One Who Was With Me

I’m delighted to announce that my tenth novel, One Who Was With Me, will be published this Halloween by Earthling Publications, who did such a great job on my last Earthling novel, The Unblemished. Many thanks to Paul Miller. This book would not have happened without his gentle and patient prodding. You can find out […]

ONE DAY…

These shadows were the same shadows that had swung across the stone walls for decades. Nothing here had changed.

TWO DAYS…

He hurried back to Grace, imagining a man standing over a nude figure chained and unconscious, paying out rope bunched in his fist, separating the tawse at the end of it.

THREE DAYS…

They passed the windows and their shadows — hideously contorted by the flaws in the panes — made grotesque progress across the scarred back wall.

FOUR DAYS…

But for a dim, rosy stain in the rear-view mirror, it was fully dark. Night came on fast here.

FIVE DAYS…

This was not their house.

Dead Letters is alive!

It’s always a thrill to receive a box of books in the post. And it was especially satisfying to open this parcel, if only because it meant it hadn’t gone missing (which I was convinced was going to happen). The books are lovely; Titan have done a beautiful job. It seems like such a long […]

Advent Stories #22

CITY IN ASPIC It was a place that needed people in order for it to come alive. In winter, the streets whispered with uncollected litter and nervous pigeons. The air grew so thick with cold that it became hard to walk anywhere. When night came, the water that was slowly drowning the city turned the […]

Advent Stories #16

SLITTEN GORGE Ellis dreamt that night of the forest. He was treading through it in darkness, subtly aware of the conifers and the heather. His feet knew this territory well and he moved quickly, ignoring the sounds of the wildlife: the nightjar, the siskins, the snipes. He was trying to find something, or someone, but […]

Advent Stories #15

O CARITAS Monck realised he had been here too long when he glanced down at his hands to find the knuckles turned blue. The flyover fled off to the left and right of him. Everything else was just scenery. An acid blue sky was crocheted with vapour trails. There were half a dozen jets up […]