The mighty people over at Demain Publishing and me chatted about my new chapbook Magic, the writing process, writers I like, and myth, magic and mayhem. I also reveal my secret fetish. Join us: https://demainpublishingblog.weebly.com/
Tag: short story
Pre-sale on Magic
MAGIC – Ex-con Grange races against the shape-shifting terrors of the Wild Hunt for one last chance to see his daughter. Old magic is comin’ to town in the latest addition … Continue reading Pre-sale on Magic
At the Printers
There’s a little something spiritual about being in the vicinity of a working piece of machinery: its heat radiates; its smell permeates; the clattering, chugging, almost orchestral clanking of metal … Continue reading At the Printers
Holding Hands Uncovered
With Mythic, a new quarterly SF&F magazine publishing my piece of short fiction, Holding Hands, next month, I wanted to give you a little back story about this rather personal tale.
A while ago my son and I were having some difficulty getting on. After around six months of very little communication between us, either verbally or physically, we happened to be walking back from town, him trailing behind in silence like usual. As we did so, I felt his hand slip in mine. It was wonderful, brief, and a beginning.
It was that moment which I attempted to capture in writing, and from that, Holding Hands developed. I’m not proficient enough as a writer yet to have done that, but I’ve tried. I hope you enjoy the story.
Source: Flying high with the news that Mythic: A Quarterly Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine will be acquiring my short story, Holding Hands, for its third issue.
Hypnos
There has always been Night, then Man came with his fear and Darkness was born. Hypnos is one of the stories found in the anthology, Monsters Amongst Us, published … Continue reading Hypnos
First draft finished! I also have three possible titles for my werewolf story: Autumn, My Hero, or Hashtag Rewilding.
Which one is the most evocative?
The late William Trevor on short story writing: “I think it is the art of the glimpse. If the novel is like an intricate Renaissance painting, the short story is an impressionist painting. It should be an explosion of truth. Its strength lies in what it leaves out just as much as what it puts in, if not more. It is concerned with the total exclusion of meaninglessness. Life, on the other hand, is meaningless most of the time. The novel imitates life, where the short story is bony, and cannot wander. It is essential art.”
(source: The Guardian)
Mother Trees
I’m reworking The Red Spot Murders tonight. It’s a Pourquoi story exploring the haunted house phenomenon, and features a delightful antagonist by the name of Maeve. It was by researching this character that I learned that there are such things as Mother Trees. I had hoped there were. In fact I typed that exact term into my Google search to see what would come up, and was rewarded with this wonderful TED talk with Suzanne Simard, a Canadian ecologist. Damn, the woods have just got a whole load creepier.
