Tag Archives: satire

Reading in the Clock Tower

Recently, I had the privilege of reading the first chapter of my latest novel, Fluence, at Novel London – a literary event with an intimate audience that’s held once a month in different venues around central London. Take a look at the photo above and the video below to get a sense of the location and the lofty position the authors occupied.

It was a significant evening for me in many ways. Partly because it’s the first recording of me reading from Fluence, but also because it was held in the St. Pancras Clock Tower which used to be a dilapidated building and top of my list of places to squat.

Whenever I read in public it always strikes me that although I love reading to an audience, I enjoy signing books and chatting afterwards as much and this was no exception. All in all it was a great event and the readings, the tower, the wine and the audience all added up to a friendly and enthusiastic evening. What more could you ask for?

I hope the first chapter will give you enough of a taste to make you want to read the whole book!


Can fiction shape our future?

I was a guest on The Artist Unleashed blog recently where I posed the question: ‘How good do you think fiction is as a bridge between the experts and the public when it comes to creating debate on ethical issues?’

When I published my three recent stories, Human Enhancement: Sex, Drugs and Marriage, it was partly my intention to prompt debate, and partly to have a bit of fun. They’re free, for now, and you can download them as an eBook or a PDF. I’d love to hear what thoughts they spark in you.

And, if you think fiction can create debate then you might also want to read and comment on The Driverless Car’s Dilemma. It’s a piece of flash fiction about the ethical choices manufacturers of driverless cars will have to make in the future. For example, if an accident is about to happen and the car has to choose between its passengers and nearby pedestrians, who should it choose?

Over to you…


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Sign up to Stephen Oram’s Readers’ Group and receive a free stand-alone short story set in the speculative near-future of Fluence.


photo credit: 1111_Thinking Blue_019 via photopin (license)

Would anarchy maintain the status quo?

A couple of weeks ago I spoke at the Greenbelt Festival on whether a mature and confident society should encourage people to opt-out; if we have a successful and attractive way of living (capitalism and consumerism) then the number of people wanting something different would be insignificant and we should go out of our way to accommodate them, rather than bully them into our way of thinking.

Exploring this idea led me down a number of paths you might find interesting: Continue reading