I'm 64 years old. I was raised on a council estate on London's not-so-wild western edge and I now live in Oxfordshire with my wife Jean who is an environmental activist and secretary of the Richard Jefferies Society. In my time I've been an engineering draughtsman, a school caretaker, a musician, a seller of guitars and records and a technician with a company importing Aria musical instruments into the UK from Japan.
I began writing in my mid-thirties while taking a BA in English Literature as a mature student (I left school at sixteen) at Kingston Polytechnic. I went on to do an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in 1986. My tutors there were novelists Sir Malcolm Bradbury and the wonderful Angela Carter, both now sadly deceased. Pulitzer prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon was writer in residence at the time.
On the net, I've had stories published in Opium, SmokeLong Quarterly, Painted Moon Review, MindKites, In Posse Review and poetry and stories published in Literary Potpourri and Gator Springs Gazette. My story Brother, What Strange Place is This? was in Zoetrope All-Story Extra January 2000. I've had stories published in UK print magazines Bonfire, Panurge, Acclaim, Inkshed and Voyage. In 1995 I was an award winner in the Ian St James international short story competition and my story The Philosopher Nabel at the Kaffeehaus Eleganz was published in the anthology Pleasure Vessels (still available at Amazon on both sides of the Atlantic!). Three of my stories: The Seal Man, The Great House of Easement and Bonny Craigallen were published in the paperback anthology Voices From the Web. My story Blue Ragout was published in the anthology Voices 2 (available etc). My story Roof Whirl Away was published in the anthology Rebellion (available Amazon US), Award-Winning Finalist in the Fiction & Literature: Anthologies category of the Best Books 2006 Awards. My story Outer Space was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005. My story Roof Whirl Away was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2006.
My novel Inappropriate Happiness and my two collections of short stories, Brother, What Strange Place is This? and Roof Whirl Away, are available from the Reuben Books website and at Amazon UK and USA in paperback and Kindle formats.
My Stories
Fall to the Ocean Submitted on August 29, 2008 - 19:27 | 452 reads
From Gone to Goodbye Submitted on February 27, 2008 - 16:39 | 601 reads
Ghost Submitted on July 16, 2007 - 10:26 | 616 reads
Wooden Heart Submitted on February 22, 2007 - 12:27 | 1871 reads
I Listened to You Submitted on February 19, 2007 - 15:39 | 601 reads
Postscript Submitted on May 11, 2006 - 07:27 | 657 reads
The Acrobat Submitted on May 8, 2006 - 12:07 | 739 reads
The Sailing Submitted on May 3, 2006 - 09:49 | 700 reads
Recreation Ground Submitted on April 20, 2006 - 07:17 | 742 reads
Play For Me Submitted on April 13, 2006 - 14:09 | 707 reads
Saturday Night, Presently Submitted on April 11, 2006 - 06:50 | 796 reads
The Lowdown Submitted on April 9, 2006 - 18:41 | 754 reads
Hide and Seek Submitted on April 9, 2006 - 15:33 | 722 reads
The Pact Submitted on April 7, 2006 - 07:35 | 862 reads
To the Boy Submitted on April 5, 2006 - 09:49 | 810 reads
Late Submitted on April 5, 2006 - 09:40 | 858 reads
Cherish Submitted on April 5, 2006 - 09:29 | 844 reads
Tick-tock Submitted on April 3, 2006 - 13:17 | 2808 reads
