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

steve coel

Penarth

steve coel

Penarth

steve coel

Penarth

steve coel

Penarth

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Penarth

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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 Publication ] by 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