Toro - a new short story

[Image courtesy of Dead Ink Books]

My new short story, Toro, is now available to read for free on the Dead Ink Books site. Many thanks to Nathan at Dead Ink Books for all his help with this! 

Top Dog: available now!

Photo credit: Jeff Moriarty

I'm really excited that my story, Top Dog, has been published in the December issue of the US lit journal Toasted Cheese. The issue is now online and you can read the story for free by clicking here!

Many thanks for Theryn and all the editors at Toasted Cheese for deciding to publish my work.

Currently reading

Pharmakon Dirk Wittenborn
Bossypants Tina Fey

Crap Dad: The Ideal Christmas Gift

(Photo by Phil Treble / @muttonsandnuts) 

"There once was a family who lived in a wood; a boy, a girl, and their selfish old Papa. The children went about barefoot, and ate whatever they could find on the forest floor. They were always dirty and hungry. Their Papa had no interest in looking after them. He lay in bed all day, smoking and listening to filth on the wireless." 

 Now available to buy: a seriously limited edition handmade letterpress short story chapbook. Featuring a modern-day flash fiction fairy tale, written by me, in a book with a centrepiece illustration by Helen Entwistle, and letterpress printed and handmade by Phil Treble.

Only 100 of these were ever made, and believe me they are absolutely beautiful - the picture really doesn't do them justice. I am forever grateful to Phil for making these, and for he and Helen for collaborating with me on them. You can buy these from me at readings, or email me, or they're available in Phil's etsy shop.

Bad Language

Last week, my Fictions co-compadres Mason Henry Summers and Ian Pepper and I went on a little outing to Manchester to go to a night called Bad Language. Run by a group of writers, Bad Language is a monthly writers' open mic night that goes on in the back room of a pub called The Castle.

I went, and read the opening of a short story I've been working on called "Control". Mason tried to take a video but it came out a bit Wrong. Instead, I made the resulting audio file into an MP3, which you can listen to on my Soundcloud.



Currently reading

The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides
The Witness Juan Jose Saer
The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury

Frightfully free halloween giveaway

Photo by Ricky Adam

"We didn't talk about Auntie. Her name never remained on my parents' lips long. If by accident she should be mentioned Mother and Father glanced side to side, like criminals, and swiftly drew their lips closed..."

'Tis the season to be gory, and to celebrate I'm giving away a story completely FREE!
Bad Blood is a gory tale of family secrets and concealment, all wrapped up in mordant black humour. It's perfect for reading in a darkened room on a night of dark spirits and horror...
I'm distributing the story on DRM-free ePub format (which should work on your Kobo) and PDF format (which should work on your Kindle).
The story is free but I do welcome donations. Details on how to donate are at the end of the book.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story.
Bad Blood DRM-free ePub (Kobo)
Bad Blood PDF * (Kindle / Kobo)

* Fonts used in the PDF version are open source Double Pica, digitised by Igino Marini at Fell Types Revival fonts; and Junction by Caroline Hadilaksono at The League of Moveable Type.

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