The stories in the new collection are:

Fresh Watter was published in Break In Case of Silence: New Writing Scotland Volume 39 in 2021 and has previously been shortlisted for the ChipLit and Exeter Story Prizes. It is a prequel to the Bob Kelty series of historical crime novels, introducing Bob as a young child.

A Curious Judgement is set in 1832, a febrile time which saw significant (and long overdue) changes in the governance of the United Kingdom, including the Great Reform Act and an act removing the death penalty for relatively minor offences such as sheep stealing. 

Burials was the winner of the ChipLit Festival Short Story Competition in 2018 and was described by judge Rachel Seiffert as ‘dark and well-crafted’.

Fair Near a Riverside Town was shortlisted in the London Independent Story Prize competition in 2020. It is an adapted extract from an as yet unpublished novel, Cloudland.

The Entertainer won the Enizagam Writing Competition in 2019 and was previously published in Enizagam Literary Journal. It is based on characters from Cloudland.

Brainspotting came from a writing exercise as part of my MA in Creative Writing at University of Hull. It is a parody of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting.

Joss’n’Jules Forever won the Bedford International Writing Prize in 2019 and was previously published in the Bedford International Writing Prize Anthology the same year. It is an adapted extract from Cloudland. 

Peewit won third place in the HISSAC Flash Fiction competition in 2018. It is an adapted extract from Cloudland.

Sequela was highly commended in the HISSAC Flash Fiction competition in 2018. It is based on characters from Cloudland. 

The Rational Matters of Rational Men is inspired by the writings of the great Affleck Gray (although Jock Menzies is assuredly not based on Affleck). 

(In My Way) won second prize in the Flash 500 Short Story Competition in 2017.

Whisky Night won first prize in the Writing Magazine competition in February 2018. The judges described it as a ‘tour de force of accumulated impressions and heightened perceptions’. It is an adapted extract from Cloudland. 

The White Deer was shortlisted in the Evesham Festival of Words Short Story Competition in 2019.

Man Walks Into A Bar won the HISSAC Flash Fiction Competition in 2017. The judges described it as a “hugely impressive piece of work. Rarely will you read a piece of Flash Fiction that gets so much into such a short space”. 

The Woman Who Called Herself Karen is based on characters from Cloudland. 

Taking Tea With The Other Woman has been shortlisted in a number of short story competitions, including the Ruth Rendell Competition in 2018.

Not Drowning Yet was highly commended in the MTP Short Story competition in 2019. It is based on characters from Cloudland.

The Weight of Snow was shortlisted for the Bedford International Writing Prize in 2019.

Oysters and Ink was shortlisted in the Segora Short Story Competition in 2019. It is based on characters from Cloudland. 

Evanescence is adapted and based on characters from Cloudland.