Tales to Terrify

It’s a privilege to be part of a double bill with HP Lovecraft over at Tales to Terrify, a podcast presented by Lawrence Santoro. Lawrence reads Lovecraft’s The Hound, followed by Gareth Stack’s performance of my story Once Seen.

The Call of the Wild

In addition to stories written in recent years about an owl (The Owl) and a shrike (Slitten Gorge), as well as a novel born from the question: What if people behaved like insects? (The Unblemished), I’ve just finished some stories about a pike (The Pike) and a wolf – well, sort of – (Manners). I’m […]

Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

It’s nice to be invited to contribute a story to an anthology. It’s difficult to turn down such opportunities; you don’t know if the editor will ask you again. So you agree, thinking, ha, the deadline is months off, all will be neato mosquito… It’s great (though rare) when you have an instant idea that […]

The Pike

He struck into the fish and the immediate resistance of it corded his forearms; it was a big bastard, maybe twenty-plus pounds. The far bank, the factory, the wedges of leaden cloud rising on the horizon, all of this receded until his focus took in only the tip of his rod and the boiling surface […]

In praise of Josef Hochman

I know little about Josef Hochman, other than he illustrated an edition of Treasure Island that was produced in Czechoslovakia and published as a beautiful hardback in this country by Paul Hamlyn in 1967. My father bought a copy and gave it to me in May 1971. His inscription reads: Conrad, About six or seven years too […]

Born with Teeth

Conrad’s new collection from PS Publishing, Born with Teeth, is at the printers. Though not available until October, copies will be on sale at Fantasycon in Brighton at the end of this month. It is available in two versions; a hardback for £19.99 and a limited edition (100 copies only) signed, jacketed hardback for £39.99. […]

Alderley Edge Book Festival

Conrad will be reading from his novels Blonde on a Stick and Loss of Separation at the Alderley Edge Book Festival at 12pm on the 15th September. The festival carries on to the 16th and features such writers as Nicholas Royle, Erica James, Livi Michael, Zoe Lambert, Elizabeth Baines, Sherry Ashworth and Melvin Burgess. Conrad follows on directly from […]