I once had a Geography Professor who could see history written clear in the landscape of today, in its field patterns and place names, its roads and settlements.   He inspired me to write tales that weave the past into the present.

I might start with a place.  The English village of Allingley, for example, which would have been Aegl-ingas-leigh in Anglo Saxon, the clearing of the folk of Aegl.  One and a half millennia ago, A Saxon warlord stood on the knoll where the church now stands, and set his men to felling trees.  There were boar and deer to hunt in the forests, fresh water in the stream, and the ground would be fertile.  It was a place to plant his generations.  A small step of the imagination links Allingley to the Saxon legend of Aegl and his wife Olrun, the swan-maiden.  Add the discovery of a Saxon warrior's grave, near Allingley, and the stage is set for a fast-moving tale where present day events mirror the ancient, bloody past.

I like to write stories which suggest that not all events around us can be explained by science.  Sometimes the past seems to call to us in a way that we feel rather than see.  An almost-heard whisper in a church, or perhaps a mossy ring of standing stones from a long-forgotten faith.  Perhaps it is simply the chance to appreciate the timeless image of swans on a mill pond, or to pause in the heart of an ancient wood, and inhale its mighty peace.  I like tales to have that scent of an otherness.

I also write short stories.  One is included here in full as a sample of my writing style.

Welcome.  

My short story 'Muse' won the competition at the 'Get Writing 2011' Conference.  See Short Stories.

My novel SWANMAIDEN is now represented by Ian Drury of Shiel Land Associates.

... and another story, 'Short Bursts', came 2nd at 'Get Writing 2012'.  No pressure, then, for 2013...