Surreal Short Stories

Three years ago, we ran a series of surrealist short stories by Barry
Kavanagh on the hellshaw.com site.

They soon disappeared offline, after "Trouble in a Cafe" had appeared in a freesheet and Kavanagh said he "didn't want to be associated with anything."

The stories have many of the hallmarks of surrealism and dream-inspired writing (e.g. characters changing into other characters, a continual sense of unease etc.) but they're not quite the same as early 20th century manifestations of this form. There are arrows in a bow aimed specifically at the hellshaw.com audience (one of the characters is surnamed "Walshe") which is food for thought, maybe maybe. The stories were forged in both Dublin and Melbourne, which may or may not be relevant.

The Stories:

Farewell to the Hotel

A Lion in the University

Trouble in a Cafe