Nemonymal
Both flats fronted the cul-de-sac sand track with its carpet of fir cones; the track that ended at the big white house around the point with the peacocks that you see on the postcards. Well, you don’t see the peacocks on the postcards but you do hear their lost cries in the night like weirded-out mermaids.
: England and Nowhere
Rather like their creator Des Lewis, the Nemonymous collections are playfully serious. They are horror-veined agents of aghast subtlety. They are also exactly the opposite. In this era of blog-driven micro-fame flame chancers, Nemonymous is a hymn to self-effacement; a twinkling limerick to the diffident. As you'll realise, the simple fact of Des's existence has an effect on one's word use. Light bends differently in the Lewisverse.
Stories are submitted anonymously and published without a by-line. For a writer this is terrifically liberating. I think I’ve probably had a shot at every one of the various Nemonymi, succeeding twice and failing with the rest: but at all times I have felt a solidarity with this project... nay, cause.
In 2007, I was lucky enough to have my story “England and Nowhere” chosen for Zencore! (Nemonymous 7) which in turn was picked-up for The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 21.
“England and Nowhere” - Jarman films Christie - was written very quickly and then edited (it's the Nickels way) over some years. In my mind it’s still being written: the roads not taken, the doors left unlocked, the bare feet creaking up the stairs. And as you can see from the picture, the balcony has a railing now.
In April 2009 I learnt that another story of mine - under Des’s terms I am presently unable to reveal its title - will be appearing in the latest Nemocarnation, Cern Zoo. The Zookeeper beckoned and I had to heed the call.
