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Old Albert charts the history of Larkhill House from circa 1840 to the 1920s, with a coda that brings the story up to the present day, and apart from one chapter that digresses to Ireland’s Eye, is set in Larkhill and its Rathmines environs. Larkhill House is a real place, as is St. Mary’s Church, … Continue reading
This week, I was asked to write a guest blog for Writing4all, a free online resource for writers. Given that I make my daily crust as a freelance editor, I thought, for a change, I’d focus specifically on the important of the editorial process itself, which has become all the more crucial now with the … Continue reading
There is the danger that a casual perusal of the contents page of Carole Lanham’s collection The Whisper Jar may give the potential reader the impression that this is a work of whimsy, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is certainly an element of whimsy sown into some of the stories, but … Continue reading
Cover letters are a curious creature. Editors generally pay scarce attention to them, certainly if they accompany a short story submission to a magazine, anthology or webzine. And yet they are nearly always a submission requirement. A sure way to put an editor’s nose out of joint is to post or email a submission with … Continue reading
I’ve just interviewed Robert Lloyd Parry about the supernatural fiction of Lucy M. Boston, best known for her Green Knowe series of children’s novels. Robert wrote the introduction to Curfew & Other Eerie Tales, Swan River Press‘ collection of her supernatural tales. I’ll post the full interview on this site soon, but in the meantime, … Continue reading
The wonder of The Floating Order, a collection of short stories by Erin Pringle, is that it is impossible to pigeonhole. At their heart the stories have a darkly fantastic edge, but this aspect is more often than not a component of the character’s view of the outside world. Skewed perspectives dominate, particularly in the … Continue reading
There’s no question that getting old is a pain in the butt. You work hard all your life, you struggle for a level of security and relative comfort, which often seems constantly just out of reach, you do your best to provide for and nurture your kids, then bits of you start to fall off … Continue reading
On foot of my review of Peter Bell’s new collection of supernatural tales, Strange Epiphanies, due out soon from Swan River Press, I’ve interviewed him about landscape as character, the genesis of the stories and the process of writing in general. I’ll post the full interview on this site soon, but in the meantime, check … Continue reading
Strange Epiphanies, from Swan River Press, is a collection of short stories by Peter Bell. Swan River Press specialises in horror fiction of the macabre and supernatural tale variety, taking its cue from the work of writers such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Machen, M.R. James and others. The emphasis is very much on a … Continue reading
I thought long and hard before including the word ‘F*****g’ in the title of this second part of my occasional series on submitting work to publishers; reason being I didn’t want to be seen as potentially disparaging towards the vast majority of writers who do go the trouble of checking out the guidelines to a … Continue reading
