Things were different back now

If you're doing anything shockingly brutal, cruel and inhuman, it might be understandable because things were different back now.

— New Short Stories (@storyofthemonth) August 18, 2018

I'm trying to be bookish and keep out of the argy-bargy but in the swim on Twitter, at https://twitter.com/storyofthemonth. (I give it six months.) By the way, if you have stories and would sell one for a free book, please submit to Story of the Month. (Steve)

Laser removal of rust (video)

This is how laser cleaning works to remove rust pic.twitter.com/XfXtBXF5KC

— How Things Work (@ThingsWork) August 16, 2018

Fascinating. Brave for the guy to run the thing over his hand?

The earliest colour film of London - 1924

Beautiful, evocative and moving: This is the earliest known original colour film of London, taken in 1924 - only 5 years after Armistice. pic.twitter.com/En0GGNKNZL

— BabelColour 🎞 (@StuartHumphryes) August 16, 2018

"Home at last! A personal study of Claude Friese-Green, inventor of the Friese-Green colour process"

Taken in 1924. Note the people around the Cenotaph in Whitehall. And so many people, in what looks like Petticoat Lane market, probably not one of them left alive today.

R.i.p. Aretha Franklin

Many pleasant, sometimes blissful hours, owed. The video is of a special performance with guests including the Obamas and Carole King.

Aretha Franklin, 'the queen of soul', dies aged 76 (from The Guardian)

British visa hell

So, Twitter. In light of the ongoing clusterfuck that is #brexit, let me tell you a little about my white, Australian experience of dealing with the UK visa authority, a complete shitshow of a bureaucracy that is in no way prepared to handle what's coming.

— Foz Meadows (@fozmeadows) August 9, 2018

It's worth reading this thread of 34 tweets, to get a picture of the rotten heart of British bureaucracy, under Theresa May.

"But how are you going to pay for it?"

When the Tories ask 'How are you gonna pay for it?', here is their answer. 🙌🙌🙌 pic.twitter.com/AreCSJaprQ

— Momentum (@PeoplesMomentum) August 9, 2018

Here is the answer from a rising US Democratic Party star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the candidate who turned out many times more voters than is usual to win a primary in New York against a leading and long-term Democratic incumbent.

Short Story of the Month, August 2018

The Willesden Herald New Short Stories Story of the Month

August 2018: Independence Day by John Califano

In 1960s Brooklyn, New York, sensitive and empathetic Johnny Boy struggles to navigate adolescence. Here his worldview is shaped by the trauma inflicted by the violent and competitive relationship between his father and his older brother, who despises their father’s closed-mindedness and is the only one willing to stand up to “the old man.”

John Califano grew up in Brooklyn, New York and lives in Manhattan. He’s worked as a writer, actor, visual artist and musician and has performed in clubs, art galleries, feature films and Off-Broadway productions. He recently completed his debut novel, JOHNNY BOY, and is currently working on a second book and a collection of short stories. His work was recently featured in The Broadkill Review.

Life is a holiday from non-existence.

There's lots to see and do,
And when it's time to go,
you wish you could stay
another week. But oh
in the end, you may say
we're tired and, after all,
we'll need another holiday
when we get home.

--
Stephen Moran

Unguarded Moments

If you walk without thinking how you're walking,
   that's the way you walk.
If you think without thinking where you're going,
   that's the way you think.
If you talk without thinking what you're saying,
   that's the way you talk.

Say my name.

--
Stephen Moran

Short Story of the Month, July 2018

The Willesden Herald New Short Stories Story of the Month

July 2018: Lily by M.E. Proctor

“Some of us remember places better than we remember people. With time, we even start wondering if these people existed at all. As kids the difference between reality and fantasy didn’t matter that much. Lily lives in that in-between, somewhere.”

M.E. Proctor worked as a communication professional and a freelance journalist for many years. After forays into SF, she’s currently working on a series of contemporary detective novels. Her short stories have been published, both in Europe and in the U.S. She lives in Livingston, Texas.

March for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal

Rees-Mogg, Gove, Farage and Johnson as seen by the March for a People's Vote
Credit: https://twitter.com/clairehewlett62/status/1010499282212937729

"Do you really want to be left alone on a small island with these men?"

The Brexit clown car honks and sputters its way into the circus ring, and out they stumble as, with a final bang, it falls to pieces. They fall about laughing, while their band plays the only tune it knows.

TV hacks fawn over Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un

Comparing ludicrous and mindless propaganda by Fox News and North Korean TV commentators

Short Story of the Month, June 2018

Announcing the inaugural New Short Stories Story of the Month

The series kicks off with Con Chapman’s engrossing account of a relationship in trouble, and what can you do but go for a run? Let's see how that goes. 

June 2018: The Woman Who Listened to Britten by Con Chapman

Con Chapman is a Boston (USA) based-writer, author of two novels. His short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and other print publications. He is currently writing a biography of Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington’s long-time alto sax player, for Oxford University Press.

New Short Stories - Story of the Month

Announcing a new single item magazine. “What is a single item magazine?” I hear you shout. It only has one item, the story of the month. When another story of the month comes along, that will replace the previous one. There will be a list of all the previous stories of the month. Simple as that. Each successive story of the month takes over the Story of the Month page and gets added to the list.

No submission fee, no recompense, all for love of the short story genre. There are no obligations or restrictions, except for permission to publish on the Story of the Month page here on this website. Aside from that, copyright remains entirely with the author. Note, the story will only remain online till another story of the month replaces it. That might take more than a month sometimes.

To ensure quality, and also to make things easier for me, there will not necessarily be a new story every month. It will be treated like a magazine with rolling submissions, no deadline, and stories accepted or rejected ad hoc.

All the details are on the Submittable submissions form. Please read carefully before submitting. Word limit 4500*. Generally literary, not keen on generics. Only one submission at a time, please, and wait for the response to that before making another submission. (Steve)



* Updated 16/6/2018

Grenfell Tower inquiry day six – watch live

Relatives and friends of the victims share their testimony, all very moving. This is the sixth day.

Live stream the 2018 Champions League final on YouTube

6 pm: Watch Liverpool versus Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, courtesy of BTSport on this YouTube link.

It seems you can also watch free on Virgin cable channel 100. Here is more info about the game and channels etc, from the Bristol Post.

Ain't Got No, I Got Life

Magnificent

Mississippi Goddam

The anger

To be young, gifted and black (Nina Simone - live)

The black orchid

Penny Arcade

And then there may be a moment
When you look into the eyes of the other
And realise they have always known.
She or he is ahead of you. They always
Cared. Or never cared at all.

Like those old mechanical horserace games.
In one race, she's ahead of you,
Everyone's ahead of you.
Yet in another game, you're far ahead
And can't be caught.

--
Stephen Moran

Love has its reasons

Love has its reasons. Not all kisses
Are the same. Not all eyes say Mystery.
Not all hands say Wrestle me,
I want to wrestle you, leg-wrestle me.

No, Love has its reasons. It's not all
Spring has sprung, needs must. It's not all
Pardon my hormones, did I spray you? I've
A head like a stone, heart like a sieve.

Yes, Love has its reasons, and so
Have I. My eyes are wide open, and so
Are yours. And that is blindness by two
When reason makes way for whoop-de-doo.

--
Stephen Moran

Any Deal Will Do

From: Farage and his Amazing Velvet-Collared Scream Coat

I closed my eyes
To vote for Brexit
Head for the exit
From the damned EU
Far, far away
Syria was weeping
Cameron was sleeping
Any deal will do

I wore my coat
With velvet collar
Cost me top dollar
Well I've got a few
And in the east
Fake news was breaking
And the bear was waking
Any deal will do

A flash of gun
An MP fell
My covert coat
Was looking swell
The black shirt underneath
Was open
I was number one

May we return
To twenty-sixteen?
The fervour's dimming
And the screams are too
Rees-Mogg and Gove
Are adumbrating
Johnson's masturbating
Any deal will do

--
Stephen Moran

Architectural joke?

Trusting and hoping this is only an alarmingly real-looking architectural joke (Fulham Palace Road)

Missing anti skid

Odd road sign, Fulham Palace Road. "Missing anti skid"

God's Own Junkyard

Neon art hub, plus cafe, hidden away on a Walthamstow industrial estate, utterly beloved by international Instagram curators. By Diamond Geezer.