Flatland @ Reflection’s Edge!

Mike Grist Books, Stories 10 Comments

My story Flatland goes to Reflection’s Edge!

At the center of Flatland there was a tall sky-scraper, thirty stories high. In the skyscraper were many offices, filled with workers who spent their days typing at their ledgers, recording the business of Flatland that they could see out of their windows.

After their work was finished every day, they left the skyscraper and went to their homes. They lived in houses and farms spread around the town; the only town in Flatland.

Flatland was not very big. Perhaps as big as six football fields.

Read the full story at Reflection’s Edge.

Comments 10

  1. Have just read and really enjoyed “Flatland”! Well done! I had to chuckle at Crazy Mills suggestion of spelunking over the edge to find the first child who went over. It’s a great word…”pot-holing” just doesn’t sound as unusual or even interesting.
    Have been looking online for Caterpillar Man, to no avail, but see you have a line to it so will try that now.

  2. I don’t think I said anything about a comment awaiting moderation…what does that mean?
    Anyway the Caterpillar man is just brilliant…very clever, witty…just a good length (well, for people like me who struggle with fantasy genre). If you publish online like this can you still enter stories, etc. in competitions, etc.?
    Good luck with it all!

  3. Hey they are really, really excellent. I enjoyed reading them. They are pretty meaningful too, i guess people can relate to them even though they are bizarre. They both made me think alot whilt reading them, about how i could relate, or how humankind could relate. So interesting Mike. Nice website too – who did it for you? xxx

  4. Wow, very flowery and yellow! Why did you pick this theme Mike?

    Good job on getting your own domain name and site up! Couple things to work on, the left sidebar is a little messed up in IE, can you fix that somehow? The right side seems fine.

    Read both stories! Flatland was interesting, I kept expecting you to write about what was happening from over the edge, but you kept the story in Flatland. I always like stories that do the unexpected, and keep you thinking after.

    I liked Caterpillar man more. Like the reviewer said, it’s not a comfortable story to read. Was similar to that other kind of horror story you wrote (guy gouging out his eye, etc.) but this time the horror was more in the character’s mind (at least that’s how it seemed to me). Again the unexpected though as the ending was happy. I was expecting a darker ending.

    Next post?

  5. Hey Mike, I have no idea where you get your ideas from but they are great. Loved Flatland, wished there was more to read. Caterpillar man I liked less, little disturbing but still great writing.

    Can’t wait for more!

  6. Post
    Author

    Thanks all- glad you enjoyed these stories.

    Mum- you asked if I publish online- can I still enter competitions- I think that depends opn what rights the magazines buy. Probably it’s fine though.

    Alice- Cheers, and the website is all different now, and I did it myself! Wahoo!

    Can- Flowers gone now Mike! Glad you liked Flatland BECAUSE it didn’t go over the Edge. Going over the Edge is of course the obvious thing to do. Maybe I’ll write a sequel, over the edge. Hmm.

    Emma- Thanks for chiming in Emma, I appreciate the support, glad you enjoyed them. Maybe I WILL write that Flatland sequel, if you’re hankering for more 😉

  7. Shame I didn’t see the site in its flowery state.

    Enjoyed these two very much. They contrasted interestingly to the prior two things recently published. The language is much more straightforward. Wonder if they’re written alongside something like Killin’ Jack and that painter/magician one?

    Caterpillar Man: he references Murakami but doesn’t read any of the books the woman gives him while he has the chance–though he devours them later–just a detail that stuck out to me, probably because I’ve read that book. Ending definitely surprised me as well.

    Flatland: really liked the detail of the chained telescopes, I loved picturing that. Also liked the man’s short session of self-reliance, what with the learning all the trades and whatnot. His town left him, but I guess he still has all those ledgers, eh? They must’ve went to a better place, at least that’s my assumption; but at the same time, life in that small of a town seems pretty idyllic.

    Anyway: excellent.

  8. Post
    Author

    Hey Jeremy- glad you came to check out the site, and that you enjoyed the stories. About the writing style- I kind of have two modes- the overly florid/accenty one you know from Sagasu and Jack, and the terser more straight-forward one of these two stories.

    Do you have an RSS button for your LJ? I think some of them do- would make it much easier to follow you in return.

    The flowery state- I’ll change the new manfalling site to that so you can see it ;).

  9. Post
    Author

    I subscribed- maybe the first?

    I took a look at your work website- looks solid.

    RSS- me too, never used it before, but suddenly seems very useful. I guess now I’m off LJ not so easy to track friends.

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