“Have you ever wondered?” he asked, as they picked mushrooms in the forest near her house. “How many prehistoric people died from fungal misadventure before finding out which of these were safe to eat?” “Fungal Misadventure is the name of my back-to-the-land instrumental Pagan funk concept album,
Despite what experience has taught me, it seems publishing books isn’t only about deferred gratification after all. Three months ago I didn’t even have a publisher for my new collection of short stories. Now, a bit mindbogglingly, the finished item is back from the printers, already being sent
After a tense wait, Breakthrough Book Collective and I finally received the news yesterday afternoon that Blackwell’s UK will be stocking my new short story collection Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood. This means, brilliantly, and slightly astonishingly, that the book can be ordered from almost anywhere in
My mum and dad’s cat Bridget (pictured above) has always been a bit of a wanderer. Never was her nomadic spirit more evident than in summer 2020, when (partly due to her clashes with George) she’d vanish for weeks on end. While she was away my mum and
The sea thrashed dyspeptically below Hedgecock as he limped along the cliff path, supported by his cane. There had been days with weather just like this while he lived at the red house, he was sure, but he never remembered them. When his mind sifted through that part of his
She arrived for their date with a burn on her cheek. She said it was because she’d been feeling tired all day and made the error of napping against the door of her log burner. He told her not to worry. “I’m not remotely worried,” she said. “I’