Type: A Collection

Type: A Collection is a micro-anthology of stories and poems by the writers Claire Massey, Nasser Hussain, Zodwa Nyoni, and Saul Franks. The result of many months' hard labour in the print room, Type brings together stories and poetry connected to the title. Genealogical types. Literary form types. Biological specimens. "Your sort".

The writers involved each asked to contribute specifically to this little 'zine-style chapbook. It was really exciting to see their contributions come in. Four diverse viewpoints range from the homely to meta, highbrow and fantastical - all within the space of six pages.

The run has been extremely limited, with only 75 having been made. The body text is set in Perpetua and Goudy Italic; with second-colour text in Gill Sans Bold and Bembo Roman type, all set letter by letter in movable type and printed on a Peerless platen letterpress at The Print Project. There won't be a second reprint of this book, ever - it's totally unique!

You can get one from the Print Project's etsy shop.

Type: A Collection

Here is a picture of something I'm working on at the moment in the print studio. The words pictured are an excerpt from Nasser Hussain's poem, Obliterature.

For the past few months I've been collating and printing a collection of poems and micro-fiction from writers I admire, to put together into a tiny chapbook called Type: A Collection. Naturally, everything is hand-set and letterpress printed using movable type, on the Peerless platen press. The work is still in progress at the moment, but should be finished and out in about a month's time.

On this, more soon.

Currently reading

Dracula Bram Stoker
The Dog of the South Charles Portis

Where to buy Cutaway Magazine

(image from Cutaway Magazine blog)

On Thursday, it was a real pleasure to come home from a busy seven hours at the day job to find the first issue of Cutaway Magazine on the doorstep. Aiming to "blur the boundaries between literary and genre fiction", the magazine publishes work by writers and poets who write "the slightly weird but well written". There aren't many British magazines publishing high-quality work that treads the narrow line between genre and speculative fiction. Editors Dave Schofield and Craig Pay have identified a much-maligned gap there, and I take my hat off to them.

The first issue contains one of my stories, I Want You Around, as well as work by Claire Massey and Max Dunbar.

Cutaway magazine is available through Lulu here and, should you wish to order it through a book shop, the ISBN is 9781471647758.

Publication, soon!

I'm breaking my blogging hiatus to make a pleasing announcement. A new short story of mine, I Want You Around, is shortly to appear in issue 1 of Cutaway Magazine. The magazine will also feature a story by the extremely marvellous Claire Massey.

You can read about the inspiration for the story, as well as poet Lauren Coulson's contribution to the magazine, on the Cutaway blog here. The magazine should be out in a couple of weeks. (more details on the launch event to follow!)

Currently reading

All My Friends are Superheroes Andrew Kaufman
The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes