2023 ROUNDUP

This year ended up being a productive one, all things considered. I definitely feel like I’ve rediscovered the ability to get into a regular creative routine again. Partly that’s due to returning to working in the office two days a week, reclaiming the potential for cafe writing that’s lost when I work from home. It […]

Keepsakes and Hand-me-downs

Over the last few months I’ve been writing a bunch of new short stories. All are loosely in the horror or weird fiction genres, but that’s not the only link between them. Each tale also includes a bequest or inheritance. I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that are passed down through the generations. […]

BSFA award 2023 shortlist

Unbelievably proud to discover that my story, A Moment Of Zugzwang, has been voted on to the British Science Fiction Association award shortlist for 2023. It’s a massive priviledge to share the nomination with four other hugely talented authors. A Moment Of Zugzwang is one of my near future surveillance bees stories (a series that […]

2022 Roundup

Well, 2022 is almost done. In some ways, I suppose, it’s been a more hopeful year, though at the same time it’s managed to find new challenges to throw our way too. It feels at least like the world is moving again. Likewise, creatively, I feel like this has been a year of scraping off […]

back in black static

Just heard from Andy Cox that my story, The Salted Bones, is going to be in issue 82/83 of Black Static. I’m especially pleased about this because Andy has been kind enough to publish my stories since issue 2 of The Third Alternative (the precursor to Black Static), and this final issue marks his publishing […]

A love of location

Location and landscape are some of my favourite parts of a book. I don’t just mean pretty descriptions and lovely nature writing. The best locations are the bedrock of the story. They reflect the theme and have a key role to play in the story. Very often they’re as memorable as the characters themselves. The […]

Amaze Your Friends

Hey, so for the third year in a row, I’ve succeed in getting my musical shit together enough to release a new Disappointed Skeptics Club album. It’s called Amaze Your Friends and contains eight brand new songs about magic, misdirection and the power of belief (and disbelief). As before, all of the songs were written […]

Cymera Festival 2022

The brilliant Cymera Festival is running from June 3rd-5th in Edinburgh, and also online. Scotland’s own book festival dedicated to science fiction, fantasy and horror has gone from strength to strength since its inception a few years ago, and I’m massively delighted this year to be taking part in the programme. June 4th / Cymera […]

Queen Of Clouds – Published Today!

Queen of Clouds is officially published today. I can’t tell you how that feels. Honestly, there’s nothing like the pleasure of seeing That Book What You Wrote actually existing in the world as a thing of paper and ink (and pixels). It never, ever, gets old. I’m massively indebted to Ian Whates and NewCon Press […]

Conventionitis

Over the next few months, I’m going to be taking part in a few events. (Did I mention I have a new book out? It’s called Queen of Clouds.) Some of them are in-person, some online, but they’re all going to be great. I’ve attended online events over the last two years, and they’ve worked […]