Available Now

For those commemorating Lent by giving up the pleasure of not reading my fiction, the latest is conveniently available as a PDF ebook or as a real book.

This is the one which I started last March and on which I got stuck before being rescued by the crabs. Essentially it's a 22,000-word caption to the cover photograph, which is the work of the inspired and inspiring Giovanna Ceroni. Her pictures have graced several of my previous works in various genres, including The Notified (a nightmare with summons and statues), Ringmaster Grin (a dystopia with jokes and journalists), Crimes Against Reality (penological science fiction), Spider Rider (post-apocalyptic arachnoid workplace comedy), and Providence Fell (a Lovecraftian tale about what happens after the unspeakable cults have become the Established Church). An accidental snapshot provided a suggestive shade for Shadows With Claws (about an artist whose legacy is perhaps not obscure enough for comfort); but this is the first time I've based an entire book on the cover image. The hook was that item on the right, which looked so much like the profile of a grinning yellow-eyed demon that it took some time for me to realise what it actually was. Happily, feathers and fiends are eminently compatible.