Once a writer…
Always a writer. After penning my multi-part, sci-fi story Invasion of the Blood-Spitters* in primary school, I realised there was no going back. Following a Philosophy and English degree at Edinburgh University, I developed an interest in screenwriting and directing and took an MA in Film and TV Drama in Sheffield. My first script, The Beachcomber was shortlisted for the Moonstone Writers’ Programme. In the early 2000s I directed short films and music videos for artists including Primal Scream, Jet and The Veils. My 2008 short film Beyond led to a further collaboration with actress Annelise Hesme, who co-starred in 2015 with Kris Marshall in my debut feature Sparks and Embers. Two of my subsequent screenplays are in development - Nitrate, a psychological thriller and 20 Questions, a low budget chiller.
A keen runner since my thirties, I have published two books about my long-distance adventures, Downhill From Here and Running the Orient. I have recently branched out into novel writing, including the novels Elena in Exile, Circle, and Legion (based on my screenplay of the same name).
Since 2020 I’ve narrated short stories via my own YouTube channel (see Unforeseen Tales). 38 of my short stories have been published in magazines including Riptide, The Periodical Forlorn, Constellations, The Abstract Elephant, Every Day Fiction, Bright Flash and La Piccioletta Barca, and collected in the books Running Coyote and Fallen Star and The Museum of Forgotten Toys.
Alas, I never actually got to the blood-spitters part of the tale.