Flash! AAH-ahh!

Flash Gordon actually has nothing whatsoever to do with this entry.

This is a follow-up to my previous post on the subject, “The Art of Flashing“. It’s not going to be a long piece, but I wanted to write it for several reasons.

1) The awesome title occurred to me only several days after the original flash fiction entry.
2) I do really like flash fiction.
3) I was contacted by Alan Presley, who asked me to pimp the Micro Award. Which I’m more than happy to do

The Micro Award is for outstanding flash fiction, published in the previous year. It probably doesn’t sound frightfully interesting, but really literary awards are important for recognition of outstanding fiction, and are a massive deal in the industry. They showcase the very best of what’s going on, a snapshot of the top. And they often cause controversy and debate (for example, the Booker prize recently ignored genre fiction again, and rolled out the same bollocks in explanation of that. But that’s a different debate).

But more than that, this award is an essential ingredient if flash is to be considered a genuine mode of literary art. I already made my feelings on flash fiction clear in my previous entry, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for the authors who can form a complete, engaging and satisfying story in only 500 words.

The award has just been taken over by Alan Presley (previously having been run by Robert Laughlin), and is gathering momentum. And best of all, it’s open to all genres, recognising all equally. Which, if you’ve read my previous posts, you know is something I’m more than a little passionate about. If you’re interested in flash fiction, or in the award, you should definitely take a look at the Micro Award website.

Also, while I’m plugging away, I’ll give the Escape Pod flash contest (yes, you have to register on their forum to see and vote on the stories, but at least it’s free) another nod. There are a lot of entries, so it’s gonna be going on for a while (and I’ll be flogging it on here until it’s a bloody mess of twitching organs). I have two stories in it, one of which is through to the quarter finals, and one of which is still in the first round. It’s still blind, and I’m still not going to say which are mine, but you should really read through all of them. There are brilliant examples of both flash fiction, and sci-fi in general, on there.

The (Tory)pion and the Fox [Political Flash Fiction]

The (Tory)pion and the Fox

By Matthew S. Dent

The Scorpion (right) and the Fox (left)

There is an ancient fable, told as a warning against excessive foolishness or trust. It tells that there was once a Liberal Democrat fox, called Nick, who lived on the opposition bank, of the river Parliament. One day he heard someone calling his name.

Turning around, he saw a gathering of Tory scorpions. ‘Nick,’ they said. ‘Nick, please help us.’

‘Help you?’ he asked, suspicious. All foxes knew that scorpions were not to be trusted- especially Tory scorpions.

‘We need to get to the other side of the river,’ the lead scorpion, called Dave, explained. ‘We need to get to the government bank, but there aren’t enough of us to get across.’

Nick looked over at the other bank. It was green and fertile, with food a plenty, and many comfortable places to sleep in the sun. Although he had always lived on the opposition bank, he had never stopped dreaming of one day making it to the government bank.

‘But I’m just a fox,’ he said. ‘There are too many obstacles. I could never manage to land on the other side.’

‘We’ll help you,’ one of the scorpions, George, whispered to him. ‘If you take us across, we will let you stay.’

Nick considered this carefully. It was very tempting. No fox had set foot on the government bank in almost a hundred years. But he was still suspicious.

‘You’re scorpions,’ he said. ‘And Tories. Everyone knows what you’re like. You’ll sting me. and cut public services, lower taxes for the rich and neglect the poor.’

‘No!’ Dave said, with a chuckle. ‘Why would we do that? We haven’t been on the other bank for thirteen years, because we did that. If we did it again, we’d drown too. Why would we do that?’

Nick thought on this long and hard. He considered it for several days, talking to the other animals, while the Tory scorpions grew impatient. Eventually he returned to them with the other foxes, to give them an answer.

‘Alright,’ he said. ‘We’ll carry you across on our backs. But we want our pick of the best sleeping spots on the other side.’

‘Certainly!’ Dave agreed, delighted.

So the foxes began swimming across the river, with the Tory scorpions on their backs. The water was cold, and turgid. It took all of the foxes’ efforts to get across. But as they drew away from the opposition bank, and towards the government bank, the scorpions stung the foxes, on whose backs they rode.

‘But why?’ Nick asked. The Tories were slashing public spending, raising VAT, continuing Trident, cancelling essential economic projects, politicising the police and destroying the education system.

As the water over his mouth and nose, he pleaded, ‘Why? You’ve drowned yourself too.’

Next to him, Vince Cable was sinking fast, as George stung him again and again.

‘Why?’ Dave laughed. ‘I’m a Tory. It’s in my nature.’

Is it an ancient fable? Perhaps not. But it might be one day. Wake up, Nick.

On 3D

When 3D first started rolling along and becoming the latest cinematic bandwagon, I was a bit uncertain. Avatar being the first 3D movie I saw probably didn’t help matters too much. But my opinion of it has, for a long while, been that it is nothing short of a gimmick, an excuse for cinemas to charge more for tickets, and for uninteresting and derivative films to be able to shout “Look at me! Look at me!”.

In my defence, look at the titles we’ve seen with 3D so far: My Bloody Valentine, Final Destination 4, Clash of the Titans, and so forth. Scarcely innovative filmmaking. I’ll add that I haven’t seen Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, so I might be talking out of my arse completely and that may use 3D in a completely different way. But I doubt it.

The thing about 3D is that I have yet to encounter a film where it’s actually incorporated into the plot, rather than being stuck on. If a film was to actually use the 3D element integrated into the plot (God knows how; I certainly don’t) then it might become the innovation that the film industry wants it to be.

That hasn’t happened yet, and I’m still not completely sold on 3D, but I’m a little more positive about it. What happened? I saw Toy Story 3 the other day.

Avatar's use of 3D graphics was distracting and gimmicky...

Let me explain. When I saw Avatar in 3D, I was underwhelmed by it. And I mean in general- the story was so-so, the acting was fairly bland, and it was longer than my bladder was comfortable with. But aside from that, the 3D was a distraction from the film. I couldn’t follow the storyline as well, because every so often I caught myself stopping to admire the scenery. In the end, the film became more about the graphics than the story, which really should be a death knell for a film. And the most damning thing of all is that I’ve since seen it in 2D, and if anything it came across better.

Watching Toy Story 3, however, it wasn’t quite like that. Maybe it’s because the story was stronger (it was outstanding), the characters more engaging, and the film as a whole more complex, but I didn’t feel that the fact it was in 3D lessened the experience, or detracted anything. It was simply there; and I was focused on the film for the whole duration. Now, this might just be that Toy Story 3 was a much better film than Avatar, but if I’d seen this first, I’d probably be a whole lot more optimistic about 3D.

...whereas in Toy Story 3, it faded to insignificance next to the film.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. Toy Story 3 was a great film, but I’m certain it would have been every bit as good as in 2D. The 3D graphics were still just as unnecessary, but here they were a neutral force. I was able to focus on the film, and enjoy the story (and, yes, tear up at the end) without having to stop every few minutes to think “OH MY GOD! IT’S IN 3D!”.

3D is still problematic, in my opinion. The glasses are a pain, and it has a tendency to cause headaches (Toy Story 3 didn’t, for some unknown reason, have the same disorientating effect on me that Avatar did), not to mention being exclusive of one-eyed audience members. But I suppose it not being a problem is the first step on the road to it being a good thing. It could, I think, be a great force for interactive entertainment, used with the right idea. Nintendo are going to be the first to use it with gaming, releasing the 3DS at some still-vague point in the future, but honestly I expect it will be another gimmick-fest, like its big brother the Wii.

We may have to wait some time to see whether 3D can be the film revolution that the film industry are so desperate for us to see it as.

Inception Review…

So, I saw inception on Saturday. And I wrote a review on the way home. I was going to post it on here, when I’d edited it up on Sunday morning, and left a Facebook status to that extent. But, as they say, the best made plans of mice and men, often go awry.

When I woke on Sunday, I found a Facebook message from Tony Lee (head honcho of Pigasus Press and DVD reviewer for TTA Press’ magazines), inviting me to instead submit the review to science-fiction magazine-website The Zone. So I did.

So if any of you want to know how good Inception was, then please take a look at my newly-published review, on the site!

The Art of Flashing

Flash fiction, that is. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I’ve been writing a lot of flash fiction lately, for some reason. I’ve written three stories, in the last few days. I think it all started with the Campaign for Real Fear, for which my entry (Extra-Curricular) was regrettably not selected. But there was something fun about it. Trying to get a complete story in 500 words is a fun challenge.

See, my writing evolution has gone a little in reverse. Instead of starting out small, and getting bigger, I began trying to write novels. Trying being the operative word. Until almost two years ago (Christ, it’s gone too quickly), I had never really been able to write short stories. There’s something difficult and challenging in staying inside a tighter word limitation, where you need to be free of the extraneous bumf that would be more permissable in a novel-length work.

The thing about flash fiction rather than a short story, however, is that it’s much harder to get a complete story within 500 words. With a short story, I can quite happily fit a three- or even five-act story. But a piece of flash is more like a glimpse into the fictional world of the setting and characters; a peak through a window. You have to get the atmosphere right, with minimal description. You have to make your characters full and likeable (if that’s the intention) through only a few pieces of dialogue and action. You can’t waste words on chunks of exposition.

Since becoming more “serious” about my writing two years ago, my writing style has changed drastically. I used to be cloyingly verbose, and after some loving criticism and advice from my beautiful Ashleigh, I ended up with a much more stripped down way of writing. I’m not sure it’s all a good thing, but I’m still learning and evolving, so I guess it doesn’t matter. But I do believe that you should only use as many words as absolutely necessary to get across what you’re trying to, so from that standpoint, really a good piece of flash fiction should be the pinnacle of good writing.

That’s not to knock short stories and novels. I love writing short stories, and one day I am going to both edit my Spanish Civil War vampire novel (No, they don’t sparkle), and write more novels. But there’s something about a well crafted piece of flash that makes me feel warm and happy. I guess it’s the whole short and elegant aspect. To the point. No prevarication.

And if you want to see examples of some of the finest flash fiction, then I’d recommend taking a look at the Escape Pod flash fiction contest. Aside from being a fantastic (free) weekly podcast of sci-fi stories, the lovely people at Escape Pod are currently in the voting stage of a flash fiction contest. You can find (and vote on) the entries at the Escape Artists Forums, but you have to register on the site (again, for free) to see the stories. They aren’t all fantastic, but there are some real gems in there. Yes, I have a couple of pieces in there. No, I won’t tell you which. See if you can figure it out.

As for my recent produce? Well, if anyone wants to suggest any markets that publish flash (sci-fi and horror, specifically), I’d be very grateful. If I can’t find anywhere to sell them to, I may simply post them up here, for you lovely people to read.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

 

Vince Cable's suggestions of a graduate tax to replace tuition fees, are somewhat damaged by other more regressive suggestions.

 

The Coalition government has today proposed introducing a graduate tax to fund higher education in this country, rather than the current system of loans that sees graduates leaving university with crippling amounts of debt. If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because it’s something that has been suggested many times, by many people- most recently by shadow secretary for education, Ed Balls.

But let’s not dwell on that. After all, it’s surely a good thing if the government accepts it when the opposition has a good idea? Anyway, that’s not my point here. My point is the compromise that is inherent in any coalition, and in particular a coalition between such polar opposites as the Tories and the Lib Dems. Every achievement that one side makes is tempered by an achievement of the other. Or rather, every concession the Lib Dems manage is tempered by some crazy rubbish that I sincerely hope comes from the other side.

Take the student finance, for example. Along with the graduate tax idea (which I welcome, as I did when Mr Balls suggested it), the announcement contains suggestions of all manner of things, including shortening degrees to two years. I’m not sure how many degrees this would actually apply to, but I can’t think of many where it would be a good idea. I’m a law student, about to go into my second year. Now, I know I didn’t really shout too much about it, but I had my exams a few months ago. And they were hard.

The stress that I went through this year, and last year, is largely due to the massive quantity of “stuff” I have to learn and remember. It might not seem like it, but there really is a lot to learn in Law. And I’m not nearly arrogant enough to assume that other courses aren’t the same. My point is that the stress levels, and the amount of material covered is at the limits of what is manageable. If you reduce course duration to two years, one of two things will happen: either the rate of stress-related breakdowns will increase, or the standard of graduates will fall. Neither of which seems desirable.

And that’s not to mention the potential for forming a two tiered education system, which seems to be something the Tories quite like the idea of. If both two and three-year courses are offered, at different prices, you’ll end up with those whose families happen to be rich enough to afford it getting the higher standard three-year education, and those whose families aren’t so well off having to settle for two-year “basics” degrees.

Now, there’s already a divide between the education that the rich and the poor receive, under the current system. A graduate tax would do a lot to allieviate that, as money wouldn’t be the primary obstacle for students from a poorer background, but rather they would be judged on academic ability.

A double standard of education based on wealth would destroy any benefit there, however. And it’s not just that it’s against the interests of social justice. It’s quite clearly against the interests of the country as a whole. What the public seems to misunderstand, and certain politicians are keen to encourage them to, is that students are not a drain on the taxpayer. They are an investment, by the country. Yes, it requires money from the taxpayers to educate them, but who gets the benefits? Who gets treated by the doctors trained at our universities? Who is defended by the lawyers? Who is going to rely on the graduates of the future?

I’m not even going to answer that for you. It’s just galling that I’m forced to watch every sensible, liberal, progressive suggestion that is made by this coalition of contradictions, be checked by some conservative, reactionary nonsense. What our economy is going to need as it crawls out of recession is not less jobs, nor smart and capable people excluded from the education which would benefit them and the country, simply because they weren’t lucky enough to be born into money.

Werewolf Competition Reminder

Just a reminder that there is still a little over a day if you want to enter my werewolf anthology.

To celebrate the release of the “Silver Moon, Bloody Bullets” anthology from Pill Hill Press, which includes my story “The Mystery of St. Mary’s Morgue”, I’m offering one lucky person the chance to win a copy.

All you have to do, to win said anthology of 25 lupine stories, is comment on this blog post (or email me at matthewsdent[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk), telling me why you think you should. I’ll choose my favourite as the winner once the competition closes, and they’ll get the lovely book that’s sat next to me as I write this. So be imaginative, and impress me!

I’ll accept entries up to midnight on Sunday 11th July (and because of the number of times that time difference has wreaked havoc with me when submitting, I’m gonna just say that it’s open until midnight wherever YOU are), and all I ask if you win is that you give it a review on amazon.

Oh, and it’s open to anyone, in any country. So no excuses for not entering.

Putting the “Dem” in “ConDem”… Sort of

I was going to call this “Putting the Liberal in Libservative”, but after the deeply regressive budget the coalition have put forward, that seemed a little too oxymoronic.

So this weekend, the coalition has announced the date for their AV referendum. 5th May 2011. It’s a big moment, because it’s the only meaningful concession that the Lib Dems got out of the Tories. It’s not what they wanted, but it’s not what the Tories wanted either. Everyone knows that the Lib Dems will campaign for AV, and the Tories will campaign against it, and really that facet of the issue isn’t that interesting.

The importance of this announcement is that it’s Nick Clegg’s attempt to justify himself to his party and voters, after the travesty of the VAT hike he campaigned against, and then fell in line behind. Compromise is one thing, but VAT was the weapon of choice that the Lib Dems attacked the Tories with during the election. To support it now is not simply compromise, but a betrayal of principles, and the voters who listened and agreed to what they had said.

But the Lib Dem frontbench hopes that this announcement will be a reminder that yes, they did get something out of the deal. They might have sold their souls, but at least they didn’t sell them for completely nothing. Right? Well, it’s still a very small concession. The Tories’ line is clear; they like first past the post. They’ll throw their full weight behind it, including the Ashcroft/Murdoch machine (and I don’t believe that DC will remain neutral in the campaign). The Lib Dem’s line on it, however, isn’t exactly harmonious. They want a much more radical electoral reform, and this is just a tiny step in the direction they want to go.

I’m in favour of AV. I’m actually in favour of Single Transferable Vote, but that’s so complicated as to probably be impractical for the population to understand, without a few generations of quality political education in schools (another thing that I’m fairly passionate about the need for). But I don’t know whether it will pass or not.

And on top of that, this could be a serious problem for the Labour Party. Whilst the Tories and the Lib Dems have their clear places on either side of the electoral reform line, Labour is bisected by it. Some want reform, some want to keep first past the post, which will make the whole issue vary precarious. It runs the risk of dividing the party on the campaign, particularly as the inclusion of the boundary changes the Tories want to make to keep Labour out in the future will be bound up in it. Even those who like the idea of AV are relucatant to support a measure which will also gerrymander the constitution.

In my opinion, this is one of those now issues. Labour needs to debate openly and intensely their stance on the referendum, and make a collective decision where the party stands. And it needs to stick by that position, every man, woman and child. Because this might be the godsend Clegg is looking for. It might tear the only opposition apart, and allow him to get away with his betrayal of progressive politics. This is not a time for party squabbles, and the leadership contest so far has been conducted with such dignity and civility, it would be a real shame to lose that unity now.

(And on an entirely unrelated note, don’t forget my Werewolf Anthology Competition! Only a week left, and still no entries. Come on people, I’ve got a copy of the anthology here, and I want to give it to someone for free!)