The comical death of Buffo the Great Buffo is the Clown of Clowns. The Head of Clowns. The Master of Clowns. He wears a bladder on his head. Think of that, says Carter. He wears his insides on his outside, and a portion of his … Continue readingClowns, Tornadoes and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus
The engineer and the bot A Google engineer claims that a bot has become sentient. It is unclear whether the bot is growing and moving towards personhood, wants to put out some tentacles and taste some flowers, or just likes to chat with Google engineers, … Continue readingSENTIENT BOTS AND THE MYSTIQUE OF PERSONHOOD
Crawling across the street at night Some years ago, when I was walking down a street at night with performer Kristian Al Droubi, I asked him if he would crawl naked across the street at a pedestrian crossing. The street itself was empty. It might … Continue readingPERFORMANCE AT PLAY, PUBLIC SPACES AND THE VIEW FROM A HAYSTACK
The age of reading When I was a child, children’s books and adult books were not as neatly segregated as they are now. Or maybe it’s children who were not so neatly segregated. Children’s books were the ones bought for us or the ones we … Continue readingA GREEN WITCH, A TOWER AND A THUNDERBOLT
The wounded one Doris Lessing’s benighted world of Shikasta, initially intended to carry the much more harmonious name of Rohanda, will be instantly recognisable to Earthlings as a twice-renamed version of their own home. This novel was written at a time of conflict, within revolutionary … Continue readingHOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH ALIENS
Paris Hilton makes a cooking show I’ve never been able to watch cooking shows. I can just about tolerate tiny clips of Gordon Ramsey screaming at people. Since the lockdowns began, however, I have found cooking shows strangely enraging. This two-minute trailer of Paris Hilton’s … Continue readingEdible Glitter, Revolutionary Planets and the Summoning of Dragons
A dream that oversteps boundaries A few years ago, I dreamt that I was dying. There are many dreams where you almost die, and I’ve always woken up just before it happened. At the leap of the talking leopard, before hitting the ground after falling … Continue readingDeath’s Ecosystems, Whale Falls and the Immortal Loves of Poets
When someone walks out of Bluebeard’s closet There is a scene in Pulp Fiction which rises out of the darkest chamber in most women’s nightmares. The owner of an unassuming pawn shop, a seemingly innocuous and forgettable human being, runs a basement of horrors. Unwittingly, … Continue readingStories Retold: Red Shoes, a Phoenix and The Company of Wolves
The day before everything changed forever It was only almost a year ago, only just March 2020, on the day before a curfew that everybody knew was only just the start, that I spent my last day of free movement doing little things. I bought … Continue readingElegies, Lost Worlds and the Overwhelming Intrusions of Insects at Night
Two children, one of whom wants to go back home A few years back, someone thrust Elena Ferrante at me, because that was the book that everyone was thrusting on their friends at the time. The first one, titled My Brilliant Friend, looked so promising. … Continue readingWhat the Goldfish Had to Say to Elena Ferrante’s Brilliant Friendship