Twin Monocle Publishing
blank tapes: volume 1
Weird and dangerous tales
AMAZON KINDLE
‘blank tapes’ brings you nine stories from the fringes of reality. Challenging, thought provoking and just plain absurd, these stories are not your regular feel-good tales. It’s their job to worm their way into your thoughts and never leave. Bold new voices bring you disturbing insights from the further reaches of the possible. Just because you’re from around here doesn’t mean that you’re not alien.
Red Arrows by Anna Cotton: When Raymond goes for a haircut he isn't the only one who's going to come out with a new look.
Shark Girls by Dermot Jelfs: Thoughts on the true nature of dolphins and other concerns.
Down in the Dirt by L. Tucker: Meet Colin, your kid’s new best friend.
BLOCK parts 1-3 by Paul Huxley: The boy, the businessman, the doctor and the mother. Four lives irrevocably changed by the impossible.
I Don’t Believe in Ghosts by Damn Sung: There’s something strange in this house, but who are you going to call?
Filiarch by Gareth Pale: She always tips well, but this is the last time this pizza-boy is making the delivery.
Binky by Paul Huxley: He’s such a sweet little thing, unless his master is threatened.
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A word with the Editor Paul Huxley.
What was the intention with 'blank tapes'?
The original intention was to publish stories that were too weird, too disruptive and confrontational for traditional fiction outlets. Perhaps they were too experimental, or the subject matter was too disturbing to get into the pages of the big genre magazines such as Asimov and Clarkesworld. It was to be the repository for misfit stories that wouldn't have otherwise found their market. Since receiving submissions however the remit has focussed more on slipstream fiction.
So what is Slipstream?
Well... I think originally it was a term to describe mainstream science fiction--like when literary authors call their fantasy novel 'magic realism'. Now though it's defined more by stories with a real sense of their being something not quite right with the world without explicitly swinging into horror, fantasy or sci-fi. That's not to say that it’s mild in any way - far from it! I think you'll find some of the stories in 'blank tapes' will challenge the most hardened reader. There's a definite experimental side to some of the work too. That's the kind of thing that excited me about putting this together.
Why ‘blank tapes’?
Books of Blood was already taken. Actually—I wanted something a bit odd that perfectly encapsulated the stories. They’re like magnetic tape picking up cosmic rays and static interference to produce something strange and new.
SUBMISSIONS FOR VOLUME 2 ARE OPEN
We’re hard at work compiling stories for volume 2 of ‘blank tapes’ if you have something weird you want to share with the world and think it might fit in with this anthology please get in touch. We’re looking for short stories of any genre just so long as there’s an element of the weird involved. This can be poetry, experimental prose or just something so esoteric that it defies comprehension. The goal is to challenge and to deliver something that readers cannot get anywhere else. The very first blank tape short was rejected elsewhere for being good until it turned into a screenplay at the end (apparently a big no-no). So if you have a misfit story lurking in a drawer somewhere, get it out, dust it off and send it our way.