At the beginning of 2024, I launched a literary magazine – Inkfish – with my friend, brilliant writer and editor Peter McAllister. Our third edition will come out on October 31st, embracing the Hallowe’en-y seasonal atmosphere. Our second edition celebrated Cornish writers and artists and was so lovely to assemble that we decided to release the prose from it as […]
I’m really excited to see this lovely anthology become available for sale. This is a collection of short suspense stories which evolved from the lovely work of the writers who took my Comma Press Writing Short Crime Fiction Course in Summer 2024. Six perfect victims are pushed to their limits, but are they all as innocent as they claim? A […]
I’m so excited to be teaching a new online writing course for Comma Press starting in May. You can book tickets for it here. About the course: This online writing course will give you the skills to write a great crime story. You will practice crafting memorable characters, writing believable dialogue, and bringing the world of your crime story compellingly […]
I’m thrilled to have some new writing published in Needle Magazine, alongside some amazing poetry, prose poems and experimental pieces. My flash fiction piece is called ‘The Glass Delusion’ and tells story of the Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who was afflicted by a psychological illness known as ‘The Glass Delusion’, which caused him acute stage fright on the opening […]
We’ll be selling handmade art at the A4 Studios Christmas Makers Market in Altrincham from November 12-13. This will include my Polaroid emulsion lifts of Manchester and botanical prints made from locally sourced natural plant dies; John will be selling some beautiful gum bichromate prints. We are looking forward to it. Hope to see you there! Christmas Makers MarketSAT 12TH […]
John and I are very excited to be putting on an exhibition of our art from April 29th – May 29th, 2022 in Barlow Hall, Manchester as part of the 20th Anniversary Chorlton Arts Festival. We’ll be showing our work alongside amazing artists Pia Järvinen and Brenda Hird. Somehow, Barlow Hall – which is hosting the exhibition and which is […]
I’ve been reading and writing a lot of short fiction recently. It helps that I’m teaching an MA course on short stories at the moment, so all the inspiration is right in front of me. I often choose a short story to read over a novel, partly because of the familiar truism that you can read a short story in […]
It had to be done. During the Lockdown, while everyone was busy homeschooling their kid and teaching their cat ballet and writing their Lockdown novel… I was doing the same (substitute dog for cat and close-up magic for ballet). Mine comes at the Lockdown from a slant, mind you. It’s as much about plants, climate change and the environment as […]
Since the Lockdown started, we’ve been making the most of our designated outdoors time. Living in Chorlton, we’re very lucky to have access to Kenworthy Woods through the back gate and it’s an amazing time of year, with the trees turning green again and the wild garlic in bloom. I’ve seen a few butterflies around and can hear the owls […]
My follow-up to The American Girl is a mystery novel about Dark Tourism, a subject I’ve been fascinated in for the last few years. Dark Tourism is defined as “travelling to places associated with death and suffering”, although it’s not invariably as creepy as that sounds. Like any kind of travel, it has its good and bad sides, from people […]
