Out of my Head
aka my short fiction and poetry roundup
As I have retired my old blog, (A Rambling Collective), I thought that I should update the list of books in which I am published. From newest to oldest.
Leicester Literary Review (2023)
This contains a re-edited version of ‘Say When’. it is almost 4 years since it was first published, and I remember that I also had to turn down another offer at the time. I entered it into a competition for a hospital newsletter/magazine (in the United States) where the brief was short fiction with a mental health theme, and they wanted to publish ‘Say When’ I still don’t think this story has reached its full audience or run its course yet, and I have a tv drama adaption ambition for it.
10. InDivisible
This one was a long time coming! ‘Stand Down Soldier’ was first accepted for publication in February 2020, but world events halted things until March 2023.
Published by Commonword.
9. Moths To A Flame – Presented by The ART and ENERGY Collective.
I’m proud to say that my poem ‘Tales from The Cashmere Hotel’ was included in this anthology. I recorded it and it was played on a loop at Glasgow Botanic Gardens for COP 26.
The lovely people at The Art and Energy Collective have made the book available for free!
Click here to read it.
8. Lockdown Poetry: The Covid Long Haul
I am delighted that a revised version of my poem, ‘One Day I’ll Hold Your Hand in Mine’ is included in this chapbook. See me read the original version for Curve Theatre, Leicester here. I may have only left the house a few times that year, but my words reached halfway around the world.
Available as a download or physical copy from Liquid Amber Press, all the way from Australia.
7. Small Good Things
Small Good Things is an anthology of short stories, written by the ‘A Brief Pause 2021’ cohort. I was fortunate to be selected to attend this six-month professional development for emerging writers programme, run by Dahlia Books.
‘The Women Who Swapped Their Baby for Salad’ was inspired by the childhood Rapunzel/Sleeping beauty fairy-tales, with a little bit of magical realism thrown in. I think my copy of Grimm’s must have been for adults as I definitely remember stories about cutting off toes, choking to death and being laid to rot in a glass coffin and other gruesome not-for-children tales!
To visit my Amazon Author page
6. Annihilation Radiation
Ever wondered what lockdown would be like living with a sociopath?
What happens to ordinary people when law and order no longer exists?
Just how long would you follow the Government’s instructions?
My story, ‘Hide and Seek’ was included in the apocalyptic anthology, Annihilation Radiation, published by Storgy.
I won’t lie, this story is beyond grim. It is a brutal slow decay before your very eyes of a terrible situation. Hold your breath. Don’t let them find you….
Eventually, the earth will heal. The world will go on, just not with most of us in it. Don’t kid yourself that you’ll be one of those left, if you’re not already prepared to do what needs to be done.
Out of everything I’ve ever written, this is the story that I am the most proud of. I was obsessed with this 6,500 word story for about three months, 24/7. It was all I thought about and I am still amazed at it now. This is a treat for end of the world fans like myself.
5. No Good Deed
My short story, ‘Say When’ was included in the anthology, ‘No Good Deed’, published by Retreat West Books, (October 2019). It’s a tale of how and why a young woman tries over five years to hide from her past, but all is not what it seemed to be.
This book was shortlisted in the ‘best anthology’ category of the 2020 Saboteur Awards.
4. Blood, Sweat and Fists. Stories From The Pits
My short-story, ‘Last Exit’ is in the anthology ‘Blood, Sweat and Fists. Stories From The Pits’ published by Weasel Press (June 2020). It’s a first-hand account of me in my late teens in the late 80s at Fields of The Nephilim gigs, all over England.
3. Dime Show Review. Volume 3. Issue 2
Read my flash fiction ‘Minted’ on the beautifully instagrammable Dime Show Review website or buy their gorgeous anthology of December 2019.
Want to listen to me reading it? Click here.
2. An Attempt At Exhausting A Place In Leicester
My short story, ‘May Settle in Transit’ appeared in the anthology, ‘An Attempt At Exhausting A Place In Leicester’ It’s the story of an afternoon in the life of a middle-aged couple who met whilst at University in the East Midlands, who have come back to Leicester for a University Open Day with their daughter.
I get a mention in the book Creatures Give Advice Again by Roppotucha Greenberg
(I’m on page 50)
1. Aero Fun Book
You may be able to pick up a copy of this on Ebay. (Published in 1984)