Author: Edward Brown

  • Made in Occupied Japan

    Made in Occupied Japan

    Recently an acquaintance I’ll call Eric gave me a chrome-plated naphtha lighter similar to a Zippo. The lighter was manufactured by Atomic. Engraved on the bottom were the words, “MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN.” Shiny as a trophy, at 60-plus years, the relic still functioned like new. Inquiring as to how he came to possess the…

  • Tattooing The Heart Of Darkness: a Review of Prick: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist

    Tattooing The Heart Of Darkness: a Review of Prick: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist

    Reviewed in this essay: Prick: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist, by Ashley Little. Tightrope Books, 2011. Though no babe in the woods himself, when Anthony Ant Young, the redheaded protagonist in Ashley Little’s brief debut novel Prick: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist initially enters a Victoria tattoo parlour seeking an apprenticeship, his questionable virtue is unblemished…