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A lady told me she couldn’t finish reading my futuristic story Caveat Emptor! because she thought it would give her nightmares, so I’m glad the editors at Adventure Books of Seattle were brave enough to read all of it. It now has a home in Escape Velocity: The Anthology.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a paper copy, but to keep me going I have the Kindle version. I’m not reading the stories in any particular order. My favourite so far is Jack in the Box by Robert Harkess, but there are also some great stories by Sheila Crosby, Robert Blevins, Geoff Nelder, Jonathan Pinnock, David Tallerman, and many more.

Geoff and Jonathan are also keeping me company in The Sixty, a book of awesome science-fiction/fantasy art by award-winning artist Andy Bigwood. Check out some of his work here. My flash fiction piece Taking Root was inspired by one of Andy’s pictures. The Sixty was launched at EasterCon in Birmingham, and is available from Amazon. The artwork in this book is stunning. I’m looking forward to reading all the fiction too.

Last, but definitely not least, I had some feedback on my nonsense poem Deep-fried Flip-flops, which was displayed in a public loo in the Shetland Islands as part of the Bards in the Bog project. A mother wrote to say that her family enjoyed my poem, and that her young daughter has now been inspired to write poetry of her own! I have had the pleasure and privilege of reading one of her poems, and can say that she’s off to a good start. I won’t mention her name, but she knows who she is, so here’s a message especially for her: ‘Well done, and keep going!’
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I’m going to be in an art book! No, my watercolour daubs aren’t going to appear in public any time soon, but I love art, so when my writing buddy Geoff Nelder mentioned this project I jumped at the chance. The book, entitled The Sixty, will have 60 fantasy/sci-fi pictures by the award-winning artist Andy Bigwood, and each will be accompanied by a piece of flash fiction. My fantasy story is called Taking Root. I’m unable to give a publication date yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing the finished book. You can see some of Andy’s awesome work here.

Geoff and another writer friend, Jonathan Pinnock, will have flash fiction in the book too. Did I mention that the three of us are in M is for Monster? Of course I did.
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Birdcage Tales 19/10/2010
 
When I was a kid, my dad built an aviary – housing 24 budgies – on a third of our small back garden. The other two thirds were taken up by a vegetable patch and a brown corrugated plastic – yes, plastic – shed.

I had mixed feelings about the aviary. As far as I knew, none of the other kids at school had one, and I couldn’t decide if I was excited or embarrassed by that. And I’d really have wanted all three thirds of the garden to be, well, a proper garden. A lawn, a little pond, flowers, and a swing. Room to have fun.
 
But we don’t always get what we want, and so the colours, sounds and smells of this garden-hogging birdcage remain fixed in my memory. I’m glad that they do, because my first ever short story was about the aviary, and imaginatively entitled The Birdcage. That story went on to win a prize in the Writers Bureau Short Story Competition in 2004. I wrote a flash fiction too, and Flying Room can be read at Ink Sweat and Tears. And I’ve started writing a horror story based on an aviary. Would I have written stories about the lawn and swing I longed for? I don’t know.

My story Fitting In was published in the October issue of Town & Village magazine, and I now have a lovely colour copy of the mag on my bookshelf.

What else? I’m currently working on a fantasy flash fiction piece for an art book project, but I’ll give more details about that next time. 
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Some time ago I wrote a 200-word descriptive piece, Flying Room, for a competition. I didn’t win, and although I didn't think I could use it anywhere else, I liked it enough to keep it. I know, I know. We should always keep our work – and I do, usually, unless I’m having a crisis of confidence. A few years ago I threw away the first draft of a horror story, and have regretted it ever since. Fortunately, the story is still in my head, so I’ll rewrite it one day.

When I read my writer pal Jonathan Pinnock’s interview on Ink Sweat and Tears (great interview, too - read it here) I browsed the site and realised that Flying Room could be adapted and – fingers crossed – might be suitable. The finished 350-word flash fiction has now been accepted, and will appear on IS&T in approximately six weeks' time. I'm so glad I kept the piece. I won’t throw my writing out ever again.
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