The Preston Papers
Welcome to the Preston Papers
A collection of my writing, mostly focused on short stories. My interests are centred around fairytales and what such stories tell us about our lives. I like to use my writing as a means to think about our place in the world and explore themes of connection and isolation.
Oh, and I also write a yearly ghost story to be read during the family gathering Christmas Eve, while we huddle round a (usually imaginary) fire, after the youngest members of the family have excitedly gone to bed, our drink of choice in hand. Those stories are inspired by the stories of MR James in feel, and in the way that they often blend an element of nostalgia to emphasise the spookiness.
Ghost stories, written roughly once a year and read out aloud to the family. Sometimes finished in a rush as Christmas Eve approached - sometimes edited on the fly during reading.
These texts have been slightly polished since the original "live" reading - and may be further polished as the mood takes me.
Chapters of my ongoing novel; may be subject to change, reordering or deletion at arbritrary notice.
The themes of the novel are rebirth and bildungsroman, the stories we are told and the stories that we tell to others and to ourselves. Within a framework of a fairytale quest.
The idea when I started was to allow me to write individual chapters and stories as the mood took me, as I wasn't sure if I'd have the commitment to write the full thing end to end. And given that I've been working on this for over 10 years now, I guess I've found out that I don't :)
A collection of other short stories and writings. These were mostly written in response to monthly topics chosen by my family.