In search of fresh new horror?
I’ve been writing for a number of years now, and some of my stories have even made it into print. Let’s take a tour down this literary line-up and see what twisted fictions have emerged over the years.
The Witching Hours
First published: 5th May 2015
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The Witching Hours began as a short story written for Halloween (you can read that here). But I enjoyed writing it so much I kept going, finishing The Witching Hours a few months later. It’s a novella, a very traditional English ghost story. At the time I wrote it, it was the longest thing I’d ever written. You can read it here as a paperback or an ebook.
The Patchwork Carnival
First published: 12th October 2015
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Some may know me more as a poet than a prose author, by way of my performances around the south coast. Occasionally I think story fits a poem better than it would prose, and this story fitted eight poems that each form a chapter in the tale of The Patchwork Carnival. I like poems that utilise strong, regular meters, interlocking rhyme schemes and colourful language, and I wrote The Patchwork Carnival to be the kind of poetry I like to read.
Harvest House
First published: 17th July 2017
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Harvest House is definitely a horror story, not just a ghostly tale. I wrote it after finishing the initial draft of my first novel, and it was a lot of fun. I took inspiration from many of my hobbies – cycling and music, amongst others – and wrote the kind of rural folk horror that I would love to read. It was republished in 2023 with haunting illustrations and a new cover by artist and friend Neil Elliott.
The Greatest Show Under the Earth
First published: 8th December 2018
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The Patchwork Carnival was so much fun that I couldn’t stop myself returning for a second ride…
Set in the same world as the poem that spawned it, The Greatest Show Under the Earth is a brand new novel which expands on The Patchwork Carnival and provides a few new thrills along the way. I really pushed myself with this one and I’m really proud of the result. You don’t have to have read the poem to enjoy this tale of threatening horror and ancient evil.
The Taxidermist and Other Gifts
First published: 19th August 2022
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In 2021, I met film director Chaz Parvez. Shortly after, he adapted my short story Under the Oak into an equally short film: Beneath the Cedar. A year later, we collaborated again, bringing my twisting tale The Taxidermist to the silver screen. The Taxidermist and Other Gifts is a collection of short stories, including Under the Oak and, of course, The Taxidermist, as well as six other stories for fans of the unexpected, the gothic, or simply the curious…
The Brighton Prize 2017
First published: 23rd March 2018
Buy on Lulu (Available in Paperback)
In 2017, I submitted a ‘flash fiction’ to Rattle Tales, a Brighton-based writing collective who now live on as The Brighton Prize. My story – Death Rattle – was selected, and I got to read it live in Brighton to an audience of rattle-waving writing enthusiasts. I wrote Death Rattle to be read aloud and tried to emphasise sound throughout the story. You can check it out in The Brighton Prize 2017, alongside stories from the writers with whom I shared the stage.
