic… Continue reading Book covers, Slavic pimps and a dystopian horror carnival
Simon John Cox 