Publication date: December 10th 2021
Ten frightful, shocking and bizarre short stories for those with a taste for the weird.
Among these sordid tales you will find an abandoned factory full of eccentric squatters, a group of thrill seeking swingers drifting through the cosmos, a drifter who speaks only in poetry, an A.I judge with a passion for justice, and many more mind warping absurdities guaranteed to get you screaming in your sleep.
Are you ready to hold...The Hand That Pulls You Under?
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During the late 1990’s James got lured into the thriving London graffiti scene. This huge art movement, which had spread out from New York in the 1980’s, completely engulfed him and changed his life. His childhood portraits gave way to edgy, letter-based designs, and spray paint became his preferred medium. Getting his artwork up across the walls and train lines of the south of England was the only thing that mattered to him for many years, spurring on a new stage of his artistic evolution, but his participation in this underground scene could not last forever. Graffiti was turning him into a criminal, and after a few brushes with the law (as well as brushes with death whilst walking along busy train tracks at night) he decided to turn his attention back to more traditional (and safer) forms of art.
After focusing on letter-based designs for so long he was craving the more intricate nature of portraiture once again, and in his early twenties he began creating a new body of work. Combining all of his learned methods into one, he developed his style and execution in a big way. From around 2008 to 2016 James produced countless portraits, and even began to branch out into figurative work. This was an immensely creative time for him, but another evolutionary step was about to take place.
With so many ideas running through his head, James was beginning to feel frustrated by the limitations of visual art. He had so many visions that he wanted to portray, so many things that he wanted to express, but the medium he was using simply wouldn’t allow it. It was during this creative crisis that he decided to start writing. As James recalls: ‘Visual art can portray a hell of a lot, anyone who’s ever “lost themselves” in a painting can definitely vouch for that, but it still has less dimensions than writing. My creative streak was on overdrive and I needed an outlet for it, I needed a way to express it, and a book seemed like the only way to do it.’ His debut novel was published in early 2017, and at the time it was his biggest ever artistic pursuit. Conservation, a work of SF horror, contains James Flynn’s own blood, sweat and tears, and the book also symbolises the broadening of his artistic passion. Conservation changed the direction of James’s art, and now he has several books in the pipeline. His second book, The Edge of Insanity, is due to be released in 2020, and will be full of new drawings and sketches to accompany the stories that it’ll contain.
Although certain works are available for purchase on this site, James’s primary motivation for creating art is far from commercial. When working on a drawing, painting or book, his only intention is to make something of unique quality. ‘Selling my work is nice,’ he recalls, ‘but even if I knew that I’d never sell a single book or drawing, I’d still create them.’ Much of his work is dark and macabre in nature, focusing on the unpleasant aspects of existence. This may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s become a trademark for James now, attracting a loyal niche following.
James Flynn’s artwork has taken on many forms over the years. For as long as he can remember he’s always been an artist in some way or another, but the nature of his work has always shifted and changed. As a child he enjoyed drawing faces, and although this particular pleasure would return later in life, his teenage years led him into a very different corner of the art world.
During the late 1990’s James got lured into the thriving London graffiti scene. This huge art movement, which had spread out from New York in the 1980’s, completely engulfed him and changed his life. His childhood portraits gave way to edgy, letter-based designs, and spray paint became his preferred medium. Getting his artwork up across the walls and train lines of the south of England was the only thing that mattered to him for many years, spurring on a new stage of his artistic evolution, but his participation in this underground scene could not last forever. Graffiti was turning him into a criminal, and after a few brushes with the law (as well as brushes with death whilst walking along busy train tracks at night) he decided to turn his attention back to more traditional (and safer) forms of art.
After focusing on letter-based designs for so long he was craving the more intricate nature of portraiture once again, and in his early twenties he began creating a new body of work. Combining all of his learned methods into one, he developed his style and execution in a big way. From around 2008 to 2016 James produced countless portraits, and even began to branch out into figurative work. This was an immensely creative time for him, but another evolutionary step was about to take place.
With so many ideas running through his head, James was beginning to feel frustrated by the limitations of visual art. He had so many visions that he wanted to portray, so many things that he wanted to express, but the medium he was using simply wouldn’t allow it. It was during this creative crisis that he decided to start writing. As James recalls: ‘Visual art can portray a hell of a lot, anyone who’s ever “lost themselves” in a painting can definitely vouch for that, but it still has less dimensions than writing. My creative streak was on overdrive and I needed an outlet for it, I needed a way to express it, and a book seemed like the only way to do it.’ His debut novel was published in early 2017, and at the time it was his biggest ever artistic pursuit. Conservation, a work of SF horror, contains James Flynn’s own blood, sweat and tears, and the book also symbolises the broadening of his artistic passion. Conservation changed the direction of James’s art, and now he has several books in the pipeline. His second book, The Edge of Insanity, is due to be released in 2020, and will be full of new drawings and sketches to accompany the stories that it’ll contain.
Although certain works are available for purchase on this site, James’s primary motivation for creating art is far from commercial. When working on a drawing, painting or book, his only intention is to make something of unique quality. ‘Selling my work is nice,’ he recalls, ‘but even if I knew that I’d never sell a single book or drawing, I’d still create them.’ Much of his work is dark and macabre in nature, focusing on the unpleasant aspects of existence. This may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s become a trademark for James now, attracting a loyal niche following.be to everyone’s taste, but it’s become a trademark for James now, attracting a loyal niche following.