Things We Leave Behind

I'm pleased to announce that my second collection, Things We Leave Behind, will be published by Dark Minds Press and launched (alongside Laura Mauro's excellent novella Naming The Bones) at Edge-Lit in Derby on Saturday 15th July.

cover art by Neil Williams (Mr Stix is there on the back cover)

This second volume of short stories (following Strange Tales, which was originally published in 2003) features eighteen tales spanning the length of my published career to date (the earliest here, All The Rage, appeared in 1999).

It's been a pleasure working with Anthony Watson & Ross Warren at Dark Minds on this (I approached them back in 2016 to see if they'd be interested and was nicely surprised that they were), though Ross continually mocks my two-spaces-after-the-full-stop technique.  Searching through my back catalogue was fun, the editing process was interesting (re-reading a story that's seventeen years old and having to resist the urge to re-write it all is hard) and the cover (with art by Neil Williams) is perfect (and it's good to see Mr Stix make an appearance).  To top it off, Johnny Mains offered to write the introduction and that was the icing on the cake.

Where I've blogged about the stories before, the link will take you to that post.

ALL THE RAGE

first published in Unhinged Magazine Issue 4, 1999

A QUIET WEEKEND AWAY

first published in The Fourth Book of Terror Tales, 2010

A COTTAGE BY THE SEA

first published in Hauntings, 2004

MR HUXTON GOES CAMPING

first published in AltDead, 2011

COME SEE MY HOUSE IN THE PRETTY TOWN

first published in Ill at Ease, 2011

WHAT WE DO SOMETIMES, WITHOUT THINKING

first published in Shoes, Ships and Cadavers: Tales from North Londonshire, 2010

LAST TRAIN HOME

first published in Fogbound from Five, 2012

LOOKING AT ME, SEEING YOU

first published in Darker Minds, 2012

FOG ON THE OLD COAST ROAD

first published in Hauntings, 2012

WHAT GETS LEFT BEHIND

first published by Spectral Press (Chapbook #7), 2012

THE BUREAU OF LOST CHILDREN

first published in Ill at Ease 2, 2013

THE TASTE OF HER

original to this collection

THE WITCH HOUSE

first published in Urban Occult, 2013

MR STIX

first published in For the Night is Dark, 2013

THE GLAMOUR GIRL MURDERS

first published in Anatomy of Death, 2013

TIME WAITS

first published in Darkest Minds, 2015

THE ZABRISKIE GRIMOIRE

first published in The Grimorium Verum: Volume 3, 2015

ISSUES OF DISRUPTION

original to this collection

"Mark and I have an uncomplicated friendship. We met through Facebook, both probably crowing over ratty old paperbacks, which we both have an affinity for, and met for the first time at Alt-Fiction, Leicester 2012. We had a beer or three, had a great chat, and became firm friends. We always talk about...you guessed it…old ratty paperbacks. I love it when life is simple and you don’t need to talk about anything else except which author wrote what book about bubonic maggots eating spleens from a cabal of cannibal nuns…"

- Johnny Mains, from his introduction

With a range of stories, from quiet horror to gleefully gruesome, I'm very pleased with the collection and I hope - if you take a chance on it - that you are too.

The book will be available as both paperback and ebook editions.