The school I spent nearly six years of my life has changed beyond recognition, but I've changed too. For years I wrote books for young adults, but somehow against the odds successfully switched the writing adult fiction. But while I wrote books for teenagers, I found myself touring, hitching my way around schools across Scotland.… Continue reading Return to Horror High
I saw Patrick Wolf very early on in his career at the original Stereo while he was touring Lycanthropy. The gig wasn't very well attended, which made sense because Patrick was most definitely a cult artist at that point, beloved by critics and photographed for all the coolest magazines, who presented him as the coolest… Continue reading Lycanthropy by Patrick Wolf
From as long as I can remember, my nightmare always starts and ends the same way every single time. I'm in a large bed that's improbably being propelled down a busy road full of cars in a city that vaguely seems like it might be somewhere in America, but only a version I've seen on… Continue reading The joyful noise of The Monkees
I tried so hard to get away from Trainspotting. It belonged to my brother, my sisters, their friends. Somehow, I felt it couldn't belong to me. I was at Cumbernauld High School, still trying to create myself, work out what I liked and what I didn't like. Now, here's the important detail: what I liked… Continue reading Beaucoup Fish by Underworld
Chocolate makes my clothes shrink, or so I tell strangers whenever I want to draw attention to the fact I've put on a lot of weight. The thing is, I never minded how I looked. Outside a few little insecurities (snaggle teeth, size ten feet, and hairy hands) I felt fine about my appearance. Until… Continue reading Deadlines and Diets
Dear independent bookshops, No matter how listless I've felt, or how boring everything seemed, you were always there to make me happy. From The Scan Bookshop in Cumbernauld, Scotia Books in Kilsyth, Edinburgh Bookshop, and The Book Nook, you've all been there for me in different ways. Not all of you are here any more.… Continue reading Indie bookshops, this is for you!
I live in a strange area which I won't specifically mention because I'm still hiding from the debt collectors, but it feels very apart from everywhere else. The transit system is infrequent, with buses forgetting to pass by on their route, but when they come, they take me to Glasgow, Stirling, and Falkirk. All of… Continue reading Library Lurking in Scotland
Most writers arrive fully-formed, their debut novel hailed as something special and original. That or they're just ignored and left to fend for themselves. The word ‘debut’ carries a special cache around the publishing industry. I started off performing live shows, writing my own stories, hoping to be published one day. Twilight was a huge… Continue reading The Path to Happiness
It was a day I'll never forget because it was when everything went from bad to terrible. The 12th December 2019. I was in Edinburgh with my friend Alex Nye, both of us suffering in the cold, but still excited to be seeing our old friends in the writing community. Our equivalent of an office… Continue reading Christmas Time, Irn-Bru and Wine
Kirkland Ciccone 
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