Growth

At last! My brain has woken up a bit and I’ve been chucking ideas around for some new projects. It must be summertime. New things start to sprout. Meanwhile, the old projects are out there growing with a sneaky stealth that makes me even more proud of them.

Like this happiness spurt – a starred review for From the Neck Up in Publishers Weekly, along with a short interview about the new short story collection that’s being published in September 2021.

This collection is close to my heart. I first wrote the lead novella in it (Brushwork) to be part of a trilogy of novellas about youth, middle age and old age, with The Arrival of Missives and Peace, Pipe. Missives was published separately by Unsung Stories, and Peace Pipe found a home in the back of Titan’s US release of The Beauty. Brushwork made an appearance online but hasn’t been in print before. I’m really looking forward to getting my own copies of the book to see it.

It’s great to think people are taking trips to Skyward Inn. It has recently been recommended as a summer read for 2021 by James Lovegrove in the Financial Times. A huge thank you to James. Also, I had a chance to listen to the audio version of the book and thought it was stunning. What a sensitive and characterful reading of it. A strange experience, to hear it read aloud that way.

There are cover reveals for two new translations coming soon: The Beauty in Spanish (by Dilatando Mentes Editorial) and The Loosening Skin in Italian (from Carbonio Editore). Go, books, go! Keep growing…