An anthology of poems from 2017-2021

a beautiful thing bloomed when we met and wither when we said goodbye

Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us. The Relic Guild is the award nominated first book in The Relic Guild trilogy. It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless maze where a million humans hosted the Houses of the Aelfir. But when the Thaumaturgists, overlords of human and Aelfir alike, went to war, everything was ruined and the Labyrinth became an abandoned prison. The surviving humans were trapped behind boundary walls a hundred feet high, and all magic was forbidden. And now the war is returning. The Relic Guild are all that stand against the end of the city. But they are old, scattered and weak, and the enemy is growing in strength... Here in THE RELIC GUILD (and other stories) please enjoy a large chunk of The Relic Guild Trilogy (published with kind permission of my publisher Gollancz), complete short stories, the odd poem, one or two blog posts, and samples chapters from my other novels.

WATTYS 2016 WINNER Untouchable. Stone. Jewel - these are some of the names used for people who are born with a gemstone at the centre of their forehead. This unfortunate phenomenon cannot be detected before birth, it cannot be prevented, if a family has a Jewelled child, there is only one outcome: Before they're sixteen, they will have to leave human society forever and serve "the Zephyr". Among the Jewels there are those who have it worse. Those who sport clear diamonds on their foreheads, the Undefined. The downtrodden, the unlucky - the doomed. Cello Riles and Syianne Locke are both Undefined. On their sixteenth birthday, they each leave their homes and travel across the country to the Zephyr, attempting to go into service. Though aside from the place, or thing, that will take them from human society forever - what IS the Zephyr? There are only questions promised, only shadowy riddles guaranteed. Yet faced with no other choice they must venture forth and plunge into the unknown - the Zephyr. [A big thanks to @stpolishook for being a wonderful friend and helping me figure out how to write a better synopsis] COVER BY Abyss-of-Crazy

"For the voice that torments me is the one that belongs to me"