The Parable of the Poisoned King
There was once a wise king who ruled over a vast kingdom. He was feared for his might and loved for his wisdom. In the heart of the city, there was a well with pure and crystalline waters from which the king and all the inhabitants drank. When all were asleep, three witches entered the…
Birkenhead Police
Welcome to the Paradise Peninsula, ye scurvy dogs. Break the law and feel the cold steel o’ me cutlass.
Strange Waves
Last night aboard the Sarinda, I heard a sound from the cockpit. The wind was easily blowing a force five, so I assumed something had come unstuck and fallen to the deck – no big deal. Usually when that happens, I can feel the vibrations in the wood. This time I felt nothing. The sound just happened.…
Grey Noise: Rock and Roll can be Murder
Now available on Amazon: What happens when a disturbed sound engineer snaps? Patrick McDonagh is a Liverpool sound tech who truly understands the old saying that “silence is golden”. Highly-skilled behind a mixing desk, but undervalued due to his lack of charisma and social graces, he remains forever on the fringes of the music industry,…
A Smaller Hell Free Giveaway
Download your free Kindle ebook between 5th-9th March 2015 here for US readers, and here for UK readers. It’s a jolly jaunt about sex and violence, hierarchy and corruption, that sort of thing – all set in a department store in northern England. Here’s what A Smaller Hell’s latest Amazon review said: “Beautifully written with rich…
The Horseman’s Dream Update
It’s taken me years of drafts, scraps and rewrites to get to this point. Since I was (and still am) no scientist, I read psychology books and articles daily during those years for the sole purpose of writing The Horseman’s Dream. I studied other fields of science, met with psychologists, military veterans and brushed up on my theology, or divinity,…
Tuning Up
Photographed in Crash Studios, Liverpool during rehearsals with psychedelic rock trio Limehawk.
Street Carnival in Birkenhead, UK 1902
What a great photograph. Is it any wonder that A Smaller Hell is set in this weird and wonderful town?
Happiest Moments of my Birthday
1. Opening my cards, especially my nephew Baxter’s, which he had picked himself. It had three Bengal tigers on it, just like Richard Parker from Life of Pi. 2. Listening to Rory Gallagher with my dad, like we used to on our way to work in the van. 3. Nando’s for lunch with the family,…
Mark Twain’s Rules For Writing
Mark Twain’s rules for writing seem straightforward and still relevant. Do you agree? Comment below. 1. A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. 2. The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help develop it. 3. The personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case…
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