Peter Kenny
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Unlocking a trove of dark and lyrical stories
Keyhole, stories by Matthew G. Rees, published by Three Impostors Press Modulating beautifully through passages of horror, humour and the supernatural Matthew G. Rees collection Keyhole is a hugely enjoyable collection of short stories. They juxtapose a grainy matter-of-factness that moves the narrative briskly along, with tantalising glimpses of a deep and timeless magic that…
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Doorways to Hell
In a Bloomsbury bookshop last October, two days after the death of a close friend, I found myself in the store’s horror section. On a whim I bought a collection of disturbing short stories by Robert Aickman called Compulsory Games. Only on the train home did it occur to me that choosing to read horror…
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Innis McAllister and the fate of photography
I am in an early cups-of-coffee-and-exploring stage of a new project with my photographer pal Innis McAllister. Innis is most familiar for his work with models and in fashion. He also has a rich archive of other work in a huge variety of subjects. It is a challenging time to be a photographer. In 2019…
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A Guide to Getting Published in UK Poetry Magazines, by Robin Houghton
My ever-resourceful pal Robin Houghton has put together a real winner. It is an extremely practical and insightful little book which does what it says on the tin…. A Guide to Getting Published in UK Poetry Magazines. Packed with practical advice for those new to being published or a bracing reminder of what good practice…
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‘The Dark Fish’ in Horla
In my last post I mentioned I had been reading short story collections lately, and particularly the strange tales of Robert Aickman. This prompted me to exhume some of my own short stories from the cobwebby Kenny Vaults. One of these was a story called The Dark Fish. I wrote the first version of this in my mid…
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A lost friend, agent hunting, and new collections of short stories
My friend Janet Summerton died on October 1st at the age of 79. I was heavily involved in her care during her last two months, and that of her husband Ken who survives her. Janet was a lateral thinking champion of the crafts and craft makers – and a benign influence on a generation of…
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An Outbreak of Peace
An Outbreak of Peace, Stories and Poems in Response to the End of WWI Edited by Cherry Potts of Arachne Press, this great new anthology coincides with the centenary of the 1918 Armistice. The Launch Party, will be held: 7.00 pm, Wednesday 14th November 2018 — at Housmans, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX. If you’d like…
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Eno installations at the Montefiore Hospital
I’m not given much to hero worship, but Brian Eno is as close as I get. His ambient music is often the backdrop to my work, and his albums Neroli, Thursday Afternoon, The Plateaux of Mirrors (with Harold Budd), Music for Airports, and On Land are all favourites. While his book, A Year With Swollen Appendices, which…
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The Mosque Cathedral of Córdoba
A mosque with a cathedral bursting out of its roof. Ever since Lorraine and I went to Spain a month ago, I have been haunted by the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. It is not rare for different religions to use the same holy sites over history, although what makes people originally decide a site is holy or…
Peter Kenny: a writer's notebook 