I have enjoyed the macabre for as long as I can remember. I was an invisible toddler who scared house guests with a plastic bat. I even learned to read from The Usborne Book of Witches. If I was going to write then it was always going to be horror fiction.
What is your most notable work?
The Function Room: The Kollection, my book of connected short stories which came out last year, seems to have got me the most attention so far. Gary McMahon described it as, “Like Worzel Gummidge cast adrift in a Ligottian fever-dream.”
What are you working on now?
I always have a short story on the go and the current one is about a cave with a demon in it. The previous story also featured a cave, but that one had a mermaid in it (‘The Misery of Mermaids’, due to appear in Hellfire Crossroads).
Who do you admire in the horror world?
The strange stories of Edward Lucas White are perfect. If I could produce a collection as good as either The Song of the Sirens or Lukundoo and Other Stories, I’d be happy. My favourite short horror story ever is his ‘The House of The Nightmare’.
Do you prefer all out gore or psychological chills?
I’ve no preference for either. When I read horror fiction I’m looking for occult possibilities. I like stories that make the supernatural and the esoteric real, or at least seem real. Some writers use gore and viscera, others might use atmosphere, but what always matters to me is that the otherworldly is made believable, at least for the duration of the story.
Why should people read your work?
If the stars are aligned and the right person reads my stories in the right order, who knows what might happen.
Recommend a book.
I don’t read horror novels so I shall recommend two journals if I may. The first is Shadows and Tall Trees from Undertow Books. The latest issue has fantastic stories by Gary Fry, Claire Massey and D. P. Watt. The second journal is Sacrum Regnum from Hieroglyphic Press. It’s edited by Daniel Corrick and Mark Samuels. Alongside essays and reviews, the current issue contains some fabulous stories by John Howard and Colin Insole.
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