I am a writer/editor & supporting actor. I enjoy it. Whether it’s researching for an article, or taking an idea and shaping it into powerful copy, or writing marketing materials I enjoy it all. I am also a good editor and have supported technical book publishing alongside my online work. Most of my work has been online, but some print work also. I also enjoy writing fiction and poetry which you will find examples of on this site.
I have been writing for websites for over 20 years as a website professional – having also run my own web agency for 12 years – and fiction and poetry longer than that.
I have delivered copious amounts of copywriting since 2000 for numerous web projects. I ran my own web business for about 12 years and built many websites for SMEs and crafted copy for them to deliver their key messages and boost their search engine visibility. You can also read more about this on my Building a Better Restaurant Website post.
Editing work ranges from small pieces for online publishing (for example blogs), to foreign translations which may not be as good as they could be, to longer print pieces which need to be checked for everything from overall style down to line edits and grammar.
Interested in working with me? Great! Get in touch here.
My story writing began in my days as a game master in the school role playing club and has included fantasy, horror, supernatural, cyberpunk, superheroes, sci-fi and historic. I ran my own Live-Action Role-Playing (LARP) and Table-Top role-playing for about 10 years and ran a number of high-concept murder mystery events. I have also been the artistic director for English Heritage’s Hallowe’en Horrors productions at Fort Amherst in Kent and managed numerous events from fully themed to corporate to education. You can read more about this here.
The predominant genres I write are sci-fi and fantasy. Sci-fi styles range from speculative to high-concept and I like to get my details right where I can (but do not profess to write hard sci-fi). Fantasy is high-concept, and sometimes blends the world of today with otherworldly places and creatures. I have also written some gothic horror.
I write short stories and poetry and am now working on longer pieces as well as screenplays. The latter is something that has always attracted me since my university days and I have done some work as an extra also (more about that on Star Now). I am participating in my first NaNoWriMo this year (2020) so wish me luck!
You’ll find a selection of my fiction writing on this site from flash fiction to poetry. There is also a growing archive of research and scrapbook entries on topics such as Gilgamesh, Witchcraft, Pagan Festivals, Fox Spirits, and more, as well as a handful of writing-related posts such as book reviews.
I also run three other non-fiction blogs.
One is called Hologram, which is a collection of resources I call “A Little Life Wisdom” and ranges from personal development book reviews to insights about personal development and more focused articles on health, wellness, character, values, finances, vision, etc.
The second is my Restaurant Blue Book which is all about the restaurant business (since I ran restaurants for the last 14 years). This site is also a business site as it offers my restaurant director skills for hire.
The third is hosted on Medium, called Pan’s Worldview and has a number of pieces on climate change, politics, ideology, etc, which don’t fit neatly into this site or my other blogs. I list the articles I have published on Medium on this site for reference.
This was a fun challenge from Writing Magazine. It was a competition to write 1,500-1,700 words of dialogue with no attribution or tags. Literally pure dialogue which is supposed to make enough sense to be read without the need for any other clues. I didn’t actually submit the piece (time and the general dissatisfaction of the writer over their work) but I hope you like the dialogue and the...
I wrote this scene as part of my NaNoWriMo project which I am still working on. The WIP is called “Vincent” (working title) who is the MC in the story. He’s a very bright, mid-20s virologist and the WIP is set in 2020 during the pandemic but is not about the pandemic. The conversation happens early in the book and it’s more about establishing Vincent’s character...
This is one chapter in one of my WIPs which is a sci-fi piece set on a future Earth with mystical overtones. Cults? Hidden Agendas? Pawns in a Bigger Scheme? Of course ...
Lets start with a couple of definitions about the three principle types of writer that exist. If you engage in any of the forums you will come across these regularly. Pantser: The least restricted of the three writers. A pantser flies by the seat of their pants (hence the term) and writes where the story takes them, with no preparation or planning and just an idea and the wind (and sometimes...
Call yourself a writer? Ever tried NaNoWriMo? The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. And it starts tomorrow! I have known about NaNoWriMo for a while now from an Antipodean friend – Elizabeth Woods – and her contributions on Daily Write, but I only registered for the challenge last year. Running 4 restaurants at the time meant I dropped out as there just wasn’t time to...
So much for regularity! It’s been a couple of months since the last post, so I’ll dive in with a quick round-up of posts. New Posts Foundation & Empire by Isaac Asimov [Book Review]Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov [Book Review]Succubus [New Poetry by me]Toxic Magnetism: How & Why Empaths Attract Narcissists [Book Review]Empath Awakening: How to Stop Absorbing Pain, Stress...
The sound of blood,It echoed deep,Stirring her soulAgain to reap. Chained to darkness(This pallid thief)Her silent heartNow succour seeks. In fractured dreams,She hunts the weak.Exploits desireTo find relief. Damned incubusWho stole her seedMade bastard childThis new half-breed. Her Cambion’s dreamsDid inward creepBeneath her psycheAnd arouse’d grief. A mother’s love,It runs so deep,To bridge the...
This is the conclusion of the trilogy. You can read my reviews of Foundation and Foundation & Empire if you want my thoughts on the other books in the series. I found this book a little harder to listen to. It contained more hard science than the preceding volumes which I felt punctuated the flow. It was insightful and necessary to explain the genius of the theory of psychohistory (the new...
Another superb listen. In this continuation of the saga we have two more interlinked stories which continue the timeline. The first is the war between the Foundation and the Empire. The second concerns The Mule, an unpredicted mutant. As usual, Asimov concerns himself with the more psychological and broader events of the developments of the galaxy as the Empire crumbles and the Foundation grows...
Checking in for the 7th time now and still not much progress on the main ‘work in progress’ so I thought I would change the format of the post. I’ll still check in every couple of weeks and post what I’ve been working on, but might go a little deeper into other aspects also. It’s a moving feast! New Posts Foundation by Isaac Asimov [Book Review]A Question of Values...
About 40 years ago, I discovered role-playing and Dungeons and Dragons in one of the after school clubs. It revealed a universe that allowed me to flex my storytelling muscles and enjoy a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi and feed the escapist dreamer inside.
Over time, I played (and story-led - marked with *) many systems including Call of Cthulhu*, Shadowrun, Dungeons & Dragons*, Middle Earth, In Nomine*, Bushido, Chivalry & Sorcery, Chill, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Gammaworld, Hawkmoon, Stormbringer, Immortals*, Marvel Super Heroes, Paranoia, RuneQuest, Vampire: The Masquerade*, and a couple of systems my own devising (Medieval* and Parody*).
I explored live-action role-playing – eventually running my own club and creating my own LARP systems (Fools Gold and Dream Conquest) – and usually found myself in script-writing or game-master duty, writing over 500 individual live adventures over the period (usually weekly), many linked into the world events of the fantasy land we created. I also volunteered for Curious Pastimes and Lorien Trust at their main LARP events (special effects at the Ritual Circle), and did a little script work, cameos and improv for Curious Pastimes. I was also the South East's Editor (UK) for the LARP magazine The Adventurer. The biggest event I ran was a 10-month modern-day "murder mystery" LARP set around parts of Kent where characters were "always-on" and could get updates and interactions at any time outside of scheduled events. That was in the 1990s.
I was also the artistic director for English Heritage for their live Halloween Horrors events at Fort Amherst in Kent from 1998-1999.
Now, I write as the mood takes me with occasional competitions and challenges, and this year (2020) I will be taking on #NaNoWriMo.
Here's to the future!