‘Have you done a lot of these?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘This is my first, as a stand-alone out-of-focus person.’ ‘It’s ‘background artiste’.’ ‘Do you ever get recognised?’ ‘No, I’m a professional.’ ‘Oh. Easy job though, isn’t it? Just stand at the back and look fuzzy.’ ‘Hardly! This isn’t crowd work, my dear.’ ‘No, you’re right. I usedContinue reading “The Blur of Celebrity”
Author Archives: mike olley
Message received
‘I see they’ve had a reshuffle at Mount Olympus.’ ‘Have they?’ ‘Yes, they’ve gone all modern. Embracing new technology.’ ‘About time, so who’s gone where?’ ‘Well, Zeus is still tops but remember that wood-nymph, Skype?’ ‘In charge of the toadstools?’ ‘That’s the one, she’s been promoted, part of visual communications now; but here’s the shock:Continue reading “Message received”
Having to make cuts…
I’ve had this short story for a couple of weeks now and don’t know what to do with it. I was aiming for ultra-short fiction but at 36 words this piece seems a little bloated somewhere around the middle. However, owing to the nature of the subject matter, I’m a little hesitant to cut anyContinue reading “Having to make cuts…”
Bang and the dirt is gone…
There was a challenge on a writing forum to produce a 50-word story that had to end with the phrase ‘With that – she shot him!’ I don’t advocate the use of handguns nor exclamation marks but here is my effort. ———————————————————————————– ‘The .44 Magnum, one of the most powerful handguns, delivers a large, heavyContinue reading “Bang and the dirt is gone…”
absurd 