Well, all sources indicate that ‘Dolls’ would-be publisher Bluechrome has closed down, and the book won’t be published by them.  As they breached the contract initially issued to me in 2007 by not publishing the book within 12 months of said contract being issued, and failed to sign a new contract since then, all rights […]

The short story now masquarading as Last has been accepted into Inkerman’s Loss anthology coming out at the end of September. To refreash your memory, it’s about an artist who makes portraits of the suicide jumpers on the Golden Gate bridge, feeling that it’s a privilege to see these people in the closing minutes of […]

Taught Transgressions
 
 Presented at the Great Writing Conference, Bangor University, June 2009.
 
 
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1)      Introduction – Transgressions and Teaching
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This proposal exploring the merit of using transgressive literature and encouraging transgressive writing has the University writer in mind.  At BA level particularly, there is more scope for experimentation in form and content than in community workshops, where […]

A presentation about Tasteless created for the Creative Processes module of my Creative Writing Masters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMUQ93Q4vI8
and a second one about the representation of female characters in transgressive literature, for the Theory Studies module.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxR7PXttVLI
Here for easy linkage should the CD not work (like last time…)

Palahniuk’s Ongoing Affair with the Bahktinian Grotesque
 (Not sure why I can’t get this to embed, but never mind)
This is one of the pieces of work for Uni that has consumed my time and energy like a sentient tumour.  It was either a little animated video or sock puppets for this presentatin, both of which I’ve […]

It’s satisfying as a writer to find yourself emptying all your money onto the bar in a lapdancing club in the name of god-honest writerly research.
Suffice to say I have already spent two solid hours writing today.
Shall be inviting the girls to the ‘Dolls’ book launch in April, though last night was for ‘Gabe’ currently […]

Writers in education is a relatively small community, so it’s really good to put yourself out there and make yourself, and what you do, known.  With this in mind, I’ve been pitching to conferences like the Oceans of Short Stories in Liverpool last May as well as to the usual short story journals.  The Liverpool […]

Writing is easy, as a beginning anyway.  You sit your arse down and get on with it.  Over time, you get a bit better at it.  Time passes and the movement of ideas from your head comes through your fingers in a pen or on a keyboard more smoothly.  Finally, you get good and are […]

A while ago I submitted a paper on what it’s like to be taught transgressive literature as a creative writing student to an external creative writing resource pool  I got it back from peer review today, and it turns out that academics can be incredibly cutting when they want to be and it’s totally anonymous.  […]

I gacked this from Matthew Hill’s delicious little blog, as it’s preferable to cleaning at this moment in time.
Usually I steer clear of ’should’ lists, but this one had quite a diverse range in it.  And it’s better than cleaning.
So, below’s a list of ‘classic’ books.

I’m supposed to:
Look at the list and:
1) Bold those I’ve […]