A project I have been working on for some time with a group of very talented writers is nearing readiness, and the time has arrived where we can come out of the closet. A Seeming Glass – A collection of Reflected Tales, by the Random Writers, will soon be available. I think, even though I say so myself, this is a very exciting collection by a group of writers who, while not too well known now, surely will be before long.

‘How can I read the futures if I cannot see your skin?’

Six mysterious swans glide on a holographic pond in a totalitarian capital city. A terrified girl awaits her part in a ritual that could change the future… and the past. A dancer in ancient Jerusalem mourns her maimed sister and prepares for the performance of her life. A sword of legend sends its wielder back through the fiercest battles in history. A freshly qualified vampire hunter experiences the practical side of his vocation. Fourteen Intriguing, dramatic, humourous and unsettling tales, inspired by existing stories and reflecting the breadth of storytelling from Greek myth to Hammer Horror, via fairytales and Arthurian legend.

Read more about A Seeming Glass at the Random Writers website

Finally, one of my short stories has reached the longlist of the Historical Novel Society’s 2014 short story competition – though not, sadly, the shortlist. The story Aurora is a fictional treatment of a little known part of Antarctic exploration. When Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was crushed in the ice in the Weddell Sea, a second party at McMurdo Sound had no idea the depots they risked their lives to place on the ice were no longer needed, even they themselves were stranded after their own ship, the SY Aurora, was blown out into the Southern Ocean in a storm.