UPCOMING
TOPPINGS BOOKSHOP SCHOOL VISIT, TO BE ANNOUNCED (EDINBURGH) JAN/FEB 2026
The fact that this will take place in 2026 makes it techno-futuristic babble, and I fully expect to wear a suit of tinfoil and neon.
‘DECADENCE AND DORIAN GRAY’, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 2025/6
Following on from the riotous joy that was mine and Julia Larsen’s chat about the intermedial delights of ‘Where the Dead Live’, ‘Escape Castle Dracula’, and my history with the course, I’ll be returning to talk decadence and, essentially, how to go about throwing a murder party in the mansion of Dorian Gray, on a date to be confirmed!
PREVIOUS
INTERMEDIALITY IN CONVERSATION with Sam Fern and Julia Larsen (15th October 2025)
This was a wickedly fun, nostalgic, and Hallowe’enish thrill of a talk. Me, getting to chat about books and all things horror with monster scholar Julia Larsen, in the very lecture hall I used to attend as an Intermediality student! A mad couple of hours flicking through my books on the projector, chatting back and forth with Julia about book production, media overlaps, adaptation, game design, the future of publishing technologies, and every horror influence from ‘Corpse Bride’ to ‘Resident Evil’ to my dissertation on ‘The Intermedial Myth of the Batman’. Pop over to my journal section for a read, there’s LEGO in it!
A top-notch cohort of students from across the MSc and PhD courses, a wonder to talk for my former lecturers, and you never did see a more engaged, enthusiastic, responsive, and insightful crowd filling out a theatre on a Wednesday evening. We could’ve gone on for hours, and I do hope to return for more!
Book Launch, ‘WHERE THE DEAD LIVE’ at ARGONAUT BOOKS, EDINBURGH (18th September 2025)
The lovely folks at Argonaut Books hosted the launch for my next book, ‘Where the Dead Live’, and we had ever-brilliant author Oliver Gerlach kindly agreeing to chair me once again. A joyous evening of us both talking morbid to a packed bookshop about bones, relics, myths, and festivals! We signed and sold a great stack of books — mostly the new, a couple of Escape Castle Dracula — and everyone came along with questions and a desire to mill about with fizzy drinks for an hour after. And my dad was there, which was very nice, and my mum was videocalling live from up on a shelf, watching from Wales with my dog Mylo, so that was a magic bonus there.
Guest Talk, ‘WHERE THE DEAD LIVE’ for Medical Sociology, RICE UNIVERSITY, TEXAS (1st July 2025)
A delightful opportunity out of the usual flow here to call into an undergraduate class on Medical Sociology at Rice University, Texas, to talk about communicating topics of death, the dead, and mortality textually and visually within sociological sensitivities, and the wider methods of bringing academic rigour to a children’s non-fiction project for commercial publication. A fantastically involved, informed, and enthused class of students, and a genuine honour to be folded into a brief guest spot for this academic programme.
Book Launch, ‘THE RESTAURANT AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD’ at ARGONAUT BOOKS, EDINBURGH (11th January 2025)
A privilege and a pleasure to repay the favour due to the good Dr. Gerlach for hosting the launch of ‘Escape Castle Dracula’, I chaired the send-off to his debut culinary fantasy graphic novel ‘The Restaurant at the Edge of the World’, got the title entirely correct on my first try, and certainly didn’t mix up kitchen terms to drop in an accidental double-entendre that would’ve given the author generous license to strangle me. Didn’t happen. A packed house, a knitted dishwater elemental, and many of our books signed — mine bigger, his longer. Note: this was not the double-entendre of the night, which was, I must admit, far worse.
Book Signing, ‘ESCAPE CASTLE DRACULA’ at the French Fair, INSTITUT FRANCAIS, EDINBURGH (23rd November 2024)
Kindly hosted by the best bande-desinee shop in the land, LA BELLE ADVENTURE, this was a delightful opportunity to sign both the English and French editions of ‘Escape Castle Dracula’ and ‘Dans le Chateau de Dracula’, and pitch its story to international readers of all ages. Rather brilliant to see multiple Canadians leaving with a copy of each; rather tricky to keep the brain in gear to sign in the correct language. You terrible bilinguals, making the job of sitting down and signing my name so very, very difficult…
Book Launch, ‘ESCAPE CASTLE DRACULA’ at ARGONAUT BOOKS, EDINBURGH (12th September 2024)
A fantastic launch hosted by the finest and friendliest independent bookshop, probably anywhere, chaired by the hilarious and incisive graphic novel writer, Oliver Gerlach, of 2000AD and The Restaurant at the Edge of the World (unreleased at the time, still brilliant). A rather fitting location, as at least half of the drafts of ‘Escape Castle Dracula’ — and certainly the very last one — were written within the same walls as held its launch. A full house, sold-out to standing room, with a guest appearance from my family dog Mylo, who didn’t ask any questions himself but did very well looking after everyone in his blanket.