Social Disease

socialdisease — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:08:34 +0000

Paul Ewan will be reading at the next Anything but Hackneyed event which takes place on September 28th from 6-8pm at The Broadway Bookshop, 6 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ.

> special guest readers that evening are local authors Iain Sinclair and James Meek.

> You’ll also hearexciting new work from a range of other local writers.

socialdisease — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:06:26 +0000

Lee Rourke is a Mancunian currently residing in Hackney,
London. He is the founder and editor of Scarecrow (www.hodmandod.blogspot.com).

Scarecrow was founded in October 2004 as an online forum for book reviews, literary comment, short fiction and nation-wide art when, quite disillusioned with events in the publishing world, he decided to turn his back on the mainstream bookish blatherskites and focus primarily on misunderstood, ignored and abandoned underground and independent literary fiction and culture.

Scarecrow continues to bang the drum for the unheard, the unconventional, the eccentric, the revolutionary and the radical, and has evolved into a showcase for published and unpublished writers of short fiction and poetry and receives submissions from all corners of the globe each week – some make its pages most don’t.

Lee Rourke also reviews books for ReadySteadyBook.com. His short fiction has been published in numerous online and print publications and he regularly writes for Dazed & Confused Magazine and London’s The Penny.

socialdisease — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:33:05 +0000

Lee Rourke’s collection of pithy interwoven short stories form the seamless whole that is Everyday, a collection which revels in routine ordinariness and life’s random patterns. Both contemporary and nostalgic, Everyday peers beneath the surface of life in the capital and around it, documenting every moment that passes and unflinching in despair at what it finds. This is a celebration of the banal, avoiding the pretension of the modern novel. Invoking the work of JG Ballard at his best, Alexander Baron’s keen eye for grimy subsistence and exhuming the spirit of Baudelaire in his flaneurial prime, Lee Rourke is clearly an interesting new writer obsessed with what ails us and what many other writers unfortunately lack the capacity to document.

socialdisease — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:31:05 +0000

Paul Ewen was born and raised in New Zealand. In 1996 he moved to Asia where he lived and worked for six years, including four years in Saigon, Vietnam.

His stories have appeared in New Writing 13 (edited by Ali Smith & Toby Litt), The Times Higher Education Supplement, Tank magazine, 3:AM, and Scarecrow.

London Pub Reviews will be his first book.

He now lives in South London.

London Pub Reviews is a collection of more than 40 reviews of real London pubs. However, each review ends in disaster, and the reviewer finds himself being removed from the pub in question, sometimes by the police, sometimes by the paramedics.

Paul Ewen

socialdisease — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:55:23 +0000

Paul Ewen was born and raised in New Zealand. In 1996 he moved to Asia where he lived and worked for six years, including four years in Saigon, Vietnam.His stories have appeared in New Writing 13 (edited by Ali Smith & Toby Litt), The Times Higher Education Supplement, Tank magazine, 3:AM, and Scarecrow.

London Pub Reviews will be his first book.

He now lives in South London.

The swank bisexual wine bar of modernity

socialdisease — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:36:16 +0000

The swank bisexual wine bar of modernity is a collection of 16 stories by HP Tinker during which:

● Paul Gauguin considers himself moderately in love with Jacqueline Du Pre
● Pierre Boulez redevelops Kandahar for homosexuals
● a General re-reads The Color Purple between battles, close to tears
● pornography enjoys renewed popularity due to the extensive modeling work of Bertrand Russell
● the Morrissey Exhibition arrives in Your Town
● a writer uncovers great truths in the back of a Cortina
● a detective ponders the ambiguous relationship between Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr
● beautiful memories of a Nazi childhood are revisited
● due to the greatest hits of Tina Turner a woman’s feelings are never truly considered
● an old lady is pushed into a canal
● the Irish poet and critic Tom Paulin leaves the top button of his shirt undone to affect a more casual appearance
● a minimalist lives in surprising opulence
● conflict and inner turmoil are the long-term effects of taking substantial quantities of heroin in various anonymous bathroom settings
● the author’s death leads to the overthrow of the entire Haitian government
● Jean Vigo contemplates the nature of time in a hotel lobby
● life strikes me as largely unfair

“Hilarious deadpan surrealism” (The Times)

“Unusual, arresting, smart and very funny” (The Independent)

“Fizzes with the kind of zany, surreal conjunctions that recall Barthelme and Pynchon in their prime” (The Guardian)

SEIZURE WET DREAMS; Stories and poems

socialdisease — Wed, 31 May 2006 11:38:55 +0000

In this collection of short stories and poems by Tony O’Neill, you will meet a host of bizarre, fringe characters: Frank the Dog Walker, a junkie trying to score on New Years Day in a deserted city… the maniacal Dr. Ira, who has a special way of dispensing methadone to his more compliant patients… the failed writer Joe, who is about to learn to live without a very important part of his anatomy… The Chemist, who is cooking up a potent strain of heroin extracted from the brains of screaming victims… and the author himself, who chronicles his dependence on heroin in brutal, painstaking detail. Running the gamut from autobiographical writing, surrealist outrages, political satire and demented sci-fi, SEIZURE WET DREAMS is an unforgettable ride.

HP Tinker

socialdisease — Wed, 24 May 2006 16:21:36 +0000

HP Tinker lives and writes in Manchester. His stories have been published in Ambit, 3:AM Magazine, Pulp.net, Dreams That Money Can Buy, the Laura Hird Showcase, and other places.

He has been anthologised in Dreams Never End (Tindal Street) and The Edgier Waters: 5 Years of 3:AM Magazine (Snowbooks). The Swank Bisexual Wine Bar of Modernity is his first collection of stories.

Tony O’Neill

socialdisease — Wed, 24 May 2006 16:18:39 +0000

Tony O’Neill is the author of the autobiographical novel DIGGING THE VEIN (Wrecking Ball Press and Contemporary Press in the UK and US respectively), and a poetry collection, SONGS FROM THE SHOOTING GALLERY (Burning Shore Press, Winter 06). In a previous life, he was a musician with bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kenickie and Marc Almond. His career in music was derailed by quickie marriages, heroin addiction and crack abuse. He began writing during his first stint in rehab and has been writing since. SEIZURE WET DREAMS, a collection of short stories and poetry will be released by Social Disease, July 2006