A quick note to let you know that 'Horrified' magazine have published my short story 'The Reeds'! Why don't you go there now and read it (and all the other great stories, reviews and articles they have)?
#AmWriting – ‘The Reeds’ at Horrified
Tag: place
“Unofficial Britain” by Gareth E. Rees
"If you look closely enough, all landscapes can be fascinating and any object, no matter what its material, can be freighted with meaning." This is the most inspiring book I've read all year. Writer Gareth E. Rees1 shows, through his wonderfully offbeat travels across Britain, that in a secular age "significance" can be found anywhere, … Continue reading “Unofficial Britain” by Gareth E. Rees
“Hollow Places” by Christopher Hadley
This book wasn't what I expected it to be. But that's fine, because it sets out to do one thing while it - deliberately, cunningly - does the opposite. In St. Mary's Church, Brent Pelham, in eastern Hertfordshire is the tomb of Piers Shonks, dragon slayer. Yep, dragon slayer. In Hollow Places, writer Christopher Hadley … Continue reading “Hollow Places” by Christopher Hadley
Review: Adam Scovell – “How Pale The Winter Has Made Us”
Adam Scovell takes his long-standing fascination with the idea of Place a step further in this, his coldly enveloping second novel. Isabelle is in Strasbourg. Her increasingly-distanced partner has left for a trip to South America, and she's alone when she receives word of her father's suicide. So begins her slow sinking into the fabric … Continue reading Review: Adam Scovell – “How Pale The Winter Has Made Us”
Esk Valley & Moorfoots: a ride
Something a bit different. I go for cycles more than I do walks, and the back roads of East- and Midlothian are my usual haunts. I've explored some of the old coal mining region in a previous post. A ride on a road bike is necessarily restricted to roads, because you can't branch off onto … Continue reading Esk Valley & Moorfoots: a ride
Cornwall: Plen-an-gwarry
The plen-an-gwarry (or plain-an-gwarry) is where several of my interests collide: early modern drama, Cornwall, (more or less) ancient sites, and language. What are they? The plen-an-gwarrys are circular earthworks - amphitheatres - where, among other communal events, medieval dramas were performed. These would have borne a resemblance to the contemporary English passion plays and … Continue reading Cornwall: Plen-an-gwarry
Zine review: ‘Weird Walk’ #1
A journal of wanderings and wonderings from the British Isles Weird Walk is the brainchild of Owen Tromans, Alex Hornsby and James Nicholls. It's only been available for a few weeks and is on a third print run already, which says something about the appetite for a slantwise look at our countryside. The introduction bears … Continue reading Zine review: ‘Weird Walk’ #1
The Renaissance of Nan Shepherd
Two nature writers, from different countries writing in different eras. Both were long dead and forgotten; their reputations languished, books long out of print. The last decade has seen the profile of each rising beyond what could ever have been expected in their lifetimes. Nan Shepherd and JA Baker: authors of the two finest works … Continue reading The Renaissance of Nan Shepherd
‘How the world sustains’: Kathleen Jamie
I once made a mixtape for Kathleen Jamie. Two, in fact. In my first year at University, Kathleen Jamie was the writer-in-residence. For the weekly writers' group meetings, her and three students (I was one) decamped from her office on Dundee's Nethergate to a nearby café or pub to rant about the Tory government of … Continue reading ‘How the world sustains’: Kathleen Jamie
Review: “Hollow Shores” by Gary Budden (2017)
Some books just don't do it for you first time. Some never will, and you have to acknowledge that. Others leave spore-like traces that may not germinate for months or even years, but will eventually bring you back to them. Hollow Shores is one such for me. Published in 2017 by indie press Dead Ink, … Continue reading Review: “Hollow Shores” by Gary Budden (2017)
Into the Gyre 