S.D. Stewart's Blog, page 4

take shelter [film review]

[Third in a series of ekphrastic responses to the films of Jeff Nichols, written following a recent second viewing. First. Second.] A cloud formation, colored rain falls. The wavery grass—below seething sky confounded by murmurations. A failure to communicate—an oily sheen—some of it you cannot rub away. Open mouth gasps wake from dark dreams. A […]

‘caught between writing and life’: peter holm jensen’s the moment

The first psithuristic wisp of autumn arrived this week. Early August and the heat retreated with a whimper in the presence of the death season’s harbinger. Odd to experience this with all the news of raging fires out west. It has been dry here, though, it has been that. Will we too one day be […]

‘endlessly making an end of things’

A Set of Lines turns one

Today is the one-year anniversary of the publication of my novel A Set of Lines. To mark the occasion I thought I would offer a little history on its genesis. In a halfhearted attempt to ‘market’ the book when the ebook edition became available, I characterized it as ‘quotidian dystopiary meets nouveau roman,’ realizing even […]

cormorant trio with turtles

the black dog – neither/neither

A Set of Lines review

The writer Rebecca Gransden posted an incisive review of A Set of Lines on Goodreads. Excerpt below: There is a shorthand inherent in tackling dystopian themes, and Stewart moulds a knowing backdrop, using that shorthand to create a scaffolding which amplifies the atmosphere of benumbed melancholy. Throughout, there is an overwhelming sense of longing underneath […]

spectral rabbits

In an ongoing series depicting the After People world, GPA archivists report on an infestation of spectral rabbits, as seen through the eyes of one G. Hogg—a disgruntled groundhog just woken from her months-long nap.

a word was unfolding

I made this erasure earlier this year as part of a collaborative inquiry with Archivist NG into the origins of the Ghost Paper Archives. Full text in lined form appears below the images. a word was unfolding the present as the present is hypnosis one being involved in the other when the victim of action […]

ship of fools

I recently participated in Surrealist provocateur Merl Fluin‘s flash fiction game, Ship of Fools. My contribution is entitled ‘Sea Legs’. You can read all of the responses here.