‘Man Friday and the Sockball Championships’ by Mike Bonsall

Story Title: ‘Man Friday and the Sockball Championships’ by Mike Bonsall
Collection/Anthology?: Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology 3 (Bristol Review of Books Ltd.)
Date Read: 09 September 2010
Briefly: Imprisoned and isolated inside a futuristic cell-like transparent cube, an unnamed man tries to deal with the daily monotony of being surrounded with nothing and nobody.
Afterthoughts: Despite not really being a fan of anything sci-fi, this story turned out to be not that bad. And that’s because ultimately this story wasn’t as ‘sci-fi’ in flavour as I thought it was going to be. Rather it’s more of an exploration into man’s reaction to abject isolation and how it may be possible to deal with it. And I think that Birmingham-based Bonsall explores the subject reasonably well, touching on a number of thought-provoking aspects, such as the importance of maintaining routine, and the need to cling onto something tangible, no matter how intangible that thing may be. It’s impressive to note that this is Mike Bonsall’s first published story.

Rating:

This story was read as part of a review of the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, Volume 3. If you want to find out more about this anthology then I invite you to head on over and read my ‘forethoughts’ post, and/or visit the the Bristol Short Story Prize website.