Fantasy and Science Fiction Author

We made the local paper!

Anthology Seaside Shuffle celebrates 'wacky-world' of Blackpool through anecdotes “The Blackpool connection throughout the anthology will resonate with sandgrown ‘uns

August's writing progress - the publication of Seaside Shuffle, progress on Dreams of Demons, a video from Racing the Storm, and another short story for newsletter subscribers.

August's Writing Progress The big news this month is that Seaside Shuffle is now on sale. It's an anthology of poems, stories and memories of the seaside town of Blackpool in Engl...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/aug/29/how-to-make-a-bestseller-insiders-reveal-the-tricks-of-the-book-trade?CMP=share_btn_url

I like the observation that a certain publisher tended to put a cat on the cover, even if the book didn't have a cat in it.

How to make a bestseller: insiders reveal the tricks of the book trade From cover design to shelf placement and influencer partnerships … how publishers will persuade you to buy their books this autumn

I just sent the September edition of my newsletter to subscribers. It features an exclusive new short story, called "Money Talks... and Talks and Talks." If you're not already a subscriber, you can read the story for free (along with all the others I've sent) by going to

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I was pleasantly surprised to see this article in the latest issue of The Local List. (Did I mention that I have a story included in the book?)

For my recent readings, I had the phone set up to one side recording another angle, so I could cut between it and the camcorder that was looking straight on. When I got the footage into the editing program, I realised the colour balance was completely different between the two.

I could've graded the phone's output to make it match the camera's, but that felt too much like hard work. This is a still frame from the phone, to give you some idea of what it might've looked like.

I still have a couple of readings from those sessions to edit, so I might give it a go after all.

Seaside Shuffle: A Blackpool Anthology is on sale today! Over 50 stories, poems and memoirs about Blackpool, that famous seaside place. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered. If you haven't go your copy yet, you can order it at your favourite online retailer.

My contribution, The Misadventure of the Lion's Ear, is on page 76. If you're familiar with my work, you might be surprised to learn that it's one of the shorter stories in the book :-)