It was really gratifying to be longlisted for the second year in a row in the 2026 Furphy Literary Award. My short story Leylandii is set in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, a setting guaranteed to evoke the world of spirits. It’s a story narrated by a teenage boy who tries to unravel the strange events surrounding his widowed neighbour. The title Leylandii refers to those aggressive fir trees that are planted to provide privacy. My late mother had a palisade of these trees around her garden in England, and the idea for the story was prompted by my fancy that as the trees grew taller, my Mum got smaller.

The second success this year was in the Short Stories Unlimited Open Short Competition 2026, another Australian comp. I was awarded Highly Commended in a SSU competition a few years back, and this year I was delighted to receive a Commended for my story Note Perfect. I wrote this piece as an attempt to emulate the style of Doris Lessing, whose work I admire greatly. Note Perfect is a gloomy piece about the suicide of a struggling couple in postwar London. My key aim was to recreate the atmosphere of the time when Britain was throwing off the burden of the war years. The story is framed by an old detective for whom the case is just routine until it sparks a long-forgotten memory.

Not all my stories are about death! Have a look at my published anthology The Afternoon of the Jackal, which includes some quite cheerful stories!