This vending machines dispensing free short stories, poems is the best thing ever

Founded by a French publishing company, Short Édition, in partnership with the city’s green party mayor, Eric Piolle, this vending machine dispense poetry and short stories for free to readers.

The free stories are available at the touch of a button, printing out on rolls of paper like a till receipt.

Readers are able to choose one minute, three minutes or five minutes of fiction, and, just two weeks since launch, co-founder Quentin Pleplé says that more than 10,000 stories have already been printed.

Eight vending machines have been installed in various public areas around the city, including the town hall, the tourist center, libraries and social centers.

The French publisher hopes the stories will be used to fill the “dead time of a commute, in a society where daily lives are moving quicker and quicker and where time is becoming precious”. “In the bus, the tram or the metro, everyone can make the most of these moments to read short stories, poems or short comics,” said a statement from Short Édition.

“And they can be sure to enjoy the ending.”

“The feedback we got has been overwhelmingly positive [and] we are thrilled to see it working so well,” Pleplé told Guardian UK.

Pleplé said he and his team initially came up with the idea a couple of years ago, when taking a break.

“We were actually not thinking about work, just having a break at the snack vending machine. We thought it would be cool to have it for short stories,” said the publisher. “Then, a couple of days later we decided to hack a prototype: the short-story dispenser was born.”

He added that they are getting requests from all over the world – Australia, the US, Canada, Russia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Chile, Taiwan – "we are processing meticulously one by one.”

Awesome indeed! Please bring this to Nigeria too.

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