Rumsy Schoolchildren (limited hardback) - R. Ostermeier

Rumsy Schoolchildren by R. Ostermeier / 102-page hardback, published in 2024 by Broodcomb Press in an edition of 200 copies

Broodcomb Press is a UK publisher specializing in weird fiction and beyond: "Encompassing poetry, strange tales and experimental fiction, Broodcomb Press is a home for the writing that belongs here: disquieting truths about the region ("the peninsula") – tales both eerie and shocking – together with exploring the fantastic/everyday meaning of what it means to be human."

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“There’s evidence childhood games mimic desired behaviour of fairness. The Opies found there were certain fundamental truths about games that are suggestive considering how we behave as adults. For example, children dislike having power in a game. They long to pass the power on. A strange inversion of how we behave as adults. This is why deciding who is to be It at the start of the game is as much a part of the game as the game itself. Another truth is that a child who is It when the game stops—. That child feels truly ill-at-ease at the end of the day. To leave as It can be existentially threatening. They carry their It-ness home with them, which can be spiritually sickening.”

R. Ostermeier’s new novella is a disquieting tale of the past returned, and the devastating consequences that sometimes accrue from schooldays, giving a disturbing insight into hidden peninsular lives.

Never to be reprinted as a stand-alone book, Rumsy Schoolchildren is strictly limited to two hundred copies.