I wrote Captive as a dare. As a long-time author of nonfiction, a colleague dared me to write a short story, in the genre of science fiction, and enter it into a competition. I had some time on my hands, so I thought ‘yeah, okay’. I figured I had watched enough sci-fi TV shows and films, and read more novels in the genre than I could count. Surely that would give me an advantage. I Read more
“I wrote the books for 8–12-year-olds. It began with one opening scene. From there, I could not stop; eager to know what Molly and Michael would discover next. 640+ pages later, I had completed the series, surprised by how many adults told me they had loved reading them. I suspect the reasons this series cannot be pinned into an age-defined category is this: Science is treated seriously The child protagonists are STEM stars in their Read more
The Lumenkin was going to be a short work of eco-sci-fi exploring first contact between the fairy realm on Earth and an alien intelligence that descends through the northern lights. Like so many works of fiction, though, The Lumenkin developed its own opinion about what was happening and I had no choice but to type what it told me. Scenes I expected to last a few paragraphs became entire chapters. Supporting characters I expected to Read more
Do you enjoy stories that slip between genres? By that, I mean stories where myths are rewritten, landscapes remember who strolled through them, strange beings watch from the edges, and the world is never quite as ordinary as it first appears? I’ve created a free PDF called “Weird Worlds” to offer a visual path to the fictional worlds I write about. So far, they include: alien contact, eco-magic, magical realism, dystopian science fiction, urban fantasy Read more
I recently read and reviewed “The Process: Six Mechanics of Achievement: Inner Work for Outer Results”, and one of the things I most appreciated about it was the author’s deep understanding of what achievement really requires. This is not a shallow book about productivity, hustle, or forcing oneself into constant output. It is a thoughtful, well-researched exploration of motivation, discipline, internal locus of control, execution, and responsibility. It looks closely at the inner mechanics behind Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the moment before a scene becomes language. You know the moment, right? When it only exists first as atmosphere, colour, texture, light, or place. This short essay explores how visual inspiration can help fiction writers find the emotional weather of a scene before the words arrive. Sometimes, a writer knows the feeling of a scene long before they know exactly what happens in it. There may be no dialogue Read more
Many people begin a nonfiction book by trying to create a table of contents. They open a blank document, list everything they know, divide it into possible chapters, and hope a book will emerge from the accumulation of their expertise. But a strong nonfiction book does not begin with a list. It begins with a spine. The spine is the central line of meaning that holds the whole book together. It tells the reader why the Read more
It is said that all art is a self-portrait, an expression that resonates strongly as I reflect on the month of June 2026. Across the last four weeks, I have released four articles, each offering reflections on one of the short stories in my ‘Visions to Words’ collection. I began the month talking about The Watchers: A Story of First Contact with an increasing suspicion that stories of alien invasion endure because they dramatise a Read more
Some myths are so old, they are retold, translated, illustrated, taught, borrowed, softened, sharpened, and moralised until the original story begins to feel like a natural law. Persephone was abducted. Demeter grieved. Hades took. Zeus compromised. The seasons were born. It is one of the oldest and most enduring patterns in Western mythology: a young goddess disappears into darkness, a mother’s grief starves the earth, and the world is only restored when a woman is Read more
Some stories arrive in our lives already decided. They come to us with their heroes polished, their monsters named, and their moral lessons neatly arranged. We were told to believe that Perseus was brave, his sword was righteous, Medusa was monstrous, and her severed head was proof of his victory. I suspect the story was different. I mean, who gets to decide what a monster is? What happens when the person called ‘dangerous’ is only Read more