My review of I Never Think Dark Will Come originally appeared in issue 63 of The Journal.Things abound in the first book by Susan Jordan, which takes as its focus the corporeal and tangible. 'Let us praise little things, the use we make of them,' Jordan declares in 'Laudemus' (the Latin for 'let us praise) … Continue reading I Never Think Dark Will Come by Susan Jordan
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Operations of Water by Ian Seed
My review of Operations of Water originally appeared in issue 63 of The Journal. There's a famous story about the novelist Saul Bellow when, stuck in a rut with an unfinished novel, an American in Paris, he walked beside the Seine and became inspired by the freedom of the water. This relationship between the written … Continue reading Operations of Water by Ian Seed
Substantial Ghosts by Doreen Hinchcliffe
My review of Substantial Ghosts originally appeared in issue 61 of The Journal.The reader is offered an odd encounter towards the end of Doreen Hinchliffe's Substantial Ghost, her second collection after Dark Italics in 2017. In the poem, 'Twin', Hinchcliffe describes the narrator visiting an apparent twin's bedroom, after fifty years. ('Inseparable, we move and one, each/ Of … Continue reading Substantial Ghosts by Doreen Hinchcliffe
Home Turf by Ann Matthews
My review of Home Turf originally appeared in issue 61 of The Journal. Home Turf by Ann Matthews is, as poetry books go, a pleasing thing: a good cover, well designed, with a nice weight, shape and heft. And the thingness of the book is important, because Matthews's work is offering us a conceptual sense of … Continue reading Home Turf by Ann Matthews
Requiem For An Astronaut
I'm very pleased that my first science fiction novella, Requiem For An Astronaut, has been published by New Con Press. Requiem is set in the environs of East City, the location for my recent SF stories, and features a scientist, Bart, and his search for the lost astronaut Joan Kaminsky. An excerpt follows below. 'I … Continue reading Requiem For An Astronaut
2021
2021 has been a busy year for me, even if it feels I've never really left the same square mile in East London. For one thing, I took on some more work towards the end of last year, which has taken up more time than I anticipated. Another, and far happier reason, is that my … Continue reading 2021
Morphrog 23
I have five (not so easy) pieces in the most recent edition of Morphrog online magazine, including a prose poem, 'Birches'. Here's an excerpt: 'I found myself in a small copse of young birches: a damp smell of humus and fresh rain, the sky closed and white, the onset of spring heralded in distant, waxy … Continue reading Morphrog 23
Interzone 290-291
My short story 'An Island For Lost Astronauts' features in the current double issue of Interzone. I'm particularly proud of this one. The story takes place in Rivertown, one of the weird locales of East City, the megalopolis at the centre of some of my recent stories. The astronauts moved amongst us like captive angels. … Continue reading Interzone 290-291
The Great Star
'I dream that I'm back on Earth. It's the last day before going away on the Six Thousand Ship. Everything stands out so clearly, the way it does in grief, when all senses are awakened. There's the sky, pouring out its light, its blue water over the woods I walk through on my way to … Continue reading The Great Star
An Island For Lost Astronauts
Very pleased with the artwork for my story 'An Island For Lost Astronauts' coming up in the next issue of Interzone.
Absence Club 