Short Stories

Ever wondered what it’s really like to write short stories for magazines? How does a writer overhear a scrap of conversation and transform it into a short story? Did you know that magazines regularly change the names of characters and the titles of stories?
Gin and Smutty Scrabble is a collection of 15 feel-good short stories, each with a short introduction that gives a behind the scenes glimpse where the inspiration for the story came from, the techniques I use to develop a story, and how stories occasionally get me into trouble.
Gin and Smutty Scrabble is available to buy here.
Gin and Smutty Scrabble is a collection of 15 feel-good short stories, each with a short introduction that gives a behind the scenes glimpse where the inspiration for the story came from, the techniques I use to develop a story, and how stories occasionally get me into trouble.
Gin and Smutty Scrabble is available to buy here.
When it's cold and wet outside, the perfect antidote is to curl up inside with a good crime story. Midwinter Mysteries is a Christmas crime anthology by authors published by Sapere Books, and there's something here to suit everyone, from fraudulent mediums to a dead Santa.
My story, 'Secret Santa', gives Eden Grey a case right on her doorstep, when she receives a mysterious note asking her 'Who is following me?' Who sent the note, is that person being followed, and why? As usual, things are never quite as they first seem. If you'd like to know more about how I wrote the story, and what it's like writing a Christmas story during the warmest Easter on record, check out my blog post It's Christmas! Writing a Seasonal Story. You can buy Midwinter Mysteries in Kindle and paperback here. |

Knife Edge: An Anthology of Crime, Thriller, Mystery and Suspense Stories, published by Marble City Publishing.
My story 'Supermarket Sweep' is a twisted tale of supermarket singletons and murder.

The Asham Award collection, published by Bloomsbury.
My story 'Winnebago Nomad' is set in the Australian outback, and explores a woman's coming to terms with the end of her marriage and her life.
Short Story Competitions
My short stories have won prizes in the Asham Award, Author v Author, Scribble, Knife Edge, Wells Literary Competition, Writers' Bureau, Writers' Forum, Multistory, Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, New Writers, Women Writers' Network, Scribblers Literary, Golden Gateway and Freestyle short story competitions. I have been published in Scribble and the Nottingham Review.
Short Story Competition Judging
I have judged two writing competitions: the 2017 Cheltenham Writers' Circle Writing Competition, and in 2018 I was the prose judge for the Gloucestershire Writers' Network Writing Competition, part of the Cheltenham Literature Festival.