There are short stories, and then there are Corwin Fox short stories - and those donѻýt get much shorter.
The B.C. musician and music producer has added ѻýpublished authorѻý to his portfolio, with Kill Love - a book of one-sentence stories.
Fox said the idea for a book of one-sentence stories came by happenstance.
ѻýI started writing one-sentence stories by accident - I was just trying to crack up my bandmate, Laurel,ѻý he said. ѻýI was replying to an email and I just wrote this funny once-sentence response that turned into a story - which is in the book, incidentallyѻý I cracked myself up; it was just funny. But then that night I started thinkingѻý I wondered what else I could do?
ѻýSo I just started writing more to see what I could do. Could I write sad ones, funny ones, dark ones? What can I do with a one-sentence story. I was writing them every night until I had dozens of them. Then I realized there was a theme tying a whole bunch of these together, so I just cleaned it up, grouped them, and made Kill Love.ѻý
The Vancouver Island-based artistѻýs one-sentence stories are akin to extremely free verse poetry. There is no consistent pattern or word count from one story to the next. Some stories are 20 lines long; others are five words long.
ѻýItѻýs almost a literary form - or it could be a literary form,ѻý said Fox.
Corwinisms, if you will.
Fox said some of the stories are autobiographical, while others are pure fiction. There are even stories of invented words, such as ѻýampersymphonialocityѻý - the rate of speed at which two or more musical ideas merge. ѻýFox said the book is ѻýnot really for kids - there is some dark and weird stuff in it, along with some cuss words and stuff. I wanted it to be really unfettered and experimental, but also to make it very personal.ѻý
As much as anything, Fox figures once he starts doing music gigs again, Kill Love will be a nice addition to his merch table.
ѻýThe state of the music industry has changed so much,ѻý he said. ѻýNowadays people buy computers that donѻýt even come with a CD drive, so some people still buy CDs, but not a lot of people; some people by vinyl, but not a lot of people; some people are even buying cassettes again, but most people consume their music these days through streaming.
ѻýSo I started thinking, what am I going to sell, once I go back on tour, because I will do gigs again, and it will be great, because you need your merch money. No one has CD players anymoreѻý I already supplement my merch tables with hats or shirts, but Iѻým not super into clothing, soѻý
ѻýThat makes it sound like the impetus of writing this book was an economic one, but it wasnѻýt. Thatѻýs just a secondary thing. I was already creating this stuff and I just felt compelled to make the book - the same as writing a song.ѻý
Kill Love is available at Moonѻýs Records in his hometown of Cumberland, or order online at Foxѻýs website,
terry.farrell@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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