To celebrate the official launch day of my new short story collection, The Stone Thrower, I thought I'd post the first book of short stories I ever wrote, when I was 7. I've typed up the stories beneath the pics in case you're reading this on your phone. I hope you enjoy my stories. The Devil Witch: The Devil Witch is nasty. She lives in … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2012
Litro Magazine review of The Stone Thrower
...addictively off-kilter … [Read more...]
Financial Times review of The Stone Thrower
...this bold young writer is refreshing the form. … [Read more...]
‘You’re too old for hobbits’
When I was about 13 or so, my teachers began an assault on my imagination. My English teacher was the first. During a library session, he told us all to go find a book, read it for a while, and then at the end of the lesson to read out the opening page. I picked The Hobbit. It was something I'd read lots of times before and found … [Read more...]
The Guardian review of The Stone Thrower
Hits the target every time. … [Read more...]
Do you remember Zembla?
I was tidying up bookshelves in my attic yesterday and discovered a few old issues of Zembla magazine. It only ran for eight issues between 2003 and 2005, but it was a unique and wonderful literary mag - big and glossy with sexy cover stars – closer to GQ and Vanity Fair than most of the dry literary journals I was aware of at the … [Read more...]
I’ve got writer’s FOMO
There’s a wonderful sense of freedom that comes at the end of a book project. After being locked into one idea for a year or two or three, you’re free to do whatever you like, experiment, play. But then, at some point (the point I’m at now), you’ve got to decide on THE NEXT PROJECT. Once you’ve settled on it, you know it’s going to be with you … [Read more...]
Pencil case envy
It’s the last weekend before my kids go back to school. When I was a kid, this was the most dreaded weekend of the year. I loathed school, and that loathing was never more acute than after six weeks of summer holidays. They say you can’t remember pain, but I very clearly remember the fear I felt the day before I started secondary school as a … [Read more...]