Writing
I write fiction and philosophy, and I am particularly interested in philosophical stories and story-like philosophy. Find out more about some of my books below: you can click on the titles to go to the pages associated with the individual books.
Cargo Fever. 2007. Published by Tindal Street Press. A novel set in Indonesia about gods, human beings and monsters.
The Descent of the Lyre. 2012. Published by Roman Books. A novel about music and myth, following in the footsteps of Orpheus, set in 19th Century Bulgaria and Paris.
My fiction often explores the nature of storytelling. Cargo Fever draws upon Indonesian folklore and legend, as well as on various kinds of religious storytelling. The Descent of the Lyre is a reworking of the myth of Orpheus, set in 19th Century Bulgaria, which is said to have been the Thracian home of the legendary musician-king.
Introducing happiness: A Practical Guide. 2012. Published by Icon / Totem Books. A brief and breezy introduction to various philosophies of happiness.
Finding Our Sea-Legs: Ethics, Experience and the Ocean of Stories. 2009. Published by Kingston University Press. A book about ethics and stories.
Levinas, Storytelling and Anti-Storytelling is a reading of Levinas in the light of the stories that he tells, and of storytelling in the light of Levinas’s thought.
To be published by Bloomsbury in their Studies in Continental Philosophy series, in February 2013
The Snorgh and the Sailor. 2012. Published by Alison Green books. A book about grumpiness, friendship and soup.
Rüssel und Hase. 2012. Published by Ars Editions. The German translation of The Snorgh and the Sailor.
The Snorgh and the Sailor, my first children’s book, has now been translated into both German and Finnish.
Coffee Philosophy: Grounds for Debate. 2010. Published by Blackwell. I wrote an essay on Levinas, idleness and coffee for this volume.
The Philosophy Book. 2010. Published by Dorling Kindersley. I wrote everything in this book from Nietzsche to Žižek, via Husserl, Quine and Kristeva, amongst others.
The Lowestoft Chronicle. 2012. Lowestoft Chronicle Press. I have a short (true) story in this one about a meeting with an alien in the city of Baoji 寶雞 in China.
Overheard: Stories for Reading Aloud. I’m delighted to have a story in this collection edited by novelist, poet and memoir-writer, Jonathan Taylor, which is a collection of stories written to be read aloud. The story I have included in this collection is called “The Lake”, and involves an enthusiastic nude bather.
Utopia. The second annual collection from Five Leaves Press, edited by Ross Bradshaw. I’ve an essay in this one called “The Trouble with Happiness”
I write various other things, including publications in small press magazines, blogs, occasional poetry, academic articles and so forth. You can find our more by going to my research pages, or by visiting my current blog, The Myriad Things.
I am working on a number of projects at the moment. Here are a few of them.
- Another novel about myth and music
- A further picture book
- A short novel for 8 – 10 year olds
- A number of philosophy projects
