Empty Chair



Empty Chair - Steve Coel


  Photograph - steve coel




Late for work.
Again.


Flexi-time,
any time?


Busy stock taking
in the basement.


Power...
failure.


Wrong leaves.
Late train.


Two weeks.
Jury service.


Fire.
Drill.


False alarm.
Probably.


New cook,
in staff canteen.


Food
poisoning.


Strange noise
from the floor above.


Annual leave;
staying in caravan owned by that accounts guy in the office.


A friendly word
to the new audit intern.


Trendsetter
allegedly.


Multi tasking
presumably.


Busy
really busy.


Payback
Employee of the Month.



Footnote.

17 stories set in a 'fictional' work place.

Probably.

steve coel




Empty Chair by Steve Coel [ 2015 ] 


An 11.59 Publication

Bookmarks / Illustrations - An 11.59 Publication



Bookmarks / Illustrations

Tin Collector [ 2015 ] / The Wolf Within [ 2016 ]



Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
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Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


Penarth 
steve coel


Penarth
steve coel


crib goch / porth / penarth...

large panel abstracts.

scream - gallery.

steve coel

A Walk






A Walk.

I watch six year olds smashing windows

just passing the time.

I watch a young woman wandering around

with a sleeping bag under her arm.

I watch curtains part at mid-day.



The Story.

An awful day.

I wasn't working and was looking for somewhere to live.

3 of us were searching.

The area I got was south of the river.

I didn't really have a clue what I was looking for. An empty 

house or flat with no squatters didn't seem likely. 

No fierce dogs for neighbours. 

As I said, no idea.

One of the first things I realised was I wasn't the only one 

looking. The girl with the sleeping bag, I saw her around for 

about half n' hour or so. So did people through parted 

curtains. They'd seen it all before I expect.

The weather was overcast, dull and the strong sense of 

deprivation and desperation leaked through into the cement 

gardens and wet streets.

I gave up looking for the day.

Instead I went to a pub to get dry and on the back of a betting 

slip I wrote A Walk.

I felt I could escape but the young girl couldn't.

And the six year olds?


A Walk - draft story from The Wolf Within - Steve Coel[ 2016 ]


An 11.59 Publication 

Illustration / Picture [ not finished ]




stryd fawr [ 2015 ]
steve coel

An 11.59 Publication, Birmingham

Tin Collector [ An 11.59 Publication ] - update



Tin Collector [ An 11.59 Publication ]
by
Steve Coel 

update

Tin Collector  [ An 11.59 Publicationby Steve Coel,  will be available from mid November 2015.

10 microflashfictions plus selected illustrations, photographs, interviews, reviews and extras will make up this collection.

Also included will be draft extracts from Wolf Within [ 2016 ], by Steve Coel.


Other An 11.59 Publication titles -

Stubborn Lines [ 2013 ],  Mr Flash [ 2012 ],  Saving Spoons [ 2011 ], 

Mud on a Plate [ 2010 ]



An 11.59 Publication



ANNOUNCEMENT:

Tin Collector [ An 11.59 Publication ] will not be available until 2016.

Eight Rooms [ the confession trade ]



Eight Rooms
[ the confession trade ]
by
steve coel


'...get good at anything and you will create your own enemies.'
                                                                                                                  [ bukowski ]


****

extracts.


Thing you learns, my uncle told me, is that most folk will tell you the things you needs to know.

Trick is to know how to get the right information quickly.
Uncle who taught us said that it's just a simple matter of gentle persuasion.
Rely on your rooms having just the right decorations, to get the right results, he said.


**

...this morning only needed a plank of wood with a couple of nails and a clasp knife, and it's funny how fishing line, carefully knotted, works too. Eight rooms minimum is the best number in this line of business. We knows that. Used to be a trade secret.



**

Trusted we are. So we gets plenty of work passed on to us.

Want to find out who's been busy lately?
Bottle of whisky, a betting shop pen and padlock usually does the trick. First time round.
Where's the money going?
Cosy sofa, glass coffee table, bit of fake blood on the carpet, garden fork leaning on a chair...trust me.


**

See reputation is everything in this room game.


**

If you hears someone's gone missing or someone's gone back home, just spread the word, only, hint at a different reason. And make it a bad one. Job done. Easy.



**

Things can get difficult, it's a lie if you hear different because sometimes people try it on, but that's how you learn to select the right room...All you needs really to succeed in this game is 

a fucking good sense of fen shui and an ability to disguise yourself like.


**

Stands to reason pays good.

Although hours can be pretty shit. 
But if you continues to get results they say you can retire young, move on, go live in Ibiza, Canaries or some place.


**

It's my family business at the moment, just a job really.


**

Eight Rooms [ the confession trade ], [ draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro

Flash Fiction stories ] by steve coel, 2015.
An 11.59 Publication

small country




small country
by 
steve coel


me? i like to walk.
i like listening to places.
                              steve coel
[ interview: American Audio Prose Library, missouri, 1985 ]


2 extracts.


1]


12 months ago.


wave goodbye to the good times



                                                   ...she noticed the writing when quickly dropping from view to hide from her minder. he was busy looking for her and she didn't fancy getting beaten up again so soon after the last time.

evil man, evil temper, bad habits.

but not even street minders come in this place.
not here.
owner, seeing it all, simply placed her own drink on the table.

                                 ...watching her calmly go outside for a couple of minutes and have a quiet word with her minder, she could straight away tell who was more powerful.
she watched them shake hands, a gangsters agreement reached...

2]


tonight.


                                    ...she looked out to the empty dark street and once more at the words, by the door, written in her own language.


small country [ draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015





Arfordir Byw
steve coel


An 11.59 Publication, Birmingham

an 11.59 publication - tin collector



tin collector
by 
steve coel


tin collector: a story in four parts -

nice breakfast
free time
teamwork
heavenly session

nice breakfast

nice breakfast is about a female door person. 
a threat, last heard in prison, has been directed at her.
she needs to find out if the threat is a real one and deal with it quickly before things turn really really nasty.

extract 1.

makes a nice breakfast me
when i's got the time
keep it simple
i says
works for me every time

breakfast
pretty much
sums up the way
i approaches
most things in life

but i's still thinking
thinking hard about
where i was
made the mistake
that might just prove
to be the game changer

extract 2.

see 
time inside
can be time
well spent
for some
but first
you got to adapt
and get used to
different ways 
of doing things
and
getting things done

there is
for example
a particular noise
which you either
get used to
or
you don't

extract 3.

if you's been in
you knows
exactly
what i's been talking about
like a quiet scream
is what it sounds like
like a huge cry
for mercy
is what it really is
only mercy
don't come 
until
it's all over


free time

free time is about institutions and their quests for uniformity in everything they represent and do.
different individuals in free time stand out for many different reasons.

extract.

                                              ...so this last time in the bank, spooked i was. uniforms see, everyones in uniform, everyone. had some cash, needed an account, to open one like, but i caught someones eye. 
wrong someone.
asked to leave i was, exchanged a few words was all, honest. so i loses me cash and a bit more of my free time...


teamwork

this story is about the neighbourhoods we've either lived in, driven through or read about.
they are what they are, like anywhere; different things to different people.

extract 1.

like i says
when they leaves their mark
people learns about it
real quick like
got to
if they wants to survive
in this game

they like nice things
pretty girls
you know the story
we all know how that one goes
they's still young

keeping it all legit
is the hard part
and truth be
they got that covered
real good
has the gift
they has
is why they'll stay
top of the pile for a long time
round here at least.

extract 2.

still
someone is going to have a quiet word
straighten things out
cos theres always a someone involved
somewhere along the line
always

this ain't normal
but you tell me
what is
take that drink now i will

heavenly session

about four characters and their responses to the same threat.

extract 1.

                         ...old guy in the corner   doghead we calls him   and doghead is what he likes to be called   main reason being   he's always on about times   either had dogs   or raced them   something like that   anyways   was coming here   before i took over like   so could be different reason   anyway   always in the corner spot   always drinks steady like   for an old timer   not a problem...

extract 2.

                                                                               ...watching it all go down   not seen it this bad before   somebody's going to win   somebody always does   but if you has winners   you has losers too   just natural like   i ain't a loser.
will always win me   always...


tin collector [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.
An 11.59 Publication