Wednesday 12 October 2011
Neil Gaiman provided the final two lines in the Society's short story tweetathon, where authors and tweeters collaborated to write short stories in 5 tweets.
At 11:00am tweeters were invited to complete the next 4 tweets in the daytime SoA tale. Every hour the best lines were selected by guest curator, Alison Joseph, and the resulting short story is below.
At 6pm Neil Gaiman's second opening line was tweeted and guest curator, Colin Teevan, curated the tweets in the evening SoA tale.
The tweetathon was created to raise awareness about the Society's campaign against BBC short story cuts, happening despite a short story renaissance in recent years. Since 2009, and since the recent announcement that BBC R4’s World at One will be extended, short story slots have declined from 6 weekly broadcasts to 2 per week, with midweek slots being reduced from 3 to 1 on Friday afternoons.
The 6pm SoA tale
Genre: Fantasy
The Neil Gaiman SoA tale curated by Colin Teevan and read by Brenda Blethyn:
Don't forget to 'click on the cloud' if you want to share these recordings on Twitter, Facebook etc.
The completed story:
"Quick," he said. "Drink." The nightmare tasted like velvet and purple and volcanoes in her mouth. She sipped, & reality dissolved. He repeated the ritual again until all 7 were under. No one putting up a fight. He wasn't surprised. This is what they paid him for. Pocketing their cash, he took his real pay before they woke; a memory, a fear, a touch of desire from the girl. He drank them in. Suddenly the remembrance of a long-forgotten flavour touched his soul. Pained, he looked at her more closely. She didn't move. An Adept of the Nine Realms didn't have to. She opened her terrible mind and drank him in. And she laughed.
Neil Gaiman's opening line:
"Quick," he said. "Drink." The nightmare tasted like velvet and purple and volcanoes in her mouth. She sipped, & reality dissolved.
Congratulations to @valmote for submitting the second line:
He repeated the ritual again until all 7 were under.No one putting up a fight. He wasn't surprised. This is what they paid him for.
@Gem_Clair submitted the wonderful third line:
Pocketing their cash, he took his real pay before they woke; a memory, a fear, a touch of desire from the girl. He drank them in.
@doug_said contributed the penultimate line:
Suddenly the remembrance of a long-forgotten flavor touched his soul. Pained, he looked at her more closely.
And the final line in the final tale is from :
She didn't move. An Adept of the Nine Realms didn't have to. She opened her terrible mind and drank him in. And she laughed.
Colin Teevan (@TeevanColin) curated the tweets in our last SoA tale. Colin Teevan is a stage, radio and screenwriter and lectures on Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has written many plays for BBC Radios 3 and 4, including Tricycles, Iph..., How Many Miles to Basra, Myrrha, The Roykeaneiad, The Devil Was Here Yesterday and Glass Houses.
Radio cartoonist, Colin Shelbourn has done a wonderful job of illustrating both SoA tales, which can be viewed on his blog at http://radiocartoonist.blogspot.com
The 11am SoA tale
Genre: Fantasy
The Neil Gaiman SoA tale curated by Alison Joseph and read by Hugh Bonneville:
Don't forget to 'click on the cloud' if you want to share these recordings on Twitter, Facebook etc.
The resulting story
I didn't expect the God of Thunder to live in Clapham. I definitely didn't expect to learn it from a card in a newsagent's window. He opened the door unshaved wearing one sock, and a pair of pants as silent lightning streaked across the blackened sky. 'Flu,' he mumbled. 'Bad head. Shh.' I walked in and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. 'There.' He pointed. I looked. Strewn across the floor: leather breastplates and swords. A pair of wings hanging by the stairs. 'You know what to do,' he said. He told me of the curse, but who cares about that when you're the new Thunder God? I soared, and filled the sky with fire and music.
Neil Gaiman's first opening line:
'I didn't expect the God of Thunder to live in Clapham. I definitely didn't expect to learn it from a card in a newsagent's window.'
Congratulations to @Naomi_Adams for her winning line:
'He opened the door unshaved wearing one sock, and a pair of pants as silent lightning streaked across the blackened sky.'
Here is the third line from @Laura_E_James:
'Flu,' he mumbled. 'Bad head. Shh.' I walked in and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. 'There.' He pointed. I looked.'
Hurrah for @will_lefleming and his winning line:
'Strewn across the floor: leather breastplates and swords. A pair of wings hanging by the stairs. 'You know what to do,' he said '
And the concluding line goes to @stroodlights for:
'He told me of the curse, but who cares about that when you're the new Thunder God? I soared, and filled the sky with fire and music.'
You can view all of Colin Shelbourn's illustrations that accompany this SoA tale on his blog by clicking here
Guest curator for the 11am SoA tale was Alison Joseph. Alison is a crime writer, radio dramatist and writer of short stories. Her Sister Agnes series of novels is about to be launched on Kindle. Her next novel is a crime novel about particle physics. Of all her short stories, her favourite title is probably 'Consider the Dilemma Facing an Ovulating Cavewoman who has Just Been Fertilised.'
Photo by Hugo Glendinning.