An Alternative Writing Retreat
Picking up a copy of this single-sheet newsletter from a plastic folder sellotaped to a lamppost, in this tense atmosphere, felt like a risk. It was touch. It was connection, of a sort. But it was a risk we took, and it paid off well. As hyperlocal micropublications produced during a global pandemic go, The Usher is in a class of its own…
More than three decades after the Chernobyl disaster the soil within the Zone of Alienation is still powerfully radioactive. Despite this, it is still possible to visit the zone. Indeed, tourism is encouraged…
Set out on your government-approved once-daily walk. Go in the evening; fewer people present, less necessity for the awkward dance whereby you slip past one another on a narrow sidewalk, one of you spilling out into the road to keep that space, maintain that gap…
SJ Bradley participated in the Alton Towers Residency in April 2019. We spoke to her about the theme park, the Northern Short Story Festival, and writing both short things and long.
It’s a relatively little-known fact that London isn’t the only city in the UK to have its own underground railway system. Glasgow does too. We took a Londoner for a ride around the network and noted their perceptions…
More than 2,000,000 people visit Alton Towers each year, travelling from all over the UK to experience the biggest theme park in the country. Of that vast company, only a small number ever venture into the Gardens, and then usually only to cross from the Dark Forest to the Forbidden Valley in search of more …
This single, run-on, car crash sentence is posted prominently at least a dozen times. It appears on trees, on lamposts, bolted to walls. One copy of it, a little faded and rusty, is even tucked away amongst the bushes. It is clear that a great deal of time and energy has been expended in the crafting and installation of this sign. But what does it mean…
Most will be quick to dismiss Edinburgh’s Ocean Terminal as a mediocre shopping centre… but within its walls there are still phenomena worth observing. This guided walk examines some of the most prominent of them…
During its almost 30 years of operation the Camelot theme park in Lancashire had the slogan “The land of great knights, and amazing days.” Visitors could ride a selection of flat rides and rollercoasters, play games and buy snacks at battlemented stalls, and watch knights both great and not-so-great battle it out in the jousting arena…
In 2019 we launched Alton Towers, a Residency Book which records the results of a weekend residency at one of the UK’s oldest and weirdest theme parks. For anyone who couldn’t make the launch in Stoke-on-Trent, we’ve put together some video clips of the readings…