The Office of Future Storytelling

Eric Crawford and the Storyteller fall down a philosophical helter-skelter when they discover they're both characters in a novel and made of nothing but words. With his final book the City Laureate, aka the Storyteller, focuses on Eric Crawford, an English teacher. In Eric he sees an opportunity to explore what is required to tell new stories. This encompasses Eric's daily life, the explosive relationship he has with troubled student, David Spurling, and a protest movement about Art. His control of Eric's life conversely makes the Storyteller realise the power language has over him. Reminding him that language is a public medium, not the exclusive tool of an authority or author. A stylistically innovative novel, at turns both a philosophy and black comedy, The Office of Future Storytelling, examines the relationship of language to individual identity and freedom. It argues that the stories we need are those which demonstrate our unequivocal connection to the world.