The spoken word performance group, Writers’ Bloc, of which I am a part time member, is attempting to expand the spoken word scene in Edinburgh by devoting an evening to an opportunity for new performers to present their work in front of an audience.

See the press release below.

WRITERS’ BLOC presents The Wee Red Gig

WHAT: Live readings of original fiction

WHO: Writers’ Bloc spoken-word performance group and special guests

WHERE: The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh Art College, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF

WHEN: 8.00 p.m., Wednesday 24 November 2010

HOW MUCH: £3/£2 concession

URLs: http://www.writers-bloc.org.uk/ and http://www.myspace.com/blocspace
or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Hot on the heels of its Halloween show, No Country for Dead Men, Writers’ Bloc is pleased to announce another evening to warm your November cockles: The Wee Red Gig, in the intimate surroundings of the Wee Red Bar (see what we did there?)

Bloc regulars will make an appearance, but the emphasis will be on giving non-Bloc performers a platform for prose spoken word. The Edinburgh performance poetry scene is thriving like never before, but here at the Bloc Politburo we’ve noticed that there isn’t so much available for the writer of micro-fiction with a yearning to perform his or her work.

The emphasis will be on invited guests, but there may be some slots for others. Please note, however, that if you do want to perform, this isn’t open mic – you need to submit first, before the deadline of 12 noon, Sunday 14th November. Please email us at theweeredgig@gmx.co.uk, with a prose piece of not more than 800 words pasted into the email. Please also tell us a bit about yourself – publications, previous experience of reading in public, financial covenant for bribes (kidding.)

There are no prizes on the night, but we will buy every performer a drink, and we can promise our usual friendly Bloc audience will be on hand.

Just a reminder about Writers’ Bloc’s latest reading at the Ghillie Dhu, 2-6, Rutland Place, Edinburgh EH1 2AD on Tuesday night, 2/11/10, from 8 pm.

The latest Writers’ Bloc Halloween show (titled as above) takes place next Tuesday 2nd November, 2010.

Due to a prior engagement (I’m working that night) I shan’t be able to attend.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t.

The promotional information is below.

Fresh from a barnstorming performance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Unbound programme, Writers’ Bloc announces an evening of spoken word with an uncanny twist.

No Country for Dead Men takes place at the Ghillie Dhu, 2–6 Rutland Place, Edinburgh EH1 2AD, on Tuesday 2nd November from 8 p.m. Admission is an affordable £4.00 (£2.00 concessions).

Just a reminder that the latest Writers’ Bloc reading is this Wdnesday.

At the Ghillie Dhu, 2-6 Rutland Place, Edinburgh, 8 pm. Entry £4 (£2 concessions.)

Here’s the press release for Writers’ Bloc’s latest show. The poster is a nice touch, I think.

Planet of the Apps: New Stories of Antisocial Media — Writers’ Bloc announces an evening of spoken word with a technological twist.

Expect new stories about: next-generation Nigerian 409 scams; burlesque-themed alien abductions; stalkings via social media; park keepers dealing with digital debris; and a steamy extension to the Dewey Decimal System, all performed with Bloc’s trademark energy and verve.

Planet of the Apps takes place at the Ghillie Dhu, 2-6 Rutland Place, Edinburgh EH1 2AD, on Wednesday 21st July from 8pm. Admission is an affordable £4 (£2 concessions.)

Authors appearing include: Hannu Rajaniemi, whose first novel The Quantum Thief is released by Gollancz in September; Andrew J. Wilson, co-editor of Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction; Morag Edward, winner of the Highlands and Islands Short Story Competition; and audience favourites Andrew C. Ferguson, Gavin Inglis and Stefan Pearson.

A live Twitter feed will be projected during the event. Bring your mobile!

For further information see the Writers’ Bloc web site: http://www.writers-bloc.org.uk/

Just a reminder that the launch of Writers’ Bloc’s two latest chap books, The Secret of Scottish Football by Andrew Ferguson and Nil by Mouth by Morag Edward, is this Thursday (27^th May) in the function suite at Easter Road Stadium, Easter Road, Edinburgh.

In my previous post about this the start time was given as 7.30 pm. Please note that this should be amended to 8 pm.

You may be unaware that, as well as giving readings of fiction, the performance group to which I am an occasional contributor, Writers’ Bloc, from time to time publishes chapbooks containing fiction produced by members.

To launch the latest of these, Bloc is having a launch do on Thursday 27^th May. Since one of the chapbooks features football exclusively the event will be held in the function suite at the home of Hibernian Football Club, Easter Road. (I’m tempted to turn up wearing a Dumbarton shirt just to be contrary.)

Attendance is free!

Here is the press release:-

WRITERS’ BLOC
presents
Nil by Mouth/The Secret of Scottish Football Launch

WHAT: Book launch, with live readings of original fiction

WHO: Writers’ Bloc spoken-word performance group

WHERE: Function suite, Easter Road Stadium, Easter Road, Edinburgh

WHEN: 7.30 p.m., Thursday 27 May 2010

HOW MUCH: FREE

URL: http://www.writers-bloc.org.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/blocspace

OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER

Writers’ Bloc is pleased to announce the launch of two new chapbooks, and has secured the function suite at Easter Road for the launch!

Andrew C. Ferguson’s The Secret of Scottish Football is a soccer book with a difference. Fife has spawned many famous footballers, but it’s also had its share of the supernatural. As these stories show, when the two collide, the results can be more surprising than the half-time pies at Stark’s Park.

Scotland on Sunday described one of these tales as having “all the energy and vigour of early Irvine Welsh, but with far more humour and nuance”. In his foreword, Pat Nevin says, “Harsh reality sits side by side with sometimes even harsher fantasy, in a long Scottish tradition that echoes much of the work of Robert Burns…”

Continuing the culinary theme, the stories in Morag Edwards’s Nil by Mouth are a dark, spicy mixture, topped off by recipes and Mo’s own fantastic artwork. Just make sure you follow the haggis recipe very carefully…

Booksquawk.com calls this chapbook “a fantastic example of the darkly witty Scottish sense of humour and a punchy little collection of stories that can be devoured in a lunch-break”.

The event starts at 7:30 p.m., and there’s a pay-as-you-go bar. Even Jambos will be made welcome.

Notes for Editors:
Writers’ Bloc is Edinburgh’s premier spoken-word performance group. Its members include published and prize-winning poets and novelists, who present original material with iconoclastic attitude.

Writers’ Bloc’s publishing arm, Bloc Press, has now produced six chapbooks, all in limited editions of 250 signed copies. The first two have sold out.

For more information:

E-mail: embassy@writers-bloc.org.uk

Phone: Andrew Wilson (0131) 467 0410, or

Andrew Ferguson (07981) 805976.

For a review of Nil by Mouth, see http://www.booksquawk.com/2010/04/nil-by-mouth.html

Review of one of the stories in The Secret of Scottish Football: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/books/Speculative-reading-is-a-Halloween.3476961.jp

Review of The Secret of Scottish Football, and interview with Andrew C. Ferguson: http://tsgfootballfiction.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/the-secret-of-scottish-football/

I reproduce below the latest information from my spoken word performance group, Writers’ Bloc.

You’ll see the theme of this event chimes with a couple of the posts I have made recently.

…………………………

You may be wondering what has happened to Writers’ Bloc. Well, preparation is in progress for some exciting new shows, but in the interim, some of us will be gathering with some well-known associates for a major event at Glasgow’s Aye Write! book festival next month:

http://www.ayewrite.com/Programme/Events/theearlydaysofabetterfuture_events.htm

Leading SF and fantasy novelists Richard Morgan, Ken MacLeod, Hal Duncan, Deborah J. Miller and Mike Cobley discuss the shape of things to come with editor, critic and general ne’er-do-well Andrew J. Wilson at “The Early Days of a Better Future?”.

Can things only get better or do we have to look over a mountain of rubble to see beyond the next fifty years? Scottish writers are leading a renaissance in British speculative fiction, but does our national identity have any future at all? Are rhetorical questions all we’ve got to offer?

Join the panel for a lively debate punctuated with short, sharp and shocking stories — and some very special surprise guests.

THE EARLY DAYS OF A BETTER FUTURE?

Sunday 7 March, 20:00-21:30 at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow G3 7DN.

Tickets: 7.00 (6.00 concessions).

Book early to avoid disappointment and ensure that it’s not just
Glaswegians who get to have their say.

We hope to see you there!

Writers’ Bloc.

http://www.writers-bloc.org.uk/

better read than dead

Don’t forget Writers’ Bloc’s Hallowe’en show tomorrow night at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar.

Here’s the blurb:-

Late October is traditionally the time of year when our ancestors huddled closer to the fireside, glancing fearfully now and then at the rattling door lest the storm outside was about to unleash some frightful creature of the night upon them.

Well, never mind all that bollocks. This is the 21st century, after all, and the thing to do at Halloween is huddle round your pint, as those creatures of the night Writers’ Bloc read tales of mayhem and immoderate threat in the Pleasance Cabaret Bar. The show is called THE SLIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE.

This outing does promise a more feminine — if not necessarily softer — side of Bloc than usual, with Morag Edward, Jane McKie and new comrade Kirsti Wishart all presenting new stories for your delectation.

All this plus the usual undead European white males. We can’t promise you the creme de la creme, but perhaps the creme de la slime …

Writers appearing at “The Slime of Miss Jean Brodie” will include:
Stefan Pearson, Morag Edward, Jane McKie, Kirsti Wishart, Andrew C. Ferguson, Andrew J. Wilson and Gavin Inglis.

Show starts 8pm, Thursday 29th October, Pleasance Cabaret Bar, 60 The Pleasance, Edinburgh. Admission 3 pounds for the creme de la creme or 2 pounds concessions.

Writers’ Bloc. www.writers-bloc.org.uk

The latest Writers’ Bloc reading is on Thursday this week at The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh, 8 pm. Entry is only £3 (£2 for concessions.)

It’s the annual Halloween special, hence the title.

Here’s the poster.

Go along. You know you want to.

You’ll be safe. I’m not reading.