nothing in the rulebook

A collective of creatives bound by a single motto: There's nothing in the rulebook that says a giraffe can't play football!

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Category: Arts & Writing

Short stories, photography, art, videos

  • How to find a literary agent

    After embarking on an MA in Writing (/misguided attempt to avoid work), I wrote a story about a girl who is sent to live on an island surrounded by sea monsters. I had over-elaborate visions of mystery and madness and double- and triple-twists. It was the story I’d been trying to write and had wanted…

  • All the laurels in the world, and you give me these?

    I woke up this morning thinking I’d won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. This is where love and capitalism has got me, having me on that I can win a horse race in Paris, when it’s obvious that I’m only any good over the jumps at Wolverhampton. About the poet Rishi Dastidar has worked…

  • Diary of a Stand-Up Comedian’s First Edinburgh Fringe

    Mark Tomlinson is an aspiring stand-up comedian. He thinks because he’s watched a lot of comedy that somehow means he’ll be good at it. After spending a year honing his material in various hovels throughout London (sometimes in front of as many as 10 people!) he’s hubristically decided to perform a split show at the…

  • Novels for the end of the world

    It is 147 years since the first recorded use of the word “dystopia” was uttered by philosopher John Stuart Mill. At the time, Mill coined the phrase during a speech denouncing the British Government’s shameful colonial ‘Irish Land’ policy. Since then, of course, it has taken on a whole number of meanings and inspired multiple…

  • Why do some authors write in secret?

    Writers often hide behind a pen name or keep the very act of writing a secret from colleagues, friends or family. But what is it about writing that makes writers want to hide from view? Chris Smith investigates… Pick up the pen (name) It wasn’t until the publication of his first novel Call for the…

  • An Alphabet Anthology

    26 Acrostic Poems P is for Prologue Articulate buffoons can deduce even fantastical grammar. However, I just keep lying; muttering nonsensical obscene poetic quotations, rhetorical stammers, talking utter verbal wittering. Xeroxing yawping zanyisms! A is for Abortion Although babies can, do embryos feel? Genes haven’t inherited judgement, knowledge, love, mind, nurture, or pain. Questionable reasoning,…

  • Tea Time in Haworth

    In a tale of bread rolls, boiled sweets and missed opportunities in Rotherham, Jean and Graham wait for their friends to turn up for tea after a grand day out in Yorkshire. Written by Chris Smith. About the writer Chris Smith is a full time content marketing and PR type who dabbles in scriptwriting, creative…

  • Experience: Working with a writing mentor

    I don’t have an infectious disease but if I did, I imagine telling people you have one garners much the same reaction as telling people you’ve written a short comedy film. There’s normally some initial interest – even enthusiasm – but then a yawning chasm of social awkwardness opens as people think I might expect…

  • In Plain Sight

    Eyes that cannot close, Do not always see For behind each blink Forms a memory, And she makes none. Her stone drapes, Fold heavy, As sunken shadows Embrace gravity, Woebegone. Deep loss Is not solely felt By those who remain and remember, The resilient ones, Frozen awake The benighted Passively surrender And dead stare, with…

  • Experience: My first 20 gigs as an aspiring stand up comedian

    It’s my first gig. I’m at Angel Comedy, and it’s rammed. There are people standing, there are people being turned away from standing. The MC, Barry Ferns, has got the crowd properly warmed up. This is an audience that wants to be entertained, they want to laugh at every joke and unless they find a…