I’m over on Wyrd Daze talking about the time I met a ghost in a hospital toilet, in case you’re into that sort of thing.
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Out now
206 Word Stories
Coming soon from Bag of Bones Press, a new anthology of flash fiction including my story of churchyards and canine devotion, Grim.
Happy news all round
Thanks to all your kind pledges, CloisterFox Zine is fully funded. What’s more, Indiegogo has made the campaign In Demand, which means that even though it’s officially ended, you can still pledge. So if you’re only just hearing about the zine and want to grab an enamel pin or pre-order a copy, it’s not too late!
We’re looking at April 2022 for publishing issue one. Stay informed by following CloisterFox on Twitter or backing the Indiegogo.
In other news, my story The Forlorn Hope has been longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association’s 2021 awards. I’m thrilled that it’s struck a chord with people. The anthology it appears in – Out Of The Darkness – is still raising funds for Together For Mental Wellbeing and is well worth a punt.
Tick tock
It’s the final week of the CloisterFox fundraiser. This is your last chance to help launch my new bi-annual zine of British speculative fiction.
CloisterFox will be hosting these six superb writers in the first issue in April 2022:
Robert Shearman (We All Hear Stories in the Dark)
Dan Carpenter (Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror)
Ally Wilkes (All The White Spaces)
Natasha Kindred (How The Email Found Me)
Ch?k?d?l? Emel?mad? (Dazzling)
David Hartley (Fauna, Incorcisms)
We have some tempting rewards for our backers, including paperbacks, huge ebook bundles, an enamel pin, and one remaining short story critique. We hope you’ll back the campaign and share the link. See you in April!
New perks!
The CloisterFox Zine fundraiser is a whisper shy of 50% funded. What a campaign it’s been so far. I’m so grateful to you all for you support.
We have an exciting new perk for fans of speculative fiction. Dan Coxon has kindly offered up the entire back catalogue of his strange fiction anthology The Shadow Booth in ebook formats. For £20, you get all 4 Shadow Booths, my novella Beauty Secrets of The Martyrs, and Issue 1 of CloisterFox.
That’s 56 unsettling short stories and a whole novella for £20! So if you haven’t pledged yet, (or you fancy pledging again!), there’s a wealth of dark treats awaiting you.
Introducing CloisterFox
Hello, friends. I have something to confess.
In an act of what may prove to be utter recklessness, I’m chasing a dream of mine and launching a short story zine.
I’m proud to introduce CloisterFox, a British speculative fiction zine. Every six months, I aim to release six captivating, genre-bending short stories in an A5 perfect bound volume, richly illustrated, ideal for throwing in your bag.
I want to publish stories that creep uninvited along quiet corridors. Stories missed by shoppers hurrying by. Secrets, miracles, universes behind locked tenement doors. Ghosts and gallows. The dress in the attic as seen through a haze of neon. Tell me things I don’t know. Tell me the dreams you can’t forget. Tell me strange things.
CloisterFox will be hosting these six superb writers in the first issue:
I have the time, the contacts, and the experience to make this work. I just need the money. As of today, I’m crowdfunding the project using Indiegogo. You can now pre-order an ebook or a paper zine, grab an enamel pin, or get your short stories professionally critiqued at a bargain price. There’s even the option to have a character named after you in my next novel, and I promise it won’t be anyone too evil.
Don’t fancy a reward? You can just throw us a tip and watch us turn in into a high-quality zine. And please consider sharing the project around. Zines survive on word of mouth! CloisterFox is on Instagram and Twitter, and we’re so grateful for your support and excited to see where this project will take us.
Signed ‘Pseuds
If you go down to the Forbidden Planet website, you might just find a signed Pseudotooth. The perfect weird Christmas gift for someone, somewhere, presumably.
The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain
How hard has it been not to talk about this? Really quite hard. Introducing The Hellebore Guide To Occult Britain, a true labour of love exploring castles, museums and manor houses, megaliths, moors, mountains and lakes. This lavishly illustrated travel guide covers the rich history of magic and the occult in Britain and its inextricable bond with the landscape.
Having grown up on the legendary Reader’s Digest book of Folklore, Myths and Legends – terrifying myself with those illustrations – to contribute to a project like this was a dream come true.
“Somewhere over the muffling snow, church bells were ringing…”
Today’s the day! Lore & Disorder: thirteen tales of mutated folklore by some of my favourite authors, plus some fae weirdness from me. Pay what you can, all in aid of FareShare UK.