about me

NB
PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME FOR READ SWAPS. I AM NOT CURRENTLY DOING ANY RETURN READS.

'Undertow' is a collection of short stories and a few poems, for anyone in need of distraction :D ...but I'm not pushing it, so backings are unnecessary. It is here to showcase my versatility as a writer; and as a Johari window to numerous deficits and palpable blind spots, many of which I am now working to correct. It is complete, at 22,600 words, because if they're any good, there are plenty more where they came from.


"I tried my best to embrace
the darkness in which I swim.
Walking back down this mountain,
with the strength of a turning tide,
The wind's so soft on my skin,
the sun so hard upon my side.
Looking out at this happiness
I search for between the sheets,
Feeling blind and realize,
All I was searching for was me.

May you find happiness,
May all your hopes turn out right.
Keep your head up,
keep your heart strong.
Keep your mind set,
keep you hair long.
Keep your mind set in your ways,
I'll always remember you the same:

Eyes like wild flowers,
within demons of change."
(Ben Howard, Keep Your Head Up)


"RIPENING
This was the way it was.
The house loomed steady
to survey its garden kingdom
like a wise owl of stories.
Wasps chased sweet smells
and dry leaves gathered in drifts.
Children clambered, laughing
through low branches, while
among the windfalls, one small boy
stood pensive guard, clutching;
waiting for his apple
to grow a tree of knowledge."
(Answers on a Postcard... )

In attempting to write a first novel, The Sea People, my chosen setting is the southern regions of the British Isles, more than 1000 years before the first historical record of its peoples. So to achieve a sense of realism, I am relying on archaeological evidence, pop-anthropology and realistic fantasy. It will make a comeback to the site in 2013.

I am around here for the time being only to read what I like and join in forum discussions.

favourite books

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller; Pompeii, Robert Harris; About a Boy, Nick Hornby; Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy; Small Island, Andrea Levy; The Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling; Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, Michelle Paver; Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake; The Famished Road, Ben Okri; The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien

my websites