Tag: threshold

Shap Fell Road

~ simonsylvester ~ Leave a comment

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I had a few hours to write, yesterday, and managed to burn through the first draft of a 2,500 word ghost story. It’s set on the drive between Kendal and Shap on the surprisingly desolate A6 – a road I’ve driven hundreds of times when working in Great Strickland. This atmospheric photo, pinched from a very talented photographer called Richard Berry, shows the pylons that stalk the route just visible against the dusk. It’s a phenomenally stark landscape, with sections of the road blasted through steep slate hillside, and gigantic quarried cliffs glaring dark against a backdrop of the Lakes. Perfect for a foggy day and a haunting…

Mon read the story last night and gave me some great ideas for developing it further – obvious tweaks that I don’t always see on a first draft. Looking forward to working through a second draft and thinking about submission.

Edgelands

~ simonsylvester ~ 4 Comments

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I’ve always been drawn to places and spaces that in some way evolve beyond their origins or conventions – places of threshold, places of change. The stunning photos in this link show factories, fairgrounds and entire towns left to ruin. Caught between wilderness and control, they collapse, combine and intertwine with nature, creating something entirely new. These photos reveal abandonment as a creative act. They show us a vision of the future – of the mortality of our species. 

When I was about 10 years old, my brother and I played in an abandoned, fallen-in building, choked with sycamores and wild garlic. It was close to our house, but I hated being there alone. I remember virtually nothing of my childhood, but the oppressive sense of presence that radiated from those old stones has stayed with me.

The less control we have on our buildings, the more control they take back for themselves.