Story.Book is the 2011 Annual Anthology from Unbound Press/Spilling Ink Review, and I am thrilled, and a little astonished, that I have a story included in this collection of excellent prize-winning short fiction.

Issue 3 of Fractured West, The Pull of Distance, is out now, and I have a little piece included. Very excited to share print with some other great writers and very fine writing.

I read ‘How the Days of Love & Diphtheria’ by Robert Kloss, a violent, nightmarish book, and I enjoyed it so much that I wrote a review. That review is now up at PANK, so you should get over there, read it and then go buy Robert’s book, because it’s awesome.

My new prose poem/flash fiction piece Siren’s Song is now up at Pipe Dream. Yet another story that shares its name with a song by The Cure, although draws its inspiration from This Mortal Coil. This picture is The Fisherman and The Siren by Knut Ekwall, by the way.

The last time I entered a writing competition was in high school and I didn’t even know I had entered it until I was told I had won it. 20 years later, I have finally entered my second and have made the shortlist! I won’t leave it quite so long for the next one.

My story Crank House is included in the new issue of >kill author, another piece of delusional prose about my fear of hospitals, in this case the growing sense of paranoia and dread that comes with watching a hospital grow.

My experimental noise/ambient music project, Novak, has been dragging its feet lately. So here, finally, I can announce the release of my new EP, Singularities, which you may download, for free, and listen to.

I wrote a review of Ethel Rohan’s staggeringly excellent Hard to Say, published by PANK. This little book of short stories had a dramatic impact on me, not only because of the quality of the writing, but because of the questions it made me ask of my own writing.

I hate hospitals. I love hospitals. I frequently write about or mention them in my writing, and after the publication of my story In Hospital Greys, it seemed a fitting time to reflect on that a little. I wanted to delve a little deeper, but perhaps not right now. One day I’ll pick the wound a little more.

I have a new story up at Metazen today. This story has a plot. It was actually adapted from a 500 word flash fiction piece that was about a guy being buried alive by his lover. When I began re-writing it as a longer story, somehow it just switched to being from the woman’s perspective. [...]

A brief update on what I’ve been up to since the dawn of 2011. A good year so far for my writing with a few new acceptances and pieces published, and the beginning of a new adventure as I try to start a business. It’s been busy so far, but I guess that’s how the year is going to be.

The Figurehead – my second published work of fiction appeared in Emprise Review in January. A personal favourite of mine, due to its dark tone and imagery, it isn’t inspired by the song of the same name by The Cure. It just turned out that way.

The Drowning Man was my first piece of published fiction, and appeared in Issue 3 of Spilling Ink Review. It’s a dark, twisted take on a love story, and – at least partially – inspired by the song of the same name by The Cure, from their classic 1981 album, Faith.