Gigs - 2025

Last year I wrote a post detailing the gigs I'd attended that year, and I think I'll make this an annual thing to keep my photos in one place. This year, it amounted to 27 gigs (more than ever before in one year). I don't take many photos as I prefer to be in the moment, but early on I like to get my phone out and take at least one snap (as a reminder more than anything else). And I do mean snaps, there's no professionalism here! Anyway, no doubt this might be of interest to someone, somewhere, so here, listing the main act only unless there is a very significant other, are the gigs I attended in 2025 with accompanying pic. It's probably worth noting that some of these I attended as chaperone for my daughter, but on the whole I enjoyed all of them.

7th February 2025

Papa Roach

Wembley Arena

19th February 2025

Peter Perrett 

Islington Assembly, London

22nd February 2025

Mattiel

The Social, London

                                                                                                                                          

7th March 2025

  

Snapped Ankles

Norwich Arts Centre

14th March 2025

Barry Adamson

Norwich Arts Centre

6th April 2025

Hallan

Norwich Waterfront Studio

3rd May 2025

Panic Shack

Norwich Arts Centre

6th May 2025

Boko Yout (support)

Brixton Academy, London

6th May 2025

Viagra Boys

Brixton Academy, London

9th May 2025

Arooj Aftab

Norwich Cathedral

17th May 2025

Throwing Muses

Norwich Waterfront

22nd May 2025

Supergrass

The Roundhouse, London

24th May 2025

The Starting Line

02 Islington Academy, London

31st May 2025

Public Image Ltd

Norwich Epic Studio

19th June 2025

Sparks

Eventim Apollo, London

16th August 2025

Evicshen (support)

Islington Assembly, London

16th August 2025

Gibby Haynes and the Thunes Institute for Musical Excellence

Islington Assembly, London

2nd October 2025

Atreyu

Norwich Epic Studio

18th October 2025

New Found Glory

Brixton Academy, London

24th October 2025

Hitsujibungaku

02 Islington Academy, London

27th October 2025

Bow Wow Wow

Voodoo Daddy's, Norwich

6th November 2025

Hugh Cornwell

Norwich Epic Studios

11th November 2025

Warmduscher

Norwich Waterfront

  

23rd November 2025

Hotel Lux

Norwich Waterfront Studio

26th November 2025

Gary Numan

Cambridge Corn Exchange

29th November 2025

Pop Will Eat Itself

Norwich Epic Studios

1st December 2025

Lambrini Girls

Norwich Waterfront

9th December 2025

The Raveonettes

02 Islington Academy, London

10th December 2025

Wheatus

Norwich Epic Studios

My Writing Year 2025

As has become annual, here is a quick blog post as to my literary achievements this year.

Starting with short fiction, I wrote nine short stories: "Little Miss Stillborn", "Other", "In Place", "That Which Remains", "A Token Of Grief", "Nether", "Both Today And A Long Time Ago", "When She Was" and "The Non-Conformists". The first eight of these stories are intended to form part of a future collection called "Tokens Of Grief". I also wrote and directed a short film, "Armadillotown", which was shot entirely on a Manttely brand Kids Instant Print Camera. Currently I'm midway writing a novella based on that film. With regards to showings, I've applied to various film festivals. Hopefully one might pick it up. Otherwise I'll have to have a think as to how I present it going forwards.

I sold three short stories this year. "Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" to Black Static, "Mont Blanc" to House Magazine, and "The Non-Conformists" was commissioned and accepted for an anthology I'm not yet at liberty to name.

I've had only two pieces of short fiction published this year. These were "Mont Blanc" which can be read online in Salt Publishing's House Magazine, and "Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" which appears in Remains #3. Additionally, my article on the film, "Arctic Void", appeared in the non-fiction anthology, There's Nothing Out There, edited by Sophie Essex and published by Black Shuck Books. I've had a couple of book reviews published in ParSec magazine.

I had two books published in 2025. "Enfilades", a retrospective short story mini-collection from Raphus Press in Brazil, and my SF novel, "Body and Soul" published by Elsewhen Press. If you click on those links you can buy copies, and I suggest that you do.

I have two books scheduled for 2026. These are the non-fiction book, "Union City", about the 1980 film of the same name, which will appear from the Electric Dreamhouse imprint of PS Publishing; and "Somnambulant Hearts", my thirteenth collection of short stories (via a publisher I am not yet at liberty to name). Both of these have been carried forwards from this year, but I'm hopeful they will appear next year. Wait and see! As per last year, I've also been co-editing a free Arts magazine for Norwich with Thomas Jarvis called Tangerine, in my spare time.

I currently have only one short story awaiting publication in 2026 (the aforementioned "The Non-Conformists") and am otherwise completely up to date. As usual, there are a couple of longer projects currently under consideration by various agents/publishers.

So that's it for 2026. I have a few ideas in mind for next year (including editing an anthology of new fiction which I can't announce at present). Let's see how it goes!

Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then

My short story titled "Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" was recently published in Remains #3 and as usual I'm blogging a few words discussing how the story came to be written. There may be spoilers within.

"Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" is one of twelve recently written stories which take French New Wave cinema as a starting point and then run with an alternative version of it. In this case, the film in question is "Hiroshima mon amour" (1959), directed by Alain Renais. In that film, the unnamed male character is from Hiroshima and his family died in the bombing while he was off fighting in the war, and the unnamed woman is a French actress who is in the city to make an anti-war film. In my version, I have flipped the genders and set the story before the dropping of the atomic bomb. There are other nods to the film within my story, but no knowledge of "Hiroshima mon amour" is needed to appreciate the stilled development of their relationship, set against the ominous threat that the reader is aware of and that history is about to make happen.

Whilst it might seem odd for such a story to appear in a magazine of 'new horror fiction' I expect it's exactly that oddness which chose Andy Cox, the editor, to take it. This is validated by a couple of reviews which have already been published:

From Sam Tomaino in SF Revu: "A lead-up to one of the most horrible events of all time. Quietly horrifying."

From Paula Guran’s review in Locus (not yet online): "Snippets of life in Hiroshima before it was obliterated by a nuclear bomb at the end of World War II are presented in Hiroshima Was Another Word for Love Then by Andrew Hook. So are more current memories of a European who briefly visited and loved there. 'History has acquitted his guilt by being the greater offender.' History and humankind are vast. Tragedy can only be understood on an individual basis, and this story does it well."

Here's the opening: 

Some years afterwards the man awoke following a dream where he had concealed the body of his father. Bright sunlight sieved through net curtains - a thousand cuts - and house sparrows flung shadows against the walls. Their song strove for meaning and reminded the man of the Japanese bush warblers – uguisu – that had sung before the war. He stilled his breath to concentrate, but instead of hearing into the past there was only the high-pitched tinnitus hum that reminded him of the whistling sound certain bombs made as they fell.

Those screaming bombs were a form of physiological warfare. Small whistles – Jericho Devices - were attached to the tail of SC/SD 50 and SC 250 bombs, producing a loud, characteristic noise to reduce morale.

The man thought it unlikely that a gun-type uranium bomb would also make such a sound, but had often wondered whether the woman would have known her fate was hurtling towards her, and if she had decided to protect herself by hiding under a table before it was splintered in the blast wave, the tight kitchen space increasing airspeed, causing pressure to reflect off the walls and bend around corners to produce a force equivalent of eighteen times her body weight.

Regular readers of this blog will know I usually listen to music through headphones whilst writing, and this entire story was written to the album "Kabuki Femme Fatale" by Kumisolo on continuous repeat. I've also blogged about a couple of the other stories I've written using French New Wave cinema as a jumping off point and which have been published, here: "Mont Blanc" and "Betaville".

To reiterate, "Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" is available to read in Remains #3, which also includes stories by Gary McMahon, Alison Littlewood, Danny Rhodes, Stephan Hargadon, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tori Fredrick and Kailee Pedersen, plus a new serial by James Sallis. The beautiful artwork throughout is courtesy of Richard Wagner. 

Body and Soul

My sixth novel, "Body and Soul", is published today via Elsewhen Press, an excellent independent publisher who have been great to work with and who I heartily recommend!

"Body and Soul" developed out of a simple idea which I realised would work well at novel length and which I wanted to write with a kind of old-style SF sensibility, whilst also ensuring it dealt with modern themes. I'm very pleased with the book, which sports stunning cover art from Alex Storer who perfectly matched and executed the brief.

Probably the best way to describe the concept is to quote the blurb on the back cover:

COME TOGETHER IN BODY AND SOUL

When a pregnancy occurs on Heart it is two-fold. The woman carries the body and the man carries the soul. Both have to be present at birth for the soul to enter the body, otherwise the body is born useless and the soul is left to dissipate.

Heart is a planet recovering from an unexplained catastrophe which occurred so long ago that the inhabitants are entirely unaware of their history. Most live in isolated settlements that are self-sufficient, thinly populated, and generally happy; their only source of outside information limited to encounters with travellers, lone nomads who have chosen a life of hardship in order to find artefacts, tell stories, and gain wider experiences. Following an encounter with one such nomad, Calvin, a boy on the verge of puberty, harbours a secret desire to travel; but it will take an unexpected act of violence to encourage him to leave everyone he knows and to strike out on his own.

What he discovers is not only unexpected, but will shock him to his core.

Whilst there are no reviews as yet, it has been described as spiritual dystopian fantasy SF which, if you know my predilection for genre-bending, will come as no surprise. Levity aside, the novel explores themes of identity, gender-roles, isolation and love.

Published in both e-book and paperback from the usual outlets, purchase information can be found here on the Elsewhen Press website.

Mont Blanc

My short story titled "Mont Blanc" was recently published online at House Magazine (Salt Publishing) and as usual I'm blogging a few words discussing how the story came to be written. There may be spoilers within.

"Mont Blanc" is one of twelve recently written stories which takes French New Wave cinema as a starting point and then runs with an alternative version of it. In this case, the film in question is François Truffaut's "Jules et Jim" (1962). I've seen the film many times but it wasn't until I read the source material - a novel by Henri-Pierre Roché (a very poor novel, it has to be said) - that I noticed how much the character of Catherine (played by Jeanne Moreau) is little more than a 'manic pixie girl' trope and a cipher for the characters of the Frenchman, Jim (Henri Serre), and the Austrian, Jules (Oskar Werner). I wanted my story to readdress this balance and to be written from the perspective of Catherine; a feminist retelling of the tale, if you will. I can't remember now why I chose this title, but it fit. And as usual, once I had the title, I could begin to write. Thematically, the collection as a whole (still seeking a publisher) plays on French New Wave as much as my previous collection, Candescent Blooms, played on Hollywood.

Here's an extract: 

They swallow my independence like Evian water. Then seek to bottle it.

The compartment in which I am squeezed is designed by men. It is Baudelaire who said that a woman is natural, that is to say, abominable: the greatest idiocy combined with the greatest depravity. The Austrian and Frenchman make this debate in my presence. I light a cigarette, the smoke from the Gitane curling around my smile. These two consider themselves free thinkers, yet my thoughts spiral in my head without their knowledge. Together they impose stereotypes onto unconventional lifestyles. They pour glasses of wine.

These men – with their shielded homoerotic tendencies, with their belief in a ménage à trois on the condition that there are only two in a bed– these free radicals who are no more than horrors, monsters, assassins of the arts, little fools, little sluts – these men.

Regular readers of this blog will know I usually listen to music through headphones whilst writing, and this entire story was written to - of course - Jeanne Moreau's "La Tourbillon" on continuous repeat.

To reiterate, "Mont Blanc" is available to read online for free, at House Magazine published by Salt Publishing. Do so here. 

Enfilades

My twelfth collection of short stories, "Enfilades", was published earlier this year by Raphus Press, however I've just realised I hadn't blogged about it before now. This mini-collection of six stories is a career retrospective of hand-picked tales from my previously published work. As Raphus Press are based in Brazil it seemed a good idea to showcase some of my stories for a different market. Hopefully anyone reading these tales will seek out my other fiction.

The book contains my first published story, "Pussycat" (which originally appeared in the Barrington Books anthology, The Science of Sadness in 1994) right up to "The Enfilade" (published in Black Static in 2023, and reprinted in Best New Horror #16). The other stories are all favourites of mine: "Old Factory Memories", "The Day My Heart Stood Still", "Vole Mountain" and "Drowning In Air". I would describe these as 'slipstream' stories - a genre that defines me.

Published in hardback with some beautiful interior images, purchase information for "Enfilades" can be found on the Raphus Press website.

There's Nothing Out There

My article on the film, Arctic Void, entitled "Fear and Loathing in the Arctic", has just been published in There's Nothing Out There, edited by Sophie Essex for Black Shuck Books.

This anthology contains 17 passion pieces about films that explore the sensation of being lost. When I was made aware of the premise of this book I naturally began wondering whether to write for it and if so which movie I might select. Having recently watched Arctic Void I had become intrigued by its audacious premise and also the bleak and unforgiving setting. Whilst certainly not one of the best films I've ever seen, it's certainly one that dropped its hooks into me and had me considering it long after I had watched it, and the scenario seemed perfect for working into this book. I won't say much more to it than that, as the film is available to watch on a variety of platforms and of course I go into it in greater depth in the essay, so I suggest you simply buy the book.

As a taster, however, here is the opening:

Some movies linger for reasons that initially appear unfathomable but which gradually take on substance. They tend to be those which appear with little fanfare, are low budget, and which need to be inventive because the central idea is all that they have to play with. I’m thinking here of such films as The Borderlands (2013, Elliot Goldner) where the dialogue-focussed relationship between Deacon and Gray dominates the film and supplies tension, but the absolute terror comes from the realisation of what they are descending into beneath the church. I’m also thinking of Hellhole (2022, Bartosz M. Kowalski), a Polish film that literally turns the standard demon-summoning trope on its head. The images at the conclusion of both films play repeatedly in my mind - despite having only viewed them each once – in a self-perpetuating cycle. Not to mention the final scene in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness (1987) where a glimpse of continuing evil has infused my dreams and frequently has me waking with a scream in my throat.

To reiterate, "Fear and Loathing in the Arctic" is published in There's Nothing Out There edited by Sophie Essex, and in addition to myself features articles from Jason Gould, Pete W Sutton, Darcy L. Wood, Dan Coxon, Gaynor Jones, Daragh Fleming, Adam Groves, Marcelle Perks, Benjamin Kurt Unsworth, Alex Ringer, Lisa Moore-Smith, Sarah R. New, Frank Schildiner, Gary Couzens, John G Austin, and Ashley Stokes. Buy it here.