infinite number of monkeys + infinite number of typewriters =

Rousing myself from my sickbed to report the release of Beat the Dust's special birthday edition in which the finest young British and Irish writers (and myself) have collaborated on a story together entitled What's so special about Kansas?
Check out the site and the message below for full details (podcast version to follow). Now Igor, start the machine!

"To celebrate one year on the underground lit scene, we have a special edition of BTD this month. We brought together ten of the leading lights from the Brit Lit scene for a Literary Jam session to see what impact team-working and improvisation would have on the creative writing process.

The writers who took part were Brutalists Tony O’Neill and Ben Myers and various members of the OffBeat Generation - Lee Rourke, Paul Ewen, Chris Killen, Steve Finbow, Darran Anderson, Jenn Ashworth, Matthew Coleman and Paul Kavanagh.

The short story we've created - WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT KANSAS? - has now been posted along with specially commissioned mock obituaries and author pics. To see how well the writers performed as a team and what effect collaboration and improvisation had on the writing, go to Beat the Dust and read the issue online or in a printable Chapbook form. We were aiming for extreme creativity and the odd spark of genius from this seat of the pants approach to writing. Did we achieve it? You decide…



PS Check out Beat the Dust's excellent new online bookstore for some choice cult-lit selections.