Quick announcement - If you are part of a book group and would like to know about a lovely special offer I have, drop me a line here!

I have started making pledge rewards to send out to all of you lovely people who backed Salt Lick. Yesterday was a day of lino cutting and printing and I'm very happy with the results - 2 out of 5 cards ready to go. 

The theme was cows, as stated on the Unbound…

It’s been a while since I had anything to report on Salt Lick. This is because there was a mix up with the copy edit which has taken a chunk of time to put right. It will mean that Salt Lick will be published later than planned, but I am happy to say that Unbound have taken their usual care to ensure that when it is published, it is in the best shape possible.

Work on the cover is almost done and…

Dear Backers of Salt Lick

I am pleased to say that Salt Lick has come back from the editor with some fantastic comments and, as your backing has made this book a joint venture, I wanted to share some of them with you: 

"My overall impression is that this an extremely accomplished piece of work, written with the skill of a poet and the imagination of Sarah Moss or Andrew Michael Hurley. It…

I am so delighted that Salt Lick is funded. I am thankful to many people and have been blown away by the support. Thank you. I hope that I can do it justice, that you will come to feel proud of having your names listed in the book as a supporter and that you will enjoy reading Satl Lick when you get your copy. (There is still time to add yourself to that list if you would like to.)

I have a…

Folks, if any of you would like to sign up to an irregular, occasional newsletter that comes direct, please take a look at the kind of thing I send out here:

https://mailchi.mp/f790289242cf/books-and-drawing-a-refuge-during-lockdown

You can sign up at the bottom of the form. I will be sending out free short stories to subscribers soon.

Thank you for your support of Salt Lick, it really…

I am thrilled to be able to offer a new pledge level to back Salt Lick that includes these utterly beautiful and very appropriate cow rings made by one of my favourits artist/jewellers Frances Boyle. I already have one of my own given to me at Christmas, it feels like my good luck charm. And now I have secured the last three to offer as pledge rewards. In the bundle are some hand-printed cow cards…

Hello friends. 

It's time to pop my head, however tentatively, back over the parapet. And I am very happy to say that I have a piece published today on the Memoirist site. It's about my grandfather, pictured above, and the strange uncertainty when this irrascible, bold and imposing man became more gentle and lost. I hope you may enjoy reading it. There are lots of great essays on the site,…

“What I love most is the idea that leaving London to go into the countryside seems like stepping beyond the barriers, into this quasi-dangerous world.” - Tom Ward.

Tom Ward is the author of The Lion and the Unicorn, one of the Unbound projects I was delighted to support with a pledge. Tom noticed that our two books have some similar themes, as can be seen from the quote above, so we decided…

I am delighted that Salt Lick is now 1/3 funded. To clebetrate I've given all backers 1/3 off everything in my Etsy shop Seventy Seven Seas. If you'd like to benefit from this offer, just pledge for Salt Lick before Monday when the offer expires. 

Seventy Seven Seas is full of icons, household gods, charms and curious anatomies. Everything is hand made from recycled or waste materials. And…

I have just sent out thank you messages to all those I can reach who have backed Salt Lick. The response has been so good and I am really delighted so wanted to convey that to all of you who made it happen.

I don't have a way to directly contact everyone so here are the last ones to round it off! You are welcome to contact me so that I have your email or Twitter handle, but of course, Unbound don…

Hello everyone

Welcome to the page for Salt Lick. I’m delighted that Unbound have agreed to publish my second book and look forward to making lots of new connections with readers on the way. 

To help you get to know the book here are ten things about it. 

1. The first spark was an image of a man in prison thinking about the inside of his body. 

2. When writing I…