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I’m super-excited to say that my story, ‘In Our House By the Sea’, is now available at Found Press! I’m joined by the madly talented Cynthia Flood, Danny Goodman, and Lana Storey (seriously, go and check out Lana’s work – she’s too cute for words). Here’s an extract of my story: The radio crackles its way along chart hits whose lyrics I didn’t even know I knew. You dance around the kitchen, your bare toes sliding on the blue linoleum…

Thievery is a series of blog posts about my story inspirations. The Story: ‘The Rental Heart’, first published in PANK #4. Reprinted online at Expanded Horizons and in print in By Invitation Only (Unbound Press). Soon to be reprinted in Best British Short Stories 2011 (Salt). An extract: The problems came when the hearts got old and scratched: shreds of the past got caught in the dents, and they’re tricky to rinse out. Even a wire brush won’t do it. But…

If you missed my story on the radio this week (because you have a job or a life or something), then please do feel free to have a listen at the link below. It’s got a spoiled princess, an alluring servant, and unrequited love. You get a special prize if you figure out which story it’s retelling before the halfway point! ‘Listen to ‘Matryoshka’ on BBC Radio 4 >

In 2010 I read 88 books. That’s 41 novels, 5 short story collections, 2 poetry collections, 20 nonfiction books, 9 young adult novels, and 11 graphic novels. It doesn’t include all the poetry, flash fiction and short stories I read in online or print magazines. I list everything that I read, because I’m a nerd like that and because whenever anyone says “read anything good lately?” my mind goes totally blank even if I’m halfway through five amazing books. Inspired…

British people are polite. We say please and thank-you and get very uptight when other people don’t say please and thank-you. I have visited eight countries in the past few years, and the only place where people were more polite than me was Japan (+1 manner skills to me). So I strut around, thinking that I really appreciate it when other people hold doors for me or give me presents or drop my name, thinking that I always send thank-you cards…

To celebrate my upcoming story in Red Penny Papers, the lovely and fascinating K.V Taylor sent me some bookmarks. I am far more excited about this than I should be. The story is epistolary lesbian vampire erotica (no, seriously) and will feature custom illustrations by Abigail Larson. I can’t wait to see them!