Stuck in a limbo and desperate to do something meaningful, what to do? That is where writing began for me. A creative way of expressing myself and a chance to harness my wondering imagination. I close my eyes and I'm there. Wish I'd picked 'there' as a warm sunny day on a sandy beach, with the waves gently lapping on the shore...but I have to let the story load in my mind, then watch it unfold, wherever it may be. Currently I'm on a windy bridge, or a Devon beach, or a Cornish ti mine, or a submarine, or looking towards a Hebridean port...
It was a pleasure to catch up with Murph, as the band began the launch of the UK leg of their world tour. The interview took place in mid March, when the band had finished their N American leg and were about to start the brief, but mile-rich S American leg. After a week down […]
The novel ‘Foula and Beyond’ is now out and it is the final chapter in the ‘Estonia’ series, after ‘Finnish Boys’ and ‘Forest Brothers’. **Spoiler Alert** The story continues from the end of Forest Brothers. Huw, Maarja and Juhan, having escaped to the UK, have settled in a small fishing village in Shetland – the […]
Having written the Frongoch trilogy (‘Turn of the Wheel’, ‘A Time of Goodbyes’ and to follow – ‘A Light in the Darkness’), it does feel sad in some ways to think that the mine no longer stands as it did in its glorious years. Not that I wish for tons of spoil, toxic with base […]
Catherine Murphy, my great grandmother, was a publican’s wife. They ran the Prince George in Warbreck Moor. My mother and her sister were born upstairs above the bar, in the front room – as was the way of the time for many. Her husband had worked up in the brewery trade, mainly on the Liverpool […]
My latest foray into the world of Arts interviews finds me in conversation with the legendary punk poet, Attila the Stockbroker. Veteran of 3800 gigs, over a 40 year period, he has performed in such diverse places as the USA, East Germany, Australia and New Zealand, Belgium and the Druid Inn in Goginan (twice). He […]
New month, new title? After a bit of a lull, I have managed to get out the final book in the trilogy set in wartime Estonia. Foula and Beyond, is the final leg, but as such, takes the characters away from the war torn shores. Most of the action is based in […]
New Year. New Reviews. thanks to the Aber Ego magazine for a review of ‘A Time of Goodbyes’ in their January edition on p44-45. The full magazine is available here: https://ego.today/jan22/
When you think of progressive rock music, it is very easy to get locked into the stereotype of long straggly hair, interminably long solos of everything that they can get their hands on, concept albums where the whole recording is ‘a track’, rambling conversations about things being ‘silver’ and ‘gold’, or inventing languages for artistic […]
The new novel, A Time of Goodbyes, is now available on Kindle, as well as paperback. The further adventures of the lead miner, Owain and his family can now be added to your collection via the usual outlets. This brings all the current e-books up to date My next adventure in the New Year, is […]