Since 2009, I’ve poured my energy into writing, starting with my first novel, Songs of Bliss, in 2011. Over the years, I’ve had two novels, two short story collections, a biography, and award-winning poetry published, while setting up my own small press and launching the Fireside Tales project. While I continue to write long and short fiction, Fireside Tales is my main focus now, and includes over 30 titles, where I collect and adapt folk and fairy tales from around the world. With a passion for preserving these stories for modern readers, I update them sensitively to retain their original spirit, exploring magical realism, science fiction, and the timeless beauty of storytelling.
What's New?
Released Sept '24 Feline folk tales and fairy tales from all around the world.
Released Spring '24
Folk tales, fairy tales, myths and legends from India.
Fireside Stories
The carousel will take you to each of my books, giving you more information and telling a story from the chosen book. Please do dive in - simply click on the main image and off you'll go...
The Fireside Tales Project
I’ve been collecting and telling stories for a couple of decades now, having had several of my own works published in recent years. My particular focus is on short story writing in the realms of magical realities and science fiction fantasies.
I’ve always drawn heavily on traditional folk and fairy tales, and in so doing have amassed a collection of many thousands of these tales from around the world. It has been one of my long-standing ambitions to gather these stories together and to create a library of tales that tell the stories of places and peoples from the four corners of our world.
One of the main motivations for me in undertaking the project is to collect and tell stories that otherwise might be lost or, at best forgotten. Given that a lot of my sources are from early collectors, particularly covering works produced in the late eighteenth century, throughout the nineteenth century, and in the early years of the twentieth century, I do make every effort to adapt stories for a modern reader. Early collectors had a different world view to many of us today, and often expressed views about race and gender, for example, that we find difficult to reconcile in the early years of the twenty-first century. I try, although with varying degrees of success, to update these stories with sensitivity while trying to stay as true to the original spirit of each story as I can.
My original Fiction & Poetry
Click on any image to read a story and find out more about each book
I have written, on and off, for most of my adult life, having contributed to magazines and newspapers, as well as writing fiction.
I have had 2 novels, 2 collections of short stories, a biography and a collection of award winning poetry published over the last 15 years.
I try not to be pigeon-holed by genre or style - in as much as I believe that good writing is just that, regardless of the genre - in the same way that all creative art should be judged on merit and not on a preconceived idea of what good is. Limiting ourselves to only liking things 'classical' or 'literary' or 'punk' means we miss out on so much potential and beauty.
Stories are part of who we are, and a well told story is powerful and can transport us to worlds so far beyond what we experience as reality day by day.
My Non-fiction Work
Cup finals, a business rollercoaster, love, loss and laughter - a memoir by a former professional football player, who plied his trade in the 1950s and 1960s, before embarking on a business career just as rife with promotions, championships and relegations.
This is Les Gilson's story.
Behind The Scenes
Behind the Scenes lifts the lid on some key aspects of creative writing, book production and publication.
Based on my own experience and hard won lessons, I delve into topics like characterisation, pace, structure, creative thinking and the like - all in short, snappy videos designed to offer a little help to other writers.
about me...
I was born in 1962 into a household that lived and breathed sports, my dad being a seasoned senior amateur and lower league professional footballer. He then went on to manage his own businesses in cahoots with my mum, who was no slouch either – she was a skilled and award-winning dancer.
After snagging a degree in History from Leeds University, I took a rather serendipitous stroll into the burgeoning world of information technology in the late '80s.
Alongside a flourishing tech career, I dabbled in various writing and acting pursuits, from freelancing as a journalist and book reviewer (with a coveted by-line in The Sunday People) to gracing stages in village halls and even professional theatres all across the south of the UK for a good decade.
In a nod to the family's sporting legacy, I delved into the world of live TV broadcasts for a while. Armed with a wealth of rugby knowledge, I became one of the go-to 'statos' for the BBC, ITV, TVNZ, and EuroSport, covering everything from Heineken Cups to Six Nations, World Sevens, and World Cups in the late '90s.
All the while I continued to write as well as setting up my own business and investing in one or two small ventures along the way.
Over recent years I have worked as a senior leader with a number of well-known UK companies, finishing up as Global Head of Delivery for a specialist machine learning and analytics software business.
Since 2009 I have focused a lot of my energy on the writing, though, with my first novel, Songs of Bliss, being published in 2011. Having worked with a couple of now defunct small publishers (without my work being a direct cause of their demise, I hope), I took the decision in 2017 to both commence the Fireside Tales project and to set up my own small publishing business.
Rolling on over the last 7 years, I've published another novel, collections of my own short stories, as well as a biography of my father and more than 30 titles in the Fireside Tales project.
As of 2024 I now spilt my time between a little consulting work and part-time project work with emerging technology businesses, while devoting a large portion of each week to writing and publishing projects.
Spare time tends to revolve around the dogs. We've been taking in rescue greyhounds for a few years now. That's Mel at the top pictured with me in Scotland in 2017. The bottom picture is Sammy.
