Red Room available to pre-order

Red Room: New Short Stories Inspired by the Brontës is now available to pre-order from Amazon - click here to do that. The book is out in November but if you order now you'll be certain of getting your copy as soon as they're printed. The price is £9.99 but remember that a percentage of the profits will go to a good cause - The Brontë Birthplace Trust - so it's well worth getting hold of a copy if you can. Not only will you be helping the Trust with their plans to promote Thornton in Bradford as a Brontë destination, but you'll also get a cracking book to read too, with stories from Alison Moore, David Constantine, Carys Davies, David Rose, Rowena Macdonald, Tania Hershman, Elizabeth Baines, Sarah Dobbs, Zoë King, Vanessa Gebbie, Bill Broady and Felicity Skelton (plus a poem by Simon Armitage). So, please support a good cause and support short fiction at the same time.

Brontë cover

Here is the cover for Red Room - I hope you like it. Designed by Rachael Carver, of Green Door Designs, the font on the front is based on Charlotte Brontë's handwriting, and the text mirrors how Victorians used to make use of paper (a valuable commodity) - by writing one way then turning the paper ninety degrees and continuing to write. As Rachael says, it gives a lovely quilted effect. It's a great idea and I'm thrilled with how it's turned out. As you can see on the back the book contains new stories by some great writers: Alison Moore, David Constantine, Carys Davies, David Rose, Rowena Macdonald, Tania Hershman, Sarah Dobbs, Vanessa Gebbie, Elizabeth Baines, Zoë King, Bill Broady and Felicity Skelton - plus a poem by Simon Armitage. It should be a great read and will be available for pre-orders soon. The book is out in November and we're already starting to get some events in place to promote it. Watch this space for more information.

Writing residency

I'm delighted to have won the 2013 Baltic Writing Residency in Brora, Scotland. This means I get to spend a week writing in a cottage in the Scottish Highlands between August this year and next... and I can't wait. It looks like the perfect kind of place to knuckle down and get some work done. Thanks very much to Adam and Aleks at the BWR and also the judges. Congratulations also to the runners-up, who were Canadian poet Jeramy Dodds and New York short fiction writer Kanishk Tharoor.