My flash, The New Natural, is published today in Lunate.

I was very grateful to them for the acceptance. 

In novel news, I have been working hard on I Can Help You Live. It's so exciting to work with Larry again. 

I'm also working on a Top Secret Project. Shh. 

I have a tiny story forthcoming in the next Briefly Write zine. 

(And when I say tiny, I mean it. The piece is just 284 words.) 

Thank you to the editors for such a great constraint and for their enthusiasm. 

I have an odd little tale about a lizard, a spider and vitamin D deficiency forthcoming in September's The Cabinet of Heed. 

This journal always collects shiny stories and curious oddments... why not have a rummage and see what you can find? 

It's been such a pleasure to see all the excitement around Boy Parts. I was lucky enough to read an advance copy (thank you, Jordan!) and read it in two days, just bounced along by the hilarious horror delivered by a fascinating voice. 

I also am excited for the launch of Famished (my own capital F here). Again, spoiled brat that I am, I have already read it, and just revelled in how the thick-as-cream and yet meringue-light prose delivered all kinds of delicious deadliness. Anna's writing is just yummy. 

I'm proud to be counted alongside these marvels. 

​​Last month, I was asked to contribute an editorial to Open Pen issue 26. 

These guys are delivering excellent (free!) short fiction and their publishing list is pretty damn good as well, so of course I said yes.

​I wrote two analogies comparing novels to short stories. The piece was huge fun to write and so I was so glad to get my copy today, alongside my purchase of Not Far From the Junction by Will Ashon.
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​Will Ashon spent the day of Tuesday May 21st 2019 hitching around the motorways and ‘A' roads of England, chatting to whoever picked him up about their lives, dreams, aspirations, fears and favourite foods.

The resulting transcripts, presented here edited and cross-cut through one another into a collage of voices, form a work in which generosity plays a far greater role than hate, reminding us of our nation’s better self.

Sitting somewhere between Svetlana Alexievich and Rachel Cusk, NOT FAR FROM THE JUNCTION is a fresh, funny, moving and quietly radical work of non-fiction, exploring who we are and how we see the world. 

The description triggers happy memories of collecting stories of Cornwall for my PhD. I hope Will had as much fun collecting his material as I did. 

​I have been working on a backlog of stories for some months now, and finally feel able to start sending them into the world. I am thrilled to have some recent acceptances to share. 
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​My flash, 'The New Natural', is forthcoming in Lunate, who described it as an expertly fashioned mix of body horror and socio-political observation. 

My story, 'Approaches', is forthcoming in the excellent Severine. Thank you to Terri-Jane for her enthusiasm. (Edit: read it here.)

Another story, 'Affirmation' is forthcoming in New Critique. Thank you to the editors for their comments, calling it finely crafted with a controlled economy of prose and sprinkled with the right amount of lyrical language. 

​In novel news, I have begun the re-draft of I Can Help You Live. The protagonist, Larry Wells, never really left me alone, and it has been a joy to find the letters he wrote me when we were exploring together.

I hope you get to meet him. He promises you'll be safe. 

(It's up to you if you believe him. I wouldn't...)