The mission of Moronic Ox is to expose to the public artistic works of distinction free of charge.
Contents of Current Issue
Working on the Virtual Chain Gang
Kelly Huddleston recaps the work day of a
social media ghost
Kelly Huddleston
Uncovering the Cover Artist
An Interview with Zuzanna Orzel
Kelly Huddleston
A Gathering of Generations
by guest editor Donal Mahoney
from the recent Open Books release
Thoughts of Maria
Gregory Heath
An Interview with Mary Shelley,
Author of 'Frankenstein'
An imagined interview of the author by R Daneel Olivaw,
the robot from Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' novels.
He asks her about her life, love, work
and influence on science fiction.
Written and directed by Christy Fearn.
From the novel
FRAMED
by Christy Fearn
Published by Open Books (2013)
Jet-setting Prof. Travels from Canada
all the way to London for Book Launch Party
Anne Martine Parent
"Breaking Up Is Hard, I Know"
from the Open Books novel
Mameluke Bath
Andrew Asibong
Fizzy Oceans is at home in the Virtual world.
Are you?
"The Dead Await Your Arrival"
Chuck Crabbe
"Unseen"
Glen Still
"MONSTER MOVIES: A PERSONAL REMEMBRANCE"
David Gariff
"Me and Shirley - Shirley Jones!"
Author Susie Duncan Sexton
Reads from Her Upcoming Book
More Secrets of an Old Typewriter:
Misunderstood Gargoyles & Overrated Angels
Poets International
"Oxford is a port" by Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang
"bones and planes" by Alicia Young
"An Individual Free-born In The Collective" by Christopher Barnes
"The Shadow Patrol"
Donald O'Donovan
Highway by Donald O'Donovan
(Open Books 2011)
Review by Susie Duncan Sexton
The value of fiction in exploring and representing
the Holocaust:
Bernard Schlink's The Reader
(First appeared in issue 39 of ‘Tears in the Fence’.)
Gregory Heath
From the recently published Open Books novel
The Woman Who Lost China
Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang
"ChinaShock"
Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang
"Place Matters"
Clint Smith
Submissions accepted at email
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Moronic Ox Literary and Cultural Journal - Published by Open Books
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Mameluke Bath
by Andrew Asibong
Mameluke Bath is the bizarre story of Christie Smithkin, a 39-year-old misfit, misanthrope and virgin, who lives in the nightmarish English city of St Pauly. Friendless, paranoid, and lacking the funds she needs for the completion of her PhD thesis, mixed-race Christie’s only hope lies in a new ‘asylum-seeker mentoring’ scheme for which she has recently volunteered as a mentor. Offering guidance to recently-arrived African refugees fleeing torture will, she prays, provide her with a sense of social purpose and perhaps even emotional connection. Christie’s plan goes awry when she discovers that Mukelenge, her Congolese mentee, has already been assigned a mentor: Damon, a cheerful, vapid, white male nurse. Worse still, Mukelenge is settling into urban East Midlands society with unnerving confidence and poise. Piqued by the immigrant’s miraculous feats of integration, Christie becomes uncontrollably jealous when she realises that Mukelenge is also casting a spell of seduction over the handsome, doll-like Damon. Christie’s determination to solve the mystery of Mukelenge’s identity, to rescue Damon from the real or imagined horrors of a zombie-factory deep in the woods, and to come to terms with her own terrifying childhood, will hurtle all three protagonists towards a macabre conclusion in the nearby spa town of Mameluke Bath.
As French émigré Roman Catholics, Lizette Molyneux and her brother Robert are used to an existence on the edge of their Regency Nottingham community. But when Robert is arrested for a crime he insists he did not commit, Lizzie must draw on all her strength and courage to help him. Overcoming poverty, prejudice and the unwanted advances of her employer’s son, she unites with the frame-breaking Luddites to free her brother and to rectify social injustice.
With all the excitement of Sharpe (Bernard Cornwell), as well as the social commentary of Elizabeth Gaskell and Victor Hugo, Framed dramatises the issues of a turbulent time and champions the resistance of poverty-stricken workers. If you liked Les Miserables, then you’ll love Framed!
Now Available
from Open Books
A Week with
Fiona Wonder
by Kelly Huddleston
It is exactly one week until sixteen-year-old Mercy Swimmer is to play out a dream scenario: to spend an entire week with movie star Fiona Wonder, the prize awarded to the winner of a contest staged by a teen magazine.
Mercy is kind and compassionate and always tries to see the best in everybody, even when those around her do not respond similarly. For example, her mother’s snippy, hot-tempered friend Nikki is a kleptomaniac who constantly belittles her boyfriend. Her best friend Valerie has anger issues and a weight problem. Beautiful but cold Lady Redding, Valerie’s mother, feels entitled to everything even as others go without. And Mercy’s mother, a severe asthmatic who works two menial jobs in a “dead mall”, seems to care more about Fiona Wonder and Mercy’s upcoming week with her than the pressing issues in their own lives.
Everything is on track for Mercy’s upcoming week with Fiona Wonder, but when her mother’s asthma flairs up, Mercy’s world turns upside down and she is faced with a decision that will ultimately challenge her own capacity for compassion.
A Week with Fiona Wonder shines an intense light upon the dire consequences of social exclusivity and suggests the alternatives of inclusion, empathy and, indeed, mercy.
Hundreds More...
Stories, Poems, Articles, Excerpts, Videos, Interviews, Fine Arts Expo
The Woman Who Lost China
Backlinks leading to items of interest in literature, fine arts, video, current events, humor & lifestyle.
by David Sirota
Tom Engelhardt
Jason Linkins
Moronic Ox
Music Video of the Week
Dexie's Midnight Runners
"I Believe in My Soul"
It is 1949 and the Chinese Republic is collapsing under Mao Tse Tung’s communist onslaught. Manying, unsure of the fate of her soldier husband, must flee Nanjing with her baby. With the help of her beloved childhood sweetheart, she finds a place on the last train leaving the city to Hong Kong where she is taken in by her brother and sister-in law. As she recalls the cruel fate of her uncle at a provincial court half a century earlier and all that has been lost, she makes a discovery: the past shapes the present. Fate, however, has yet more in store for her. Love, war, sacrifice, corruption and revenge all play their part in this epic story that reaches its climax in twenty-first century Shanghai.
Enchanting Audio book for kids
Andrew Asibong
