The Urban Volcano is a collection of stories — fiction and non-fiction — written by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson. The short stories are to a large extent based on real life events from the author's life as an Icelander living abroad. Although the tales contain grains of truth, they are melded with fiction, making the reader curious to know the line between reality and fantasy. The non-fiction section contains thoughts about life, society and everything — combined with reports of curious experiments. The Urban Volcano has published 999 Abroad — a collection of short stories. The book is available as an ebook and paperback.
The distress of giving
On Saint George’s day, the international day of the book, I hit the streets of Barcelona, giving away short stories to promote my short story collection -- 999 Abroad. A priori, the plan sounded fun and easy. The execution was indeed fun, but far from being as easy as I had imagined. Read more ...
Incredible coincidence or probable affair
Thoughts about the difference between incredible coincidences and probable affairs after being recognized by a Colombian conga line dancer at Santiago airport in Chile. Read more ...
Hello World … :-)
When I was in Iceland this summer, I had a very pleasant experience. I was walking to the local swimming pool when I passed an old woman on the sidewalk who greeted me and wished me a good day. I … Read more ...
Of running and spreadsheets
In my life, the year 2006 was a year of running. In March I made a life-changing purchase. I bought a new pair of running shoes. My first proper running shoes. In the following months I made good use of … Read more ...
The people in the square
It is a warm Sunday morning in early August. A writer heads to a Barcelona neighborhood square in search of inspiration to rid him of his writer's block. Read more ...
Thoughts on patents
After reading Simon Overell's thoughts on patents I followed suit and shared my own thoughts on the topic. I do sympathize with the argument that patents have a merit for justifying investemnt in research, but I have doubts about the sanity of the patenting practices. Read more ...
700 grams of common sense
A few days ago I flew between London and Barcelona. During the check-in I experienced something that made me think about how our lives are dominated by rules and regulations at the cost of common sense ... Read more ...
Julia
I drove the Ferrari down my throat. I coughed. This had to be it. I could not take any more shots. I stumbled along the bar table towards the back of the pub where the lights had been turned off ... Read more ...