Issue 06

HAY FESTIVALwriters club
hayfestival.org/thescribblers
issue06 – spring2011
This issue we’ve taken an alternative,
skewed, slightly curved look at the world.
Gunshots
Tom Scruby, Alex Jones & Rhys Price
Boris rushed down the street, he looked
beyond the wilted birches then spotted the fleeing
motorcycle. He got into his ride, quickly speeding
off in pursuit of the terrorist. He could see him
winding through the crowded vehicles.
Boris followed. He retrieved his P90 from the
footwell, emptying its contents through the
windscreen. Gunshots echoed through the
enclosed street. Then, he noticed the biker go
down, bullets lodged in his spine. Boris smiled.
Job done.
...Notice anything out of the ordinary about this story?
Can you spot what’s missing? Answer on the back page.
Reality
Serena Howard
retniW ot edO
shtffiirG alieL
,niaga semoc retniW
morf yawa su snips htrae eht
.nus eht
,gnitaoc ragus gnici na su evig sduolC
,tsorf eht htiw gnitsorf a
,llaf sekafl wons
hsuls
ot
eci
edils dna pils ew
ecin kool seod ti tub
litnu
.efink-kcaj seirrol
.pots sniarT
.dekcolb setuor suB
,dekcap stropriA
.erom yna ytterp os ton
,lufituaeb os ecno saw taht ssenetihW
,hsrah won
,kaelb won
.dloc won
hsulS
ot
eci
ot
.gnihton
,detsal ti elihw tuB
...delkraps ti
The world, but not as you know it (mental movies you must see)
Leila Griffiths
Blair Witch Project
Coraline
Edward Scissorhands
In this weirdly terrifying movie
When Coraline and her parents
This very freaky film scares me
three college students go
move to a new house she feels
mostly because there’s a whole
away for a weekend to make a
bored and neglected, even after
lot of running around not holding
documentary about the myth of
making friends with a strange
scissors correctly. The narrated
the Blair Witch. The whole movie
boy who lives nearby. Exploring
tale tells the story of Edward, a
is filmed on camcorders, and
the house Coraline finds a hidden
man created by an old inventor,
the actors were not always told
door to a curious passage.
who died before finishing him
what would happen next when
During the night, tempted to see
and left Edward with scissors
filming, so the film seems horribly
what lies at the other end of the
instead of hands. One day when
real and terrified audiences when
passage she enters it and finds
the local Avon representative
it was released in 1999. They
a freaky parallel world where
calls at the eerie mansion where
interview people in the village,
everybody has buttons
Edward has been living alone,
Birkettsville, where the myth
instead of eyes.
she decides she likes him and
is based and collect different
At first this new
accounts of the Blair Witch, a
world seems so
mysterious hermit who killed
much better
children hundreds of years
than her own,
ago. The next day they go into
with caring ‘other’
the woods searching for the
parents and all her
hermit’s house, armed with only
dreams coming true.
a map, a tent and a couple of
Then the Other Mother
camcorders. After spending a
invites Coraline to stay in
hedges, and wins
night in the woods they all report
her world forever, as long
everybody’s heart.
hearing strange things during
as she sews buttons over
the previous night, spooky...
her eyes. Safe to say I was
Cue strange objects hanging in
wary of buttons for weeks
the trees, weird rock formations,
after watching...
children’s hand-prints
and disappearances.
takes him home to stay
with her family. Edward
obviously finds it hard
to adapt to the new
life and environment
that he isn’t used to,
luckily he shows a talent
in cutting hair and
But life isn’t always
so sweet...
Donnie Darko
James and the Giant Peach
You think Wallace and Gromit
This slightly disturbing Roald Dahl
were the first people to see giant
classic begins with James Henry
bunnies? Think again... This
Trotter becoming an orphan when
film is set in America, during the
his parents are tragically killed
presidential election of 1988. A
by a rouge rhinoceros. So far so
teenager named Donnie Darko
strange. James is placed in the
sleepwalks out of his house one
care of his two evil aunties: Aunt
night, and sees a giant, demonic-
Sponge and Aunt Spiker. Soon he
looking rabbit named Frank, who
finds himself inside a giant peach
tells him the world will end in 28
on the Atlantic, getting chased
days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12
by 100 sharks with his new best
seconds. To make matters worse
friends. One thing, no-one ever
Donnie returns home the next
questions the fact that they are
morning to find that a jet engine
giant, terrifying bugs. Oh dear.
has crashed through his bedroom.
As he tries to figure out why he
survived and tries to deal with
people in his town, like the psycho
school bully, his crazy health
teacher, and a not-so-helpful
self-help guru, Frank continues
to turn up in Donnie’s mind... dun
dun dun!
The Scrap Yard
Rhys Price
The
scrap yard
of the future is
poles apart from
the scrap yard of today.
A scrap yard of the future is the
shop of today. A scrap yard of the future
is littered with Peugeot 206s, Macbooks, maps,
a sense of time, and other useless tat that people no longer have
a use for. There is an area of incineration to remove the worst of our past,
such items as Burberry clothing and a mountain of Red Bull cans as far as the
eye can see. All of it burnt and melted down and formed into an android’s lunch. A petrified
metallic forest of jerky lines and shards of silver shrapnel. Standing upon 3,000,000 hours of effort
but only 1,000 years of engineering greatness. Upon this Everest of refuse, stands a lonely, tired teddy bear.
hf2(11)A4 POSTER
4/4/11
14:06
Page 1
In association with
From site-specific drama with dANTE OR
dIE to paper free science with NNL, this
year's teen programme is bursting at the
seams with variety and opportunity.
Rising Stars will focus on the flow of text,
words and fictions, while the University
of Worcester mash up The Apprentice
and Dragon's Den. Agony Aunt Karen
Doherty chats friendships, families and
life, and Nominet bring the digital world
to Hay. A taste of Hollywood comes from
Epiphany Productions, plus there's the
UPS driving simulator and this is just
between 11.30am and 3.30pm each day!
LIVE EVENTS
Too many by far to mention
here, but our teen picks from
across the 2011 programme
have to include:
Brian Cox, Ralph Fiennes,
Alyxandra Harvey, Josie Long,
Monarchy, DBC Pierre, Meg
Rosoff, Jason Wallace and
The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.
MUSIC
Evenings roll over to our music
sessions with Roland and Cool Fossil
Music, so if you want to sample life as
a DJ, master some bass basics or turn
your bedroom into a studio these are
for you - more info online at
hayfestival.org/hf2.
THINK
BIG
Every day at 4pm UK Youth and
O2 will be hosting conversations
on issues that matter to you.
The question is, how can you
make a difference?
SCHEDULE
Check out the full breakdown of
events at hayfestival.org/hf2 or
Facebook our hf2 page.
GET INVOLVED
01497 822 629
hayfestival.org/hf2
Credit: www.savageandgray.co.uk
WORKSHOPS
Kafka ‘The Metamorphosis’
continued by Isaac Florence
“the man walked in
and, with one look at
an unusual looking
Samsa, walked back
out and began to
set his traps.”
Gregor Samsa has woken up minutes earlier
of his bed to pull himself up. His scaly back curled
and discovered that he has transformed into
up and stretched out pulling the sheet in between
a bug. Someone has just knocked on his
his giant rows of half moon scales, as he forced his
bedroom door...
body up to a sitting position on his bare
wooden pop-up bed. “If you’re in there
... “damn it” he swore to himself as he jumped out
then shout ‘cause I’m coming in,” the
of bed. He suddenly realised who
voice called again from the outside of
was at the door. Earlier that week
Samsa’s rickety driftwood door. “Damn
Samsa had become so frustrated
it!” he swore under his breath, then with
with his creepie crawlie crisis, that he
had arranged for an expert exterminator to
come and deal with them. In this moment of
madness he gave all his money to this man to
do the job, and now not only was he as skint
as a skinless thing he was about to be
horribly eradicated by his employee.
He decided to take action
immediately, as the man shouted again,
“Gregor? Are you there?” He reached for the end
a sudden crash the man walked
in and, with one
look at an unusual
looking Samsa,
walked back out and began
to set his traps.
A Spark
Alex Jones
A spark was all it took. It started as a tiny flicker in
lie whole fields, silvery and shimmering, like fish
the dead darkness, and only lasted for a fly’s breath,
scales. A little closer up, and it is clear that these
but in its tiny lifetime, it spread and multiplied, moving
fields are covered completely by sharp, shiny
in strange angled patterns, lighting up wires, flowing
needles. Hemmed by thimble hedgerows, these vast
through nodes, forever growing and multiplying and
areas of land dance and sway in the wind, clinking
creating new sparks that whizzed off down metal
against each other gently, all held in place by a tiny
connectors and chips. Soon it became a growing
thread poking out of the paper ground.
ball of electrical light, growing ever faster, powering
fans and spinning discs. It finally expands to its full
inland to the very centre of the island, a very different
extent, about the size of a planet, completely covered
picture unfolds. A vast jungle, seemingly made out
in circuitry, switches constantly flipping, calming blue
of paper, but without the overload of information
lights pulsing gently, the groans and creaks of discs,
covering the ground. The tree tops like screwed
and at last, as the sea of technology powered fully,
up pieces of paper with shredded strands hanging
a great chord rings out across the world.
down like vines.
Floating on this expanse of circuitry, a lone
Pulling back from the fields and moving over
Gigantic felt-tips and Sharpies hold the canopy of
island, out of place in its crackly, flimsy texture.
paper aloft while small biros line the edges of the spilt
Exclamations, fuzzy photographs and great jumbles
coffee lakes. Pencil shaving foliage curls at the base
of small print covered the surface of the newspaper
of the pen-trees, while pencil stubs dart in amongst
island, unreadable in the chaos. The currents of
the sharpeners, dipping inside, not to collect nectar,
electricity diffuse themselves on the shores of the
but to sharpen themselves – at once bringing them
paper land-mass.
closer to death, but also arming themselves.
Further away from this
static‑charged coast, over the
great creases of the landscape,
“Pencil shaving
foliage curls at the
base of the pen-trees,
while pencil stubs
dart in amongst
the sharpeners...”
The Hotel of Limes
Rowan Pritchard
Make your own...
3D anaglyph glasses
As soon as you walk in, the citrus smell hits you.
1) First, carefully cut out the frames included.
It seems to bounce off the bright green walls and
2) You will now need three pieces of coloured
floors, both bumpy with ripe fruit, and as it lingers
cellophane. You could pick this up from a local
into your nose. You spot the desk in front of you and
craft store, but that’s not as much fun (or as tasty)
realise it’s carved from the finest lime trees, which
as re-using Quality Street wrappers You will need
makes the room around more unusual and more
1 red (Mmmm! Strawberry Delight) wrapper and
abstract than anything you’ve ever seen.
2 blue (Coconut Eclair – delicious!) wrappers
(the colour is not strong enough with just one).
This is no ordinary hotel, and as you spot the green
bar covered in green citrus wallpaper, and the lime
You will find the cellophane is clearer at the centre,
juice cocktails and cordials and limeades, you know
try to smooth out the wrinkles.
that even Willy Wonka would stare in amazement at
3) Carefully glue the cellophane wrappers into
this wonderland. On the desk in front of you, you spy
place, making sure they cover the eyeholes of the
a beautiful glass vase, filled with the purest lime juice
glasses. Push the wrappers firmly into place and
and sweet-smelling futuristic-looking green flowers.
try to get as many of the wrinkles out as possible.
The curtains are covered in the green fruit, in fact, the
4) Patience! We’re almost there...
only thing not green is the lonely receptionist, staring
5) Trim the excess cellophane to avoid looking too
down at her green-tinted lime-scented papers and
crazy. Careful not to cut into your glasses – or
fiddling with the florescent telephone.
your fingers!
The Manager waddles in, hardly taking notice of
you, but glaring at something through his emerald
steel-rimmed glasses. He picks it up and stares at it
like it is something that does not belong to this world.
It is a simple red button, yet he continues to glare...
6) Now’s your chance to decorate your glasses – add
crazy colours and glitter, or stay classy and keep
it simple.
7) Finally glue the arms of the glasses to the frame
and you’ve got yourself your very own pair of
3D anaglyph glasses. Stick them on and explore!
HAY FESTIVALwriters club
– Coming up...
The Scribblers go interactive for issue 07 –
pick up your issue and get involved at the festival.
Every week The Scribblers meet up, chat,
We produce a termly magazine (right through
consume an inordinate amount of biscuits, and
from its editorial to its design and its distribution)
write. So if you’re at secondary school and can
that explores and invesigates things we love.
get to the Hay Festival office after school on a
Wednesday, pop by and say hello.*
*If Wednesdays are tricky, we’re also on the
look-out for remote correspondents, so get in
touch with ideas, recipes, lost property, etc.
We’d love to hear from you.
Gunshots Answer: a
Are you a secret scribbler, closet novelist or part-time poet?
– Contributors
This magazine has been made possible through the generous support and creativity of writers
Jenny Valentine, Sam Llewelyn and Judith Wills. Paul Thomas of bwa designed this awesome
magazine. Thanks also to Maggie Robertson, Webster Wickham, Finn Beales, Jesse Ingham,
the good people at Powys County Council and all at Hay Festival.
Sophie Lording and Jo Rodell-Jones
Hay Festival
thescribblers@hayfestival.org
Hay Festival of Literature & the Arts Ltd
The Drill Hall, 25 Lion St, Hay on Wye, HR3 5AD
Registered in England & Wales Registration number 2258780
bwa-design.co.uk
hayfestival.org/thescribblers