Tag Archives: flash fiction

I’m really pleased to have a short piece called Reclamation in the Winter 2020 edition of Sein Und Werden (Being & Becoming).

This is an online literary magazine of experimental prose, poetry and artwork that seeks to merge and modernise the ideas behind Expressionism, Surrealism and Existentialism.

They set out their manifesto as:

‘Sein und Werden’ is a quarterly online (and occasional print) journal of arts and letters. The title comes from the Expressionist concept of Sein und Werden – ‘being and becoming’, the notion that we are born as nothing and only through experience do we become who we are (an idea shared with Sartre in his work ‘Being and Nothingness’). Using certain techniques of cinematography to create lengthened shadows, twisted stairways and a distorted mise-en-scène, the Expressionists were able to depict a nightmare world that would later influence a number of other cinematic developments, such as film noir, as well as leading artistic movements. One such group who owed much of their technique to Expressionism were the Surrealists, who played with these concepts to create bizarre images of the subconscious, making use of dreams and automatic writing. The goal of ‘Sein und Werden’ is to present works that evoke the spirit of the Expressionist, Existentialist and Surrealist movements within a modern context, which I like to call ‘Werdenism’.

The theme of this edition is “Of Human Bondage” and there are forty pieces in all so plenty to keep you busy for a while – enjoy.

Where do they come from?

17th October 2020

Stephen Oram

Flash fiction News Short stories No Comments

Where do you get your ideas from is a question often asked of authors, particularly speculative fiction writers. A question seldom fully answered because it’s more difficult than it appears.

“I don’t know, they sort of come to me,” is not a good answer, but true in part.

“I spent five years undercover in a cutting edge medical facility,” is also not a good answer, mainly because it’s not true. Except for when it is of course.

Here’s my answer for a story that has just been published by The Centropic Oracle as an audio piece read by a professional actor.

So, how did Happy Forever Day come about?

Firstly, I was intrigued by listening to Aubrey de Grey at a Virtual Futures event titled End Aging (https://www.virtualfutures.co.uk/salon/end-aging).

Secondly, I ran a survey to find out people’s attitudes to living forever, in particular what age they’d like to stop aging and why.

Then I mulled stuff over and wrote Happy Forever Day. I hope you enjoy the story and the way that Rob Gillespie brings it to life.