I’m delighted to be sharing the pages of the latest issue of Revival Literary Journal (#25) with John W. Sexton, Crona Gallagher, Maeve O’Sullivan, Mary Bradford, Knute Skinner, Kevin Kiely, Louis Mulcahy, Gerard Beirne, Miceal Kearney, and a host of others. The issue features a short piece of flash fiction I wrote called ‘Dog Shit’. … Continue reading
Many writers will agree that writing synopses is something they have difficulty doing. There is quite a bit of confusion as to what exactly a synopsis is. Why is it required? How do you go about writing one? It’s common knowledge that a synopsis is a summary of the story a writer has written and … Continue reading
In advance of Swan River Press‘ launch of Selected Stories by Mark Valentine, I’ve just interviewed the author. We talk about the persistence of human values and vision in the face of vast upheaval, outré heresies and Gnostic myths, and the Central European tradition in fantastic literature amongst other things. I’ll post the full interview on … Continue reading
Selected Stories, due out soon from Swan River Press, brings together a number of stories by Mark Valentine that share related themes and a very particular style of approach reminiscent of the work of several writers working in the early 20th Century. While most stories don’t specify a year in which they take place, references … Continue reading
This week, I was asked to write a guest blog for What She Might Think, writer Erin Pringle-Toungate‘s excellent website. As you will guess from the title of the piece, it highlights the sad lack of libraries in my youth. Not there weren’t libraries near me; there were several. The blog focuses more specifically on … Continue reading
Oscar and Lucinda was the first of several novels I’ve read by Peter Carey and it’s still my favourite of his books. It tells the story of clergyman Oscar Hopkins and heiress Lucinda Leplastrier, both addicted gamblers of opposing type: one obsessive, one compulsive, both necessarily secretive, both bound by the strictures of mid-19th Century … Continue reading
Following my recent review of Brian J. Showers‘ collection of stories, Old Albert, due soon from Swan River Press, and which illuminates a fictional(?) history of Larkhill, an old schoolhouse building that still exists in Rathmines, Dublin, I’ve just interviewed the author. Amongst other things, we talk about the challenge of seamlessly blending fact and … Continue reading
On foot of my review of Longsword, written by Thomas Leland and first published 250 years ago, I’ve just interviewed Albert Power. Albert has written a very illuminating introduction to a new edition of the novel, which is soon to be published by Swan River Press. As usual, I’ll eventually post the full interview here, … Continue reading
I’ve just interviewed Rosalie Parker about contemporary supernatural fiction in the context of her collection of short stories, The Old Knowledge & Other Strange Tales (published by Swan River Press and already out of print – but available as an ebook), her involvement with Tartarus Press, and upcoming writing projects. I’ll post the full interview … Continue reading
Perhaps better known as a poet, having published three collections of poetry in the last few years, and as MC of the monthly North Beach Poetry Nights in the Crane Bar, Galway, John Walsh is also a writer of short stories, and Border Lines, recently published by Doire Press, presents an excellent sampling of what … Continue reading
