I’m so grateful to the Arts Lab.
I jumped at the chance to join this crazy bunch back in 2015. When we started there were dozens of us, and I may have been one of the oldies, but we got to do some amazing, arty things and I felt like I was really stretching my creative wings with these fantastic people. Together we produced many shows, including the dystopian Mandrill-summoning Artsmaggeddon Cabaret, and plays like Lullaby of a Bottlecap Queen. We made magazines like Peasants With Pens. We organized open mics with titles like Fields of Wheat are Burning. We invited Viz’s Drunken Bakers artist and writer Barney Farmer to an actual bakery to show his short film and, well, drink!
When the pandemic happened, we could no longer meet in person, but our weekly zoom calls helped to keep us all grounded and inspired us to continue with our creativity.
It’s also true to say that the pandemic definitely got in the way of things getting…finished. Hence on November 18th 2023 we are launching not only this anthology, but a comic featuring work by Arts Lab members and a new magazine full of stories poems, art and articles as well. All these are projects that got somewhat extended during this time. But now, how glorious! They are complete!
Of all the projects our Northampton Arts Lab has undertaken, Dark Horses feels like my baby. My not-so-hideous progeny, to paraphrase Mary Shelley.
I don’t really feel like Victor Frankenstein: I am no monster in bringing together these disparate body parts – or stories. However, I have taken a little inspiration from Mary Shelley, arguably the first ever science-fiction novelist. Hers was the spark that I followed into a lifetime of working with genre. And of course, there is more than a little of the Arts Lab stitched into the name I have chosen for this new venture.
My creation is beautiful.
I very much hope the spark I have caught and used in order to create The Slab Press will make it live…LIVE! What could be more fitting for my first book than an Arts Lab anthology? The very essence of an Arts Lab is experimentation.
Of course, this is not just my work. Contributors include Alan Moore, Alistair Fruish, Sophie Sparham, Kev Rooney, The Spence Brothers, KB Willson, James Milton, Yoshe, Laura Roklicer, K.S. Dearsley, Michel Louis, Tom Clarke, Tom Jordan, Joshua Spiller and me. Cover art by Scott Jeffery.
There are stories about post-apocalyptic house choices, vengeful robots, sentient waste-fed microscopic creatures taking over, murderous social media, dissolved languages, time-looping assassins, and more!
All profit raised from this publication will fund further Arts Lab projects. More shows, more happenings. More books!
Launching November 18th 2023: £12.99
Purchasing links to be added shortly.
The Slab Press 