When I was a child, I was introduced to the story of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde during a guided tour of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. It was seeing the cobbled streets and dark windy lanes which inspired Robert Louis Stevenson, that made me want to be a writer. That lifelong fascination with the darker side of Scotland’s history now informs my non fiction and creative writing work.
I am currently working on my first non fiction book, Fine Bogey Tales, which explores Scotland’s horror roots and how its landscape, history, ghost stories and folklore has inspired generations of writers from Shakespeare and Bram Stoker to Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley and Robert Burns. The initial research of this project was kindly supported by Creative Scotland.
I am also the creator of the newsletter: Oh My Goth. Full of writing news, fun folklore, deadly history, ghastly interviews and sinister book, film & theatre reviews, Oh My Goth is the perfect read for fans of gothic and horror culture.
