And so it was - Fables for the 21st Century

52 stories of 365 words in 4 seasons. 52 illustrations. Unpublished


 

And so it was is a book of stories filled with paradox, enigma and gently poignant ruminations on modern life. Reminiscent of Calvino, Carver or McEwan, these stories dwell in the mercurial realms of the human psyche. Underlying them, there is a sense of things not quite right and a dalliance with subtle fears and uncertainties rife in the modern world:

Tony, the computer expert looks for forms in clouds as his dose of reality.

The Feng Shui group discover that all their office orientations need to be the same.

The Weekly Words editor tries to publish an edition with only happy people in it.

The entrepreneur, Hunter Novachs, works out how to promote himself out of Hell.

Scientists believe that one day they’ll discover a life-form as important as our own.

Starlite downloads a human mind that wants to cry.

Arkley is not superstitious but he has a ghost in his flat.

A hoodlum gives peace-loving Luke his gun but Luke can’t bring himself to dump it.

Each story occupies an opening of the book and is illustrated with the author’s art – a little Rorschach inkblot. These illustrations add to the idea of mystery and the enigmatic.

© Robert Hollingworth