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Unthology 7

 UNTHANK BOOKS are very proud to announce the publication of UNTHOLOGY 7, the latest in our series showcasing the finest short fiction from new and established writers. WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SHORT FICTION FROM NEW AND ESTABLISHED WRITERS Flinch at the things that twitch in the windows a mile up from the city streets. Let text…

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One year on from publication

 I’ve been so busy the last few weeks that the first anniversary of the publication of my debut book, Looking Out of Broken Windows, whizzed past without me noticing. It only slammed into the forefront of my brain when the 2015 Edge Hill Prize longlist was announced last week and I discovered LOoBW is on…

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Lawrence Country

 Over half-term, I took my wife away to Nottingham for a short break. She had always wanted to visit Eastwood, the birthplace of D H Lawrence, so we started by visiting the D H Lawrence Heritage Centre. The museum is small but really informative and seems something of a hub for local writing; my fellow…

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So this is 2015

 The end of January already? How did that happen? The fact that I have drafted two previous opening lines to this post (the first about how it is already two weeks into the year, the second how it is already three weeks into the year) is an indication of how busy I have been the last few…

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2014 Books and Music

 As I’ve spent more than my allowed time banging on about what I’ve been unto this year, I thought it only fair to give a shout-out to some of the books I’ve read and music I’ve listened to this year. Some of the stuff listed below was published/released in 2014, some in the years before…

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My 2014 in review

 Reaching the end of the year is always a time for reflection, so here goes. 2014 was the year my first book, Looking Out of Broken Windows, was published, and as such was a year of firsts. I had my first experience of the proofing process, saw my book on the shelves of an honest-to-goodness bookshop for…

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Books in the Wild 2

 My lovely publishers at Salt have spotted a copy of Looking Out of Broken Windows on the shelves of the UK’s oldest bookshop, Hatchards of London. Not only is my debut collection in one of London’s best loved bookshops but is in seriously impressive company, sitting alongside Stella Duffy’s collection, everything is moving, everything is…

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Questions? Click here for answers.

 What with my having two new jobs and this writing thing to keep me busy, a week has already passed since the lovely Jen Harvey posted an interview with me over on MASHstories. Our Skype chat focused on my Carve Esoteric Award winning story Storm in a Teacup, as well as a few general musings…

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Titles seem to be the hardest words.

 The Millions posted an interesting piece a few days ago in which various writers discuss the process of titling their work. You can read it here and it’s well worth a look. It got me thinking about the various ways I have stumbled upon the titles for my stories and, most recently my (now complete)…

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Done and Dusted.

 After three years of intensive study, years of writing, redrafting and editing, the MA is done. I printed and bound the novel back at the end of September, posted it off and received my confirmation of receipt a few days ago. Having finished feels a bit like coming up out of the Underground. The air…

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First Story Writer-in-Residence

 For the academic year 2014/2015, I am thrilled to be a First Story writer-in-residence. First Story is a charity that (in the words of the FS website) ‘supports and inspires creativity, literacy and confidence in challenging UK secondary schools and their communities.’ First Story arranges and pays for acclaimed writers to run creative-writing workshops for…

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Talking short stories at LSSF 2014

 Having just battled through the final edits of my MA portfolio novel (more on that in a future post), last June and the brilliant London Short Story Festival feels like a very long time ago indeed. For weeks now, I have been meaning to share the following links about The Weird and Wonderful Short Stories…

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5 Things

 Dan Purdue recently posted 5 things about his current work in progress. He’d been tagged in a previous post by Jonathan Pinnock and at the end of his own post, Dan tagged me (along with four other writers). So now I am supposed to tell you five things about my current work-in-progress. Those of you who have…

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Bat Night

 I took the family to the Bat Night at Holy Trinity Church in Tattershall last night. The church sits in the shadow of Tattershall castle and, in addition to hosting a groovy tea room and second hand book sale, it is home to a large colony (500-600 bats) of Soprano pipistrelles which uses the transepts…

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Where’s my favourite place to read?

 During the last couple of weeks The Dish ran a pair of posts about people’s favourite places to read. You can find them here and here. Reading them got me thinking about my favourite places to read and I realised, looking back over my reading life, that the places I liked to read have said…

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Why write a novel?

 Javier Marías’ recent Threepenny Review post, ‘Seven Reasons Not to Write Novels and Only One Reason to Write Them,’ arrived in my Feedly list just as I was about to embark on the fourth major redraft of my novel. Neck deep in the process of this novel, with the end about in sight (I bloody…

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