Manchester

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The Manchester Review and Rainy City Stories launch

With an apparent recession now gaily under way, what better way to while away the impoverished hours with a little free reading material? Two new online literary publications, The Manchester Review and Rainy City Stories, spread some bargain basement joy this month

First up is the delightfully named ‘Rainy City Stories’. Set up by the shadowy authors of the ‘Manchizzle’ and ‘Mancubist’ blogs, ‘Rainy City Stories’ publishes brand new fiction, penned by some of the city’s leading writers and set in Manchester. As befits a project created by two top bloggers, this is no run-of-the-mill online mag. It fuses literary talent with technological jiggery pokery, using Google maps to link each short story to a specific location. So, eager readers simply click on an icon on the website’s map to reveal a story inspired by or set in that very spot.

‘I started the project because I wanted to create more opportunities for people to publish writing set in Manchester, and am somewhat obsessed with maps,’ says ‘Manchizzle’ author Kate Feld. ‘It will create a resource of stories… that will live online permanently. And my hope is that it will get people to see their city more romantically and start dreaming about what goes on in the shuttered shops and dark corners of Manchester.’ The first stories come courtesy of Jackie Kay, Mike Duff, Nicholas Royle and Rajeev Balasubramanyam (whose story features David Beckham, tattoos and, um, Whalley Range).

Elsewhere, the Centre for New Writing has just opened the e-doors on its new online arts journal. The ‘Manchester Review’ launches with a scoop: the exclusive first chapter of Booker Prize-winner John Banville’s new novel. ‘The Sinking City’ is Banville’s eagerly awaited follow up to ‘The Sea’, the unexpected winner of the 2005 Booker. Banville isn’t the only big-name author in the ‘Manchester Review’ – there’s also new work from Ali Smith, Paul Muldoon, MJ Hyland and Bill Manhire. There’s space, too, for emerging writers, including Chris Killen (whose debut novel is due to be published in 2009). Edited by poet John McAuliffe and author Ian McGuire, the Review will published twice a year and feature a mix of music, debate, visual art, fiction and poetry.

www.rainycitystories.com
www.themanchesterreview.co.uk

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