Tag Archives: Nik Perring

Calling all Freaks!

While I was away, a book I have been waiting eagerly to read was published; Freaks!

‘Dedicated ‘To all who, if only for a moment, felt that they didn’t belong’, FREAKS by Caroline Smailes & Nik Perring, illustrated by Darren Craske, is a unique collection of short stories with comic book style illustrations. Darkly humorous these stories explore the more disturbing consequences of ordinary, flawed human beings obtaining superpowers. A bizarre collection of short stories, each featuring a character with an unusual superpower.’

If that weren’t enough to get you picking up a copy, Andrew Kaufman, the author of books as wonderful as The Tiny Wife and All My Friends Are Superheroes, said this about Freaks:

‘Read it and be amazed! Before you finish you’ll already be thinking of who to buy it for. It’s a circus sideshow made of words: dare to enter and become astonished to discover yourself on stage, in the starring role. I guarantee that by the time you finish reading this book you’re not only recognize your inner freak, but you’ll have learned to love it.’

If you require further convincing here’s one of the stories from book, complete with illustration:

SUPER POWER:

The ability to make

oneself unseen to

the naked eye

*

Invisible 

[Super Power: The ability to make oneself unseen to the naked eye]

If I stay totally still,

if I stand right tall,

with me back against the school wall,

close to the science room’s window,

with me feet together,

pointing straight,

aiming forward,

if I make me hands into tight fists,

make me arms dead straight,

 if I push me arms into me sides,

if I squeeze me thighs,

stop me wee,

if me belly doesn’t shake,

if me boobs don’t wobble,

if I close me eyes tight,

so tight that it makes me whole face scrunch,

if I push me lips into me mouth,

if I make me teeth bite me lips together,

if I hardly breathe,

if I don’t say a word.

Then,

I’ll magic meself invisible,

and them lasses will leave me alone.

Enjoy that as much as I did? Then seek out a copy of your very own over on Amazon in either print edition or ebook.

Newman and Perring in The Collection Giveaway Adventure

May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, I’ve decided to take part in The Collection Giveaway Project being run by Fiction Writers Review. The basic idea is that I

(1) Post an entry on your blog recommending a recently published short story collection (or two, or three).

(2) Offer a copy of the book (or each book) as a giveaway to one lucky person who comments on your blog.

(3) Announce the winner(s) on May 31, 2011, and arrange to send out copies of any books you are giving away.

I am pleased to be able to offer two books, both of which I have enjoyed over the last twelve months. Read the reviews below, then leave a comment telling me which book you would like to receive and why. The winners will be plucked from my Gears of War beanie by my ever helpful four year old. And no, you can’t ask for both books, greedy guts.

From Dark Places by E.J. Newman

Emma Newman’s debut short fiction collection is, as the title suggests, a dark and often chilling set of stories, told in a wide variety of genres, styles and voices. There are epistolic stories, third person flights of dark fantasy, first person descents into dark minds. Indeed, judging by this debut, Newman is able to turn her hand to most types of fiction.

While darkness does pervade this generous helping of twenty-five tales there are also slices of tenderness and humour, this lighter side throwing the darkness into further, starker contrast. In fact Newman’s world seems to be one of contrasts. She is as at home writing about the mundane realities of rejected lovers, abandoned orphans and unfaithful spouses as she is is tales of demons, angels and even gods. It is her deftness with language that allows her to take in such disparate subjects while still imbuing the collection with a sense of unity.

The best thing about Newman’s work here though has to be her willingness to take risks. It is rare to come across a collection so broad in scope. It is true that some stories work better than others, but that is true of most other, less brave debuts. Many of the stories collected here were written as part of Newman’s Short Story Club, where she invites readers to join the mailing list and suggest ideas, themes or other starting points for stories which she then writes and emails to members. Like I said, brave and unafraid of challenging herself.

I recently hosted Emma Newman on this blog to share he Life in Short Fiction. During that interview she selected The Letter as one of the stories from the collection that best reflected her writing as a whole. Having read this collection I would have to agree that The Letter is a great example of what you will find huddled in these pages. To  paraphrase Emma Newman’s literary hero, the great Ray Bradbury: Something dark, something funny, and something emotional this way comes.

Not So Perfect by Nik Perring (originally reviewed as part of my Short Story Challenge)

‘Not so Perfect’ is a collection of 22 short short fictions presented in a beautifully small square volume. While the package and the stories are small in size, the same cannot be said of the content, each of the 22 stories packing in more character, charm and emotion than many authors manage in much longer works.

Absence is a key theme in many of the stories (Sobs, Say My Name, The Angel In The Car Park, Number 14 most notably) with characters yearning for some sort of connection (Watching/Listening, Bare and Naked in Siberia, My Heart’s in a Box, The Mechanical Woman) but these are not despairing tales of woe. Each story is garlanded with striking imagery and precise and often beautiful prose, creating something to be treasured in amongst the heartache, whether it’s the impermanent simplicity of a snow angel or the pure emotion that would drive someone to plaster a house in post-it notes.

The linking feature of all the stories for me has to be the heart each one displays. ‘Not So Perfect’ is full of memorable characters and revelatory moments that reach out beyond the bounds of the page, demanding the reader’s emotional attention. As I read my way through the collection a new favourite story would unfold before me, a new favourite moment, and now, having finished, selecting even a handful of favourites is a challenge, so much easier just to recommend you read them all.

‘Not So Perfect’ is a fantastic example of the power of flash fiction to provide a revelatory moment that resonates far longer than the story itself takes to read. Reading these stories is like getting punched in the heart over and over again. In a good way, a way that leaves you treasuring the bruises you feel as you empathise with their many charming characters and narrators.

There you go folks. Pick the book you most fancy reading and tell me why to be in with a chance of winning.


Nik Perring – My Life In Short Fiction

In the first of, hopefully, many ‘My Life in Short Fiction’ posts I would like to welcome my first guest, short fiction author Nik Perring to this blog.  Many of you will already be aware of Nik’s debut collection of short fiction, Not So Perfect, which was released last year to great acclaim. I reviewed it as part of my recently completed Short Story Challenge and his story ‘The Mechanical Woman’ earned him a place on my best short stories of 2010 list. More recently, Not So Perfect has been longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Nik Perring’s Life in Short Fiction:

1. The first short story you remember enjoying.

Thanks for having me on here, Dan, it’s a real pleasure.

The first short story I remember enjoying? Now you’re asking! And that’s a difficult one to answer because it would have been before I was a writer and when I wasn’t really paying much attention to who wrote what and how.

One memory stands out though. It was while I was doing my GCSEs and my English teacher (the wonderful Mr Wilson) got us to read a couple of stories from a battered and very old collection. The first was an Orwell story, which hasn’t stuck in my head, but the second was wonderful: it was, from memory, about a couple in a house who were deaf as a result of some sort of massive sound attack; it had a very post-apocalyptic/post-nuclear war feel to it and I remember the atmosphere and the imagination of the story were breath-taking. Sadly, and this is after extensive googling and searching, I have absolutely no idea who wrote it or what it’s called. Which is a shame, because I’d quite like to read it again and see if it’s as good as I thought it was, all those years ago. (If anyone has any idea, I’d love to know…)

I also remember having Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Butterfly Effect’ being read to me when I was 11 – I remember really enjoying that too.

2. The short story that turned you on to writing short fiction.

Good question. There are a few, I think. I’d been kind of been trying to find my way with short stories for a while (I’m talking years, here – my first was published in 2004 and the first from my collection was published in 2008…). When I started out I was writing things I thought people published/bought/wanted to read – what I thought would sell. And that wasn’t such a bad thing and I ended up having quite a few fantasy/dark/horror type things published. But it always felt like I was doing an impression of a writer and not writing Nik Perring stories (and if you’re going to write anything that has a hope of being really good, it’s got to be what you want to write – it’s got to come from inside you).

And then I got hold of Aimee Bender’s second collection, ‘Willful Creatures’ and from reading the first couple of lines of the first story ‘Deathwatch’ everything changed. It’s strange but I almost felt it. It was a huge moment of change and realisation because it meant that I knew that could write the sort of stories I’d wanted to write (and had assumed no-one wanted to read). It was a big moment, and reading the rest of Aimee’s collection compounded that feeling, as did the next collection I read, Etgar Keret’s ‘The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God’.

So, for me, that being turned on to short fiction thing wasn’t a single story but two wonderful collections and to pick a story from either is simply too difficult. ‘Ironhead’ maybe. Perhaps ‘Breaking The Pig’. ‘Jinx’. ‘Hole In The Wall’. I’ll stop there because I could list every single story in each.

3. A story by the author whose body of work you feel has most influenced yours.

Tricky, because there are so many wonderful, wonderful stories by wonderful people. And, being the ridiculously proud writer that I am (my stories have come from ME, god dammit!) I try to avoid consciously being influenced by anyone’s stories.

There are stories I wish I’d written though. I think Aimee Bender’s ‘The Meeting’ is just about perfect, and I think that, as a body of work, either hers or Etgar Keret’s (those names again!) would probably be the ones I’ve had the greatest pleasure reading and also the ones that are comparable with what I try to do.

So, yeah, Aimee’s ‘The Meeting’ or ‘Loser’. Or ‘Hat Trick,’ by Keret.

4. The story from your own body of work that most reveals something of who Nik Perring is.

You know, I think one of the coolest bits about writing is that I can make stuff up. That’s fun, and it gives me something to hide behind. I’m not particularly autobiographical in what I write; being quite a shy and reasonably dull person means that stories with me in them would be, I’d bet, pretty uninteresting – and, professionally, I’d rather be defined by what I wrote (good or bad) than who I am. That said there are things that have happened to me, situations I’ve been in, things I’ve felt, that have found their way into my stories in some way, shape or form.

Let’s see then. From Not So Perfect…

Well, I think if someone asked me to define a Nik Perring story I’d probably like to answer something like: they’re a little odd, a little wonky, they make the improbable seem familiar and they have heart. And though I’m probably not the best qualified person to say which demonstrates that the best, today (it’ll change tomorrow) I think I’ll say ‘My Wife Threw Up a Lemur’. I’d be interested to hear if anyone disagrees…

5. Your all time favourite short story.

There’s not a chance I can answer this – there really are SO many. So, without mentioning Aimee Bender or Etgar Keret (check ‘em out, folks!) here’s a few off the top of my head:

Caro By The Pool, by Clare Wigfall.
On The Tram, by Franz Kafka.
Mr Applewick, by Tamar Yellin.
Babycakes, by Neil Gaiman
Victor, by Michael Czyzniejewski
Miss Temptation, by Kurt Vonnegut
Café Niagara, by István Örkény
The Peep Show, by A.C. Tillyer.

I’m sorry I’ve not been able to answer many (any?!) of these questions with a single short story, but I guess that’s part of the charm, attraction and beauty of the form – short stories are short, but they’re powerful and affecting and because they’re short we’re able to read lots and lots of them. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks for having me on here, Dan!

*****

Nik Perring is a writer, teacher of writing, and editor from the UK. His short stories have been published widely in places including SmokeLong Quarterly, 3 :AM and Word Riot. They’ve also been read at events and on radio, printed on fliers and used as part of a high school distance learning course in the US.

Nik’s collection of short stories, NOT SO PERFECT is published by Roast Books and is out now. Nik blogs here and his website’s here. He offers short story help at The Story Corrective.

His next collection, ‘FREAKS!’ co-written with Caroline Smailes, will be published by The Friday Project (HarperCollins) in Spring 2012.

 

Thousands

This alternative take of a track from the soon to be released Thousands album, ‘The Sound of Everything’ is rather lovely.


You can stream the album here.

In other thousand related news, Nik Perring has made his 1,000th post over on his blog. There’s celebratory stuff going on over there, not least of which is the opportunity to read an excellent example of Nik’s flash fiction ‘I Have Never Kissed You In A Taxi.’

Short Story Challenge – epilogue.

Over a year ago now I took up the gauntlet thrown by Jodi Cleghorn to read a short story a day for a whole year. I started on 14th February 2010 and am happy to say, as of the 14th February this year, I managed to stick to it and complete the challenge. Not that it was that hard, reading a great piece of short fiction every day was an absolute pleasure. Over the course of my challenge I read a wide range of titles from a host of authors both classic and contemporary. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the archive of my Short Story Challenge posts.

I also noted down my favourite stories, limiting myself to one story from each of my favourite collections, though I could easily have listed two or three from each of the authors below. These stories were the ones that moved me, while also being expertly crafted examples of what the short form is capable of:

Grief (translated as Misery in most collections) – Anton Chekhov
Marzipan – Aimee Bender
Tamagotchi – Adam Marek
The Bath – Raymond Carver
Pride & Joy – Etgar Keret
Mr Burdoff’s Visit To Germany – Lydia Davis
The Mechanical Woman – Nik Perring
The Father – Leonid Dobychin
This Is Us, Excellent – Mark Richard
Letters – Nuala Ni Chonchúir
This Is About Dixie – David Gaffney
Busy. Come. Wait – Tom Vowler
Sanctuary – Erin Pringle
Learning Stick – Jared McGinnis

Over the course of reading a short story a day for 365 days I covered a wide range of authors and genres, from sci-fi to magical realism to literary fiction and lots in-between. What really struck me was the inventiveness and life present in the short form. Yet, in the UK at least, it remains such an underrated form, one which most publishers and agents ignore when looking at work from new authors on the apocryphal basis that ‘no one buys short fiction collections.’ Most short fiction writers seem to be asked for a novel when they do grab the attention of an agent; I have lost count of the number of interviews with short fiction authors that features a some variation of this story.

Admittedly, up until around 2008 I could probably have listed the short fiction collections I owned and/or read on one hand. But in recent years, since undertaking my now completed OU Diploma in Creative Writing, I have bought and read and, most importantly, enjoyed dozens of short fiction collections by all kinds of authors. Reading and writing the form to the extent that I have over the last few years has given me a love and respect of the form that I didn’t previously have. I realise that I am perhaps an unusual case. Not everyone is going to come at fiction from the direction of the aspiring/emerging writer. Still, it’s a shame that the publishing industry in the UK largely shuns short fiction, or publishes collections of established novelists without considering new authors that have chosen to specialise in the form. Weird when you consider the appreciation the short form receives in the U.S. particularly and even in other parts of Europe.

That’s not to say the U.K. doesn’t have some great champions of the short form. The Bristol Prize, The Bridport Prize and the National Short Story Award are amongst the most prominent prizes that help spread the word about great contemporary short fiction. Publishers Roast Books, Comma Press and Salt Publishing all specialise in producing quality collections, publishing some of the best British writers working in the short form today, while digital publisher Ether Books specialises in short works for reading on mobile platforms. It would be great to see some of the larger publishers taking a chance on short fiction from debut authors but that’s probably asking way to much in the current economic climate.

Since completing the challenge I haven’t stuck to reading a short story a day, though I have read one most days and I have been posting links to the best online fiction I’ve been reading over on my tumblr, The Short and Long of It. I am certain to keep reading and writing short fiction as it is a unique form that does things that aren’t possible in any other medium. The short form’s brevity is its greatest strength.

Some links to websites/blogs that celebrate the short form:

Tania Hershman’s blog
The Short Review
Nik Perring’s blog
Vanessa Gebbie’s blog
Story
Salt Publishing
Roast Books
Comma Press
Ether Books
Scott Pack’s own Short Story Challenge