MIR10

The Mechanics' Institute Review is an annual collection of great writing from Creative Writing students and alumni at Birkbeck. The exciting 10th anniversary edition is currently in production.

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I could see a shape-shifting flock of birds scattered in the ocean of a sky – the occasional stray that would fall behind, mirroring the actions of the rest as he struggled back into formation before the wind took him elsewhere.

From For Ever by Rebekah Lin, featured in MIR10

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I stared through the windscreen, hoping that if I concentrated hard on the dark shadows muddling outside in the maybe-turquoise fields – possibly the occasional herd of goats drunk with sleep – my eyes would return to slightly fewer miles to go.

From For Ever by Rebekah Lin, featured in MIR10

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A sharp blare of light, a magnificent crash and then the curtain of darkness fell as it always does at the end of any show. I remember little else of what came next except that when it went cloudy grey inside my head, you were the only truth I knew and that was all I wanted with me on the other side.

From For Ever by Rebekah Lin, featured in MIR10

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Editor's Blog: Pamela Gough on 'Indecent Acts' by Barbara Bleiman

Indecent Acts is a high quality, compelling piece of literary fiction and has everything you could possibly want in a short story.  From the full bodied, richly crafted characters, to the portrait of place, this story transported and absorbed me from the very first read.

There are a number of stylistic features which I particularly like but my favourite is the quiet, even tone which is consistent throughout the narrative.  It is cleverly managed because, as the drama and tension heighten, the voice is deliberately hushed, allowing the reader to view the action through their own lens.  The style reminds me very much of the writing of John Steinbeck – measured but with a soft tape measure. 

I would also like to comment on the story’s relevance. The action opens in 1944 and so perhaps our initial expectation is that this will be a story of the past and of course in part, it is, but the themes and ideas sadly still resonate today (Apartheid only ending in South Africa in the 1994 elections) and the knotweed of prejudice, intolerance, racism and new for this decade: racial profiling, defining aspects of global humanity in terms which should have been washed away with the Ark.

This is a great story. This is an important story. This is a story to remind us to teach our children well. Barbara Bleiman has done a service to the world community. 

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After lunch, Terence and I build sandcastles and dig ditches, then run back into the sea, splashing in the shallows, while Walter and Mrs Mostert lie on their towels and doze, close to each other, sheltered by the big green umbrella.

From Indecent Acts by Barbara Bleiman, featured in MIR10

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On the back seat, Terence and I are surrounded by bags, beach balls and striped towels. I look out the window as the houses of Parow and Cape Town flash by. Table Mountain looms up, a thin layer of cloud like white marshmallow hanging low above it; beneath it, the gardens of Kirstenbosch are lush and green, with proteas and rhododendrons in full bloom.

From Indecent Acts by Barbara Bleiman, featured in MIR10

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1944 Pa’s hardware store stood in Parow, at the far end of Main Road, the long thoroughfare stretching east to west across Cape Town that eventually came to be renamed Voortrekker Road, after the rugged, tough-minded Afrikaners who had settled the Cape.

From Indecent Acts by Barbara Bleiman, featured in MIR10

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Roxburgh looked over at a knot of people in the middle of the dance floor. He noticed a tall woman with her back to him, in a tight vest top and baggy army trousers. She was an incredible dancer, her body moving in perfect time with the beat. She turned, and Roxburgh recognised his daughter.

From Roxburgh by Gemma Thomas, featured in MIR10

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Roxburgh hadn’t seen Josephine for almost twenty years. He struggled to reconcile his memory of the swaying-hipped, Afrohaired beauty he’d met at a gig with the picture of religious piety that Pearl described.

From Roxburgh by Gemma Thomas, featured in MIR10

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When Roxburgh woke up the following day, his mouth tasted like a small animal had died inside it. His head felt as if it were locked in a vice and nausea roiled in his stomach. He opened his eyes unwillingly, the lids gummy with sleep.

From Roxburgh by Gemma Thomas, featured in MIR10

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Editor's Blog: Pamela Gough on 'Quicksand' by Jacquelyn Shreeves-Lee

Quicksand considers the complexity of human relationships in personal, familial and societal terms.  In the presentation of the various relationships, the story interrogates definitions of citizenship, as rights, privileges and inherent duties are revealed through character dialogue and action.  For the most part, the characters are presented in juxtaposition, and counter to mainstream society’s ideal; their personal angst and disquiet revealing wider social concerns. 

From these ideas the theme of identity is drawn.  In my interpretation, Jacquelyn’s character identities are written hyperbolically so that they can embody the persona subliminally prescribed by others.  It is a clever, and I think successful device. It also makes the characters difficult to like and has the interesting effect of drawing a reader’s attention to inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies in their own behaviour and perceived identity.

This story made me feel as though we are all in a potato rumbler, rubbing against each other uncomfortably until we are ready to be processed (professionally and, or, personally, even spiritually) by a superior entity. It’s not all anguish though. To counter the tumult runs a thread of hope and despite the connotations of the story’s title and the fragmentary nature of many human relationships, the story concludes optimistically.

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Slowly, she walks out into the night where heavy, low-lying clouds choke the moon and stars from the black London sky.

From Quicksand by Jacquelyn Shreeves-Lee, featured in MIR10

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MIR10 Author's Blog: Amanda Schiff on the Editing Process for 'The Dybbuk's Tale'

The story began life as an accompaniment to the conceptual ‘cabinet of curiosities’ box constructions I make and exhibit. I wasn’t even sure that it would stand alone, without the images that inspired it – two small glazed wooden boxes filled with visual and text elements. The version I submitted to the editorial team was a little over 2,500 words, and when the story was selected I was convinced it would be edited down.

The first meeting with my editor, Ian, in the RIBA café was positive and stimulating. He really understood the story, from narrative to subtext and from character to form. I’d been nervous, because it’s a highly stylized piece, and the subject matter isn’t to everyone’s taste. Ian was still in his first year on the MA, yet his ability to critique the writing in a sympathetic and incisive way was impressive. I took notes about the areas that needed clarifying and expanding, and immediately started to have a clear idea about how to revise the draft.  He asked questions rather than offering solutions, which from one writer to another is always a temptation.

After the first set of notes and my first revisions, Ian kept the rewriting on track with two more sets of notes. I found his specific but sensitive comments a real creative stimulus to expanding some of the ideas, and letting the text breathe – the final version is 700 words longer than the original.

I’ve done a lot editing over the years with both professional writers and students so I know that it’s a delicate process that requires tact and lack of ego for it be most productive. As a writer, this experience was remarkably fast, creative and supportive; Ian has made a real and valued contribution to the final version in the anthology. 

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Editor's Blog: Ian McNab on 'The Dybbuk's Tale' by Amanda Schiff

Amanda’s story was so very different to the other submissions we had for MIR10. It has such a magical fairytale and folk quality to it, and throws the reader into such a richly described world. It is an intoxicating story. Amanda writes so vividly and beautifully that her story of the Dybbuk stirs the imagination.

I was immediately impressed by how the prose and the pace made the story feel modern, and the tone remained contemporary, while in the setting and the themes of the piece there was this juxtaposition with the age and context of the tale. I think it is a deft balancing act to hold those different elements together in a way that enthrals the reader, and it is that which really marks the story out as unique for me. I also think that The Dybbuk’s Tale is really a love story, and one that shows love as liberation.

Amanda was an extremely easy writer to edit, as she was so accommodating to my suggestions and we were able to have a productive, fun and fascinating dialogue about the story and our responses to it, which made the process very satisfying and I could not be more proud of the outcome.

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The Mechanics' Institute Review: Issue 10 eBook: Evie Wyld, Adam Marek, Jackie Kay, Colin Grant, Raffaele Teo: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

The MIR10 ebook is live, launched and ready to buy, so download these amazing stories!

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She is a gazelle, graceful and lithe, even though Teapot worries that in her high heels she might topple and break at any moment. He wishes she’d kick off her shoes and come slow-dance to whatever music she hears, his arms tightly wrapped around her like strong rope.

From Quicksand by Jacquelyn Shreeves-Lee, featured in MIR10

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But who knows how they scoop out things in the crematorium, where it’s a conveyor belt of one body after another, and a set time to burn. Even dead, you can’t take too long or be stealthily quick; you just follow the timetable.

From When You Go, You Leave a Farce by Kavita Jindal, featured in MIR10