Clockwork Dolls

Majid Karimi

Description

Clockwork Dolls, which is written in a minimalist way, refers to the narrow, precise, yet minor parts that exist in everyday life, where each of these issues alone embrace the entire life of the present characters of the story. In this collection, the author attempts, in addition to showing the behavioural complexities of the characters, to create harsh and terrible conditions, each of which reflects the social status of people in society. Moreover, the characters soliloquise, and events take place in their minds. On the other hand, the frustration and distressing of characters in most cases show them, like 'Clockwork Dolls', that they no longer have the power to concentrate and become puppets that do not have the power to make decisions and continue along the path until they are tuned.The succinctness and conciseness of these stories is considered to be a point in which the author explicitly describes the deep stories briefly and it depicts a contemporary modern life and emphasises that at any moment, every single person in the community may have these or similar events for himself. Another feature of this collection is that the author takes on the silence throughout the story and explicitly and unbiasedly refers to these problems on a daily basis, and in no way does he try to provide a solution for them, and the reader is also able to pay attention to it and will try to analyse and conclude the subject matter according to his mental resources.

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Short story
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 28 août 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528982122
• Langue: English

Extrait

Clockwork Dolls
A Collection of Short Stories
Majid Karimi
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-08-28
Clockwork Dolls About the Author Copyright Information © Preface 1. The Seventh Act 2. Last Meeting 3. Seasonal Meeting 4. The Messenger 5. Third Floor Ruler 6. Flight Wings 7. Bedside Lamp 8. Shout 9. Actor 10. Pink Bubble 11. The Death of a Writer 12. Collector 13. Long Sleep 14. Final Stage 15. Seasonal Allergy 16. Glasses of Study 17. Headmaster 18. Glass Room 19. Blue Balloon 20. Expensive Clothes
About the Author
Majid Karimi, born in 1979, is an Iranian poet, author and English translator, and a university lecturer who completed his university studies in English language and literature in 2005. He began teaching at the university from the same year and after compiling several textbooks on learning English language, turned to literary activities. Some of his works include:
Today’s Folks (A Collection of Short Stories)
Just Around the Corner (A Collection of Short Stories)
Clockwork Dolls (A Collection of Short Stories)
Hidden Layers (A Collection of Short Stories)
The World Behind Glass (A Collection of Short Stories)
Flowing Shades (Novel)
Diorama  (Translation of 50 Great Short Stories from English to Persian)
Copyright Information ©
Majid Karimi (2020)
The right of Majid Karimi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528982115 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528982122 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Preface
Clockwork Dolls , a collection of short stories, which is written in a minimalist way, refers to the narrow, precise yet minor parts that exist in everyday life and each of these issues alone embraces the entire life of the present characters of the story. In this collection, the author attempts, in addition to showing the behavioural complexities of the characters, to create harsh and terrible conditions, each of which reflects upon the social status of people in society. The characters soliloquise, and events take place in their minds, so that the reader tries to understand the order of characters in the mental disorientation and experience different spaces. On the other hand, the frustration and distress of characters in most cases show them like “ Clockwork Dolls ”, who no longer have the power to concentrate and have become puppets that do not have the power to take decisions and continue along the path until they are tuned.
The succinctness and conciseness of these stories is considered to be a point in which the writer explicitly describes the deep stories briefly and it depicts a contemporary modern life, emphasising that at any moment, every single person in the community might these or similar events. Another feature of this collection is that the author takes on the silence throughout the story, and explicitly and unbiasedly refer to these problems on a daily basis, and in no way does he try to provide a solution for them. The reader is also able to pay attention to it and will try to analyse and conclude the subject matter according to his mental resources.
Other works of this writer can be found in the fictional collections of “ Today’s Folks ” and “ Just Around the Corner ”, which are very similar to the stories of these collections, but the main difference between them is the existence and influence of an unstable yet frightening condition that sets this collection distinct from the two other sets. The reader is faced with spaces that are not alien to him at all, but have paid less attention to them, because they have often experienced them in solitude and privacy, even in imagination. The book " Flowing Shades" , is another wonderfully illustrative work by this author, showing these instabilities as a stream of consciousness in a novel.
“Clockwork Dolls” is written for the general public and people interested in literature and art, but reading it for everyone, at any level and in all circumstances, can be instructive and at the same time can be a cause to think.
I’m keen to share other stories like this to present my great experiences that I’ve gained through the art of writing stories and attracting the attention of the general public to the events going on around them.
In the end, I need to thank the management of " Austin Macauley Publishers" and their colleagues for their compassionate cooperation to publish my work.
1. The Seventh Act
The director’s absence led all the cast to lose their confidence in their first official performance while only half an hour was left to run. With every passing second, the excitement and stress of the cast became more intense. They felt that they were not able to perform on stage. Their desperate glances that fell on each other would have increased their anxiety. Their eyes were fixed on the entrance door so that they could spot the director, who was always ahead of time from the rest in the training hall, entering from the backstage.
The doors of the showroom were opened and the voices of the audience, who came to the hall with great interest, were heard. The sound of the audiences’ hum made it uncertain whether they would shut down the first show. The critical point of the adventure was when some people agreed with the idea, but the angry look of the producer quickly took it away from them. The moments passed away quickly, and the actors had no intention to warm their bodies and practice their art dialogues.
With the passage of time, the number of audience was increased and the seat rows filled one after the other. One of the actors went to the curtains and slowly without anyone noticing, checked out the audience’s presence. Everything was going according to the plan, except for the presence of the director, who had broken the entire order of the agents on the backstage. No one knew about him, and the subsequent calls to get a hold of him could not do anything. The only way left was to wear the acting dresses as soon as possible and go to stage one after another according to the play.
The lights went off, silence and darkness covered the whole hall. The curtains went away and the naked scene was still and silent. Suddenly, a circular light, along with slowly playing music, appeared on the stage. In the centre of the light, a black man, sitting alone in a corner, had kneeled and fisted his hands on his forehead. Coordinated by the music, he raised his face with a black mask covering it. Then he stopped, walked forward, and looked slowly and hesitantly around. Suddenly, he began to run and stood in the other corner, and after a brief pause, he moved again hurriedly from one side to the other. He stood for a moment, and stared at a distance and returned to the same side where he was. Standing, he stretched out his hand as if he was fruiting from the tree. Then he took it to his face and took a deep breath. He moved again and then back from where he had started, and he sat in the same position and sank into himself. All this time, the circular light followed him and the music was played in accordance with his mood. The stage reappeared in the dark again.
Drum sound attracted the attention of the audience back to the scene. Suddenly, this time, two light circles were illuminated. On the one hand was the man, who had been acting in the first curtain, slowly sinking in his own and on the other side was a woman, with a long, black dress and a mask. Both were thinking at the same time until they raised their heads and stared at each other. Without saying anything, they both stood together at once. They looked around and stared at each other again. The man stepped forward. Despite the mask on their faces, their movements showed a great deal of doubt. The man began to run. Sometimes standing and sometimes turning around. Sometimes around and sometimes towards the woman. Hesitation was everywhere. The woman also looked at all the movements of the man, without missing a moment. The sound of the music got stronger with every moment, speeding up the movements of the man, until it suddenly stopped and with its silence, fixed the man in his place. The man stared at her again. But this time, with the start of the music, moved with excitement towards the woman. The woman also walked towards him. While they had their arms opened for hug and moved towards each other, the scene was silent and the showroom fell into the darkness.
Silence and darkness hovered everywhere. This time, the centre of the stage was lit, and showed two men fighting and annoying sounds were heard. Then another light turned on and showed that the same man and woman from the former scene had been staring at them along with a child, silently. Meanwhile, Iblis appeared as a black-haired woman with a red, horrible mask, alongside the two fighting men. Iblis constantly whispered, with an unpleasant dance, in the ears of one of them. He then spun and started laughing, then whispered and laughed again in the man’s ear. The sound of the drum, with the darkness of the scene, and black clothes with the horrific face of