LATEST ENTRIES
the perfect storm
the perfect storm. it’s on the horizon now and moving inland. and she doesn’t see it. sitting here on this park bench.
the sun. it’s a beautiful day and she’s a sweetheart so what is she doing here? surely she knows there’s someone better out there. why is she still here oh god why does she stay? it’s going to hurt it always does.
shit shit shit! anxiety surging. it’s coming. from the far end of the park. the top of the wave. it’s off in the distance. it’s coming blasting through the cement and cast-iron fence. self-respect confidence swept out to sea and the wave surges but hasn’t broken yet. why aren’t they running? they just stand there doing their tai’qi.
it’s at the gate now. self-loathing frothes whitely it peaks and crests sweeping over the old men with their chinese chess-pieces. the horror, the horror. they’re all going to perish. it’s coming.
she’s incredible and this moment should never end but the toothpaste and milk have run out. without milk there’s no breakfast. how’s she going to take it when she finds out there’s no room? it’s going to hurt but don’t let it.
it could be love, it is love cynics be damned what do they know?
Illustrated Groupthink May 9th
Ni hao Shanghai. Are you happy like me?
Things are hotting up in anticipation of the Expo and I for one am excited! This year’s theme is 城市,让生活更有美好. For those of you who don’t read Chinese it translates roughly as “Welcome to the eighth circle”.
As is natural in the lead up to these kind of things, the citizens of Gotham must be kept safe from the evils of electronic music, cheap drinks and dancefloor make-outs with strangers. Accordingly the Shelter is being shut down and rumblings indicate the fate of Yuyintang will be uncertain in coming weeks. Continue reading…
5 Quick Questions for H.A.L. Author Renée Reynolds
Renée Reynolds grew up between Chicago and Los Angeles. She writes short fiction and paints long images while working as a freelance writer in Shanghai.
1. What are you working on right now?
Approximately ten to twelve first-person narratives who have entered late anaphase.
2. Tell us about something in Shanghai that inspires your writing.
Extreme levels of anonymity and distinction ebbing and flowing with subways, bicycles and foghorns.
3. What’s the biggest distraction to writing in Shanghai?
My self.
4. Quick. A reading list. 5 books:
“Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir” by Lauren Slater
“The Demolished Man” by Alfred Bester
“In Praise of Shadows” Jun’ichiroTanizaki
“Listen, Little Man!” by Wilhelm Reich
“The Epic of Gilgamesh” (Unless you decipher cuneiform, I recommend the Nancy K. Sandars, Stephen Mitchel and David Ferry versions — in that order)
5. Better City Better Life – yay or nay?
Coke. No, Pepsi! Actually…TAB.
Featured H.A.L. Artist: Efstathia Milaraki
“Untitled,” 240 x 90, acrylic on canvas, 2008 Continue reading…
demons on vacation
Hi Josef!
We’re having a great time here in Hainan. The weather couldn’t be better. It’s just been sun and fun since we got here. We’re going to need another vacation when we get back just to recover from this one. You know how it is. lol haha. Continue reading…
Diary of a Wolf
by David Hampson
March 15 2015 – Monday,
7.24am
I awake with a start. My head is pouring with sweat from wearing my helmet in bed. This stops the kelpies putting little electrodes, probes or some other electronic hardware in my brain; eves-drop on my thoughts. I´d slept for 3 hours, but it seemed I was out a lot longer than that. Maybe someone is fucking with my clock…or with time? I check the talcum powder spread around the floor for footprints. Nothing. As most people know the kelpies can levitate above the floor, but the talcum powder would catch any dogs, dingos or hyenas who sniffed their way into the apartment, looking for fresh meat.
I check under the bed, all clear. I remove the helmet and unzip my sleeping leathers, then walk to the bathroom. Continue reading…
5 Quick Questions for H.A.L. Author Susie C. Gordon
S. C. Gordon was born in the north of England in 1981. Her poetry collection ‘Peckham Blue’ was published in London in 2006, and she writes short stories, plays, and novels between freelancing as a journalist in Shanghai.
1. What are you working on right now?
I am in the final planning stages of a novel provisionally entitled “Hengshan Road” which tells the story of two sisters who live with their father, an exiled British author, in his near-derelict villa on Hengshan Lu. One sister was adopted as a baby, and the narrative focuses on the search for her birth mother. What they find is far from the expected. Continue reading…
Sixes and Ones
by B.
From the window of the run down apartment building I can already see a hint of sunlight at the horizon, threatening the suburbs of Quanzhou with another dusty hot day. Fucking summer, fucking sun. Come to think of it, the sun has been gone for days now. Three, maybe four days. The mere thought of a new day makes me shiver to the bone, and my mind snaps back again to that one night, and what happened in those KTV backrooms. In fact, I can’t think of anything else, haven’t been able to for days now. How long has it been? I pull the curtains shut again, the solid darkness making it a little bit easier. I’m still dizzy and drunk, doesn’t seem to wear off, instead it keeps kicking back in, worse and worse. What the hell happened that night? I still can’t think straight, but I know it was bad. Really bad. Continue reading…
