Ben - ProfilesArchive

About Me

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Like most people who are aspirers rather than achievers, I am cyclical in my motivation to a crippling degree. At times I am raptured within inspiration, eager and breathless in my work; at others I am so devoid of interest I can barely bring myself to load up my word processor. Procrastination is my siren. Hence me sitting here listening to Stadium Arcadium, watching my housemates play computer games, and tapping away some egotistical nonsense on some egotistical website.
Ho hum.
But then I suppose there is no more concrete reasoning behind myspace, and therefore my space: namely, to plug oneself. I feel I have something to say, with perhaps just enough ability to say it, and this seems to be the de rigueur place to come to display one's own wares. So why not? I'm not scared of conformity.
To the crux then: at some point I hope to post various snippets of my writing, and then force it upon those people unlucky enough to become my cyberspace acquaintances. If you think it's shit, please say so. If you think it's great, please say so but louder and in more detail, and tell all your own wonderful, real friends to log on and take a look...
I'll be your best friend...

My Interests

Weird Fiction, the surreal fantastic, aesthetics, political cynicism, ancient history, urban landscapes, learning the guitar

I'd like to meet:

Any fellow writers, especially those with similar ideals and tastes, or anyone with strongly conflicting ideals and tastes. Anyone passionate about reading and/or writing, no matter the genre. Anyone passionate in general. Anyone who likes China Mieville, M John Harrison, Michael Moorcock, Guy Gavriel Kay or David Gemmell.

Okay, sod it, anyone at all.

Music:

Honourable mentions: Nick Drake, RHCP, Sigur Ros, The Charlatans, Counting Crows, Klashnekoff, Aim, Fairport Convention, Ben Harper, DJ Shadow, George Harrison, Mattafix, Lamb, Howard Shore, Tom McRae, Willy Mason, Coldplay, Stephen Fretwell, Joanna Newsom, Eels, Tracy Chapman, Kate Rusby, Scott Matthews, Boards of Canada. And, of course, The Wheels: funk rock fusion at its finest.

Movies:

Gattaca, Vanilla Sky, Bladerunner, The Matrix, Mad Max II, Aliens, Pulp Fiction, City of God, Lord of the Rings, Everything Is Illuminated, Memento, Spirited Away, Anchorman, American History X, The Departed, Amelie, Shaun of the Dead, Rocky, Zodiac, The Lives of Others

Television:

The Mighty Boosh, Spaced, The Sopranos, Darkplace, South Park, Futurama, Oz, Peep Show, The Wire, Arrested Development

Books:

China Mieville is astounding: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council. Dystopian Three: Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World. Neil Gaiman: Sandman, Neverwhere, American Gods. The late great David Gemmell, to whom I owe so much: Legend, Waylander, Morningstar. Steven Erikson's Malazan series. Tolkien: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings. Guy Gavriel Kay, fantasy's most poetic voice: Tigana, Sailing to Sarantium. Peake: Gormenghast. M J Harrison: Viriconium. Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Harry Potter and Mieville's Un Lun Dun, superb children's books. Sci Fi: Dune, Ender's Game To answer the mysteries!: Graham Hancock's Supernatural. Hesse: Steppenwolf, Siddharta. The finest comic strip: Calvin and Hobbes.

My Blog

Kaboom!

The vicar's voice is drowned out by a low-flying plane. I'm the only one who looks up. Whenever I see a passenger jet I hope it will explode. I look at it and concentrate hard, narrowing...
Posted by Ben on Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:35:00 PST

Taking it back

(NB - the following contains strong language.)The skies invade the streets, bleaching them in grey. Flecks of rebellious colour stem from windows like a resistance movement, vestiges of mechanical war...
Posted by Ben on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:26:00 PST

Dichotomised

'Are you alive?'You tell me of your dream; the train you watch from, the ship that sinks with dread silence. No screams, you say. Even in this vacuum of distance you know they don't scream. It sank...
Posted by Ben on Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:41:00 PST

Dire-ry

I have been moving around a great deal these past few months, and as I now sit in the first home I've had this year (my fourth residence in as many months) to have internet access, I've finally had ti...
Posted by Ben on Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:18:00 PST

God's Gift

A shot from massed rankssharp and without known originis this epiphanyborn fully grown.Athena within me.But all gods fade,sundered pantheonderided as a trail of time leaks from its birth,a Dali placen...
Posted by Ben on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:02:00 PST

Me Minus You

I've not done enough.Pawing at my face with sandpaper fingersto gouge out the mirebut not even the treacherous waters of the Rubiconcan turn aside this tide of flies.Shit, I've not done enough.In ligh...
Posted by Ben on Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:45:00 PST

Angels and Heathens

This isn't all of it, but I like where and how this ends. It's incomplete but it feels finished. As always, any comments welcome.**The angels fight above me as a I walk: a torrent of brutality light...
Posted by Ben on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:04:00 PST

Shades of white and black

Night fallslike an excuse.A blanket of expected acceptanceA sieve to split thesemen with double lives,oil lying on water.But no heroes here,in favouring Fords and Vauxhallsto Spiderman capes,committin...
Posted by Ben on Mon, 25 Dec 2006 11:20:00 PST

Short story

I once read some advice about crafting short stories in a world that was always on the borders of your imagination but never quite fully realised, as a way of preparing for the Great Novel. If a nove...
Posted by Ben on Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:06:00 PST

Vermin City

The denouement of man Is a Vermin City: Industrial maw shelters Granite teeth; Steel limbs hide Railway veins; Scaffold skeleton beneath Asphalt skin. An aesthetic to match its people: Grey and hard M...
Posted by Ben on Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:34:00 PST