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On Thursdays, I invite my favourite writers to share the inspirations behind their work. Here’s one from spook-master Joel Farrelly. The Story: “She started working for the Weiser security firm after leaving the sheriff’s office, where Ellen had spent almost nine years running intake at the local jail. Recent politics had led to an overhaul in the jail’s management and she’d decided to leave as well. The new higher-ups had been making a lot of cutbacks to the number of officers…

On Thursdays, I invite my favourite writers to share the inspirations behind their work. Here’s one from the enviably badass Sophie Mackintosh. The Story: “Just handling the matches – just the eye-watering thought of the brightness as it fizzes upwards, the smell sharp in my nostrils – makes me hungry for light. And then I am searching wildly for something to create it, my hands running over every surface of the room, hip thudding dully against my chest of drawers…

On Thursdays, I invite my favourite writers to share the inspirations behind their work. This week it’s a special bonus post, as we have four (count ’em, FOUR!) writers talking about their inspiration behind the brand-shiny-new anthology, Poor Souls’ Light. The Book: “She – Maggie, that is – comes in from the field. She rinses her hands at the sink and without removing her muddy shoes nor taking off her coat, sits at the table and stares at the steaming…

On Thursdays, I invite my favourite writers to share the inspirations behind their work. Here’s one from complex and compelling novelist Tammy Cohen (better known as Tamar Cohen). The Book: “Chances are, by the time you finish reading this, I’ll already be dead. Three interesting things about me. Well, I’m twenty-nine years old, I’m phobic about buttons. Oh yes, and I’m dying. Not as in I’ve got two years to live, but hey, here’s a list of things I want to…

Confession time: I have a love for spin-off novels, particularly metafictional ones. By that I mean novels that don’t exist, but are mentioned in a film, TV show, or book as if they do exist. Think of the novels by Richard Castle in the TV show Castle. Sometimes, these novels are then written, and they do become real, and then I like to read them. The thing is, I only like it if they spin off something I haven’t seen…

On Thursdays, I invite my favourite writers to share the inspirations behind their work. Here’s one from poet, performer and general wonder Rachel McCrum. The Poem: Birdman In the basement of the art college Elpenor hangs forgotten. Endless birdman, hands flapping and fluttering, He mutters, dreaming over and over of a rooftop in Greece and white sails he did not see being raised. On that morning, in another corridor, red tiled and warm, his companions talk in loud voices. They…