Andrew Hook's Blog, page 20

Tetsudo Fan

Please bear in mind this post will contain spoilers, both written and visual, of my story, "Tetsudo Fan".

When Eibonvale Press announced guidelines for a new anthology of train-themed stories I knew I would be interested in writing something for submission. Themed anthologies - when done well - can represent the best in short fiction in my opinion, forcing writers to consider ideas that they might not previously have had, and opening up a wellspring of creativity. The only problem I foresaw fr...

Fur-Lined Ghettos #3

Those of you observant and/or interested enough to keep an eye on this blog will know that I have an editorial assistant role aiding my partner editing an irrealist magazine of poetry and prose that we've titled Fur-Lined Ghettos. The derivation of the name is open to speculation (please speculate in the comments box below), but the process of submission selection is clear. She reads the incoming work and makes a decision, then asks me for my opinion and then sticks with her decision. She kno...

punkPunk! submission guidelines

I'm pleased to announce I'm going to be editing an anthology of punk-inspired stories to be published by DogHorn Publishing. Guidelines here:

For those of us of a certain generation, punk was a defining force for a DIY-attitude that revolutionized music and empowered youngsters with self-belief and a determination for change that became a major cultural UK phenomenon. Punk encapsulated youthful rebellion and embraced a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies, and whilst musically the punk rev...

Bullet

As has become customary I'm making blog posts each time a story of mine gets published in order to give a little background as to how the piece came about. This time it's the turn of "Bullet", now available to read in issue #34 of the excellent Black Static magazine. Please note, this post will contain spoilers so if you have the magazine it'll be best to read this afterwards.


Very occasionally, story ideas come out of dreams. The ending to my story, "Beyond Each Blue Horizon", came at the den...

The Caged Sea

Once again here's a blog post about the gestation of a recently published story, this time "The Caged Sea" which appears in #4 of Unspoken Water magazine.

When writing I always need a title before I can begin a story, and in some instances the title itself is the spark for the story. In this case, the title came to me whilst at the coast (unsurprisingly I guess), whilst I was stood by some steps on the sea defences. The platform at the top of the steps implied a cage over the sea, as seen by t...

Always Different, Always The Same

I don't normally blog gig reviews, mostly because I find I have little to say. Nowadays I tend to have the time/money only to see bands I know I'm going to like, so gig reviews would probably be restricted to effusive gushings that only diehards would be interested in reading. But then, of course, there will always be exceptions. And the exception here are The Fall.

I've seen them around half a dozen times since the mid-eighties. Most of their gigs begin with myself wondering why I've tur...

Three Wishes

We've all wondered what we might do if we had three wishes. For those amongst us who are sensible, the first wish must be to have an unlimited supply of wishes. Or maybe that should be the third wish, in order to gain an unlimited supply plus those first two wishes. Immortality would also be useful, although it's essential to be careful and specific as to how you wish for it - it would probably be best to throw in a preferred age and status of health with some 'not getting older' st...

Proboscis Monkey

It's been a while since I made a post about my favourite kind of animal - those with particularly elongated snouts - so what better way to celebrate the 1st May than by showcasing an animal whose very name is derived from a word for snout?

Of course, it has to be the proboscis monkey:


I remember my first encounter with the probsocis monkey as a stuffed animal in the natural history collection at Norwich Castle Museum. This exhibit might even have initiated my love for long-snouted animals...

Irrealism Is Deafening

Labels can be useful tools. Certain consumers like them because they need to be told what it is they should be buying, just in case they end up with something different. Certain consumers have a fear of buying something different, particularly if that something might be other than mainstream. Other consumers are more eclectic, but even those who like art that might be considered 'underground' still have very definite parameters for what it is they should be buying. Our consumer culture is res...

Rain From A Clear Blue Sky

I've got into the habit of blogging about how various short stories have been written following their publication. Continuing this theme, here is the background to my story, "Rain From A Clear Blue Sky", which was published this month in Black Static #33. Please note there are spoilers in this blog which might affect your enjoyment of the story if you haven't already read it. (Incidentally, following on from an earlier blog post about writing to music, I wrote "Rain From A Clear Blue Sky" whi...