The release of Arterial Bloom from Crystal Lake Publishing is now less than three weeks away, so I thought I would talk a little about what inspired my story, Dog (Does Not) Eat Dog.

Everyone of us has experienced, or will experience, an increasingly toxic friendship. The piece is an attempt to explore this.

Friendships, like any kind of relationship, require maintenance and if you neglect them they deteriorate. It was that deterioration – what drives it and what happens as a result – I wanted to focus on.

This story concerns two old friends reflecting on their friendship at the end of everything. The empty, apocalyptic setting provided a great canvas to push my ideas into the extreme.

Also, the coastline on which this story is set is real. I have walked on the sand and stood in the ocean. It’s only a few miles from the place I grew up. But I’ve moved away now and I don’t see that shore so often.

It seemed only fitting that a story about old friends should unfold close to my old hometown.

Arterial Bloom is due for release on the 3rd of April and you can pre order from Amazon by clicking here. You know what to do.

Thanks for reading.

I’ve been excited about this for some time and – now that it has been revealed on Mercedes M. Yardley’s blog – I can finally share the news.

My story, Dog (Does Not) Eat Dog, will be appearing in Arterial Bloom.

The anthology will be published by Crystal Lake Publishing and is edited by Mercedes M. Yardley. It is due for release in March 2020.

There will be sixteen stories in total and the names revealed so far are incredible. It is amazing and humbling to have my work appear alongside theirs. Check out out a tiny teaser of Dog (Does Not) Eat Dog, and the other stories, over at Mercedes blog.

Also, there is this wonderful cover art from Todd Kelsing.

I can’t wait to share more about the story once the book is out. Until then…

Beginnings are difficult and, having just created this site, I’m still figuring out exactly what I want from it. So to begin I thought I would look to the past.

Back in February of this year I was lucky enough to have a short story featured on The Other Stories podcast as part of their ‘Haunted Hotel’ series.

Dissolution is about a young couple who take shelter from the rain in a coastal hotel on the Isle of Skye, only to discover something far worse within. Click on the image below to listen.

The Other Stories from Hawk and Cleaver do some great work. Take a look at some of their other podcasts here.

For those interested, the bay on which this story opens is real.

As is the hotel.

Enjoy your stay.