#sirenscall

Ever get a pizza that was a little too much on the fiery side? The exorcist Delton Waynes knows all about that in 'Hot Topping', my latest short story published in issue 64 of the Siren's Call Magazine.

Hope everyone's had a great 2023 so far and is looking forward to Christmas and the holiday season wherever you are.

If you've been following me on Instagram (kenmcgrath_author) you'll see that for the latter part of this year I've been working on something called Project V.

Originally written as a long, long, long short story (or so I told myself so I wouldn't get spooked by the enormity of the work, my Writing Shed were not fooled however but played along – bless their inky hearts) this can now be acknowledged as a novel - the first I have completed. Obviously, I'm very, very proud of this and if nothing ever comes of it then at least I've achieved this much.

Project V is currently out with some beta readers, who I'm hoping will find it entertaining and won't stumble into too many plot holes. It's a sci-fi adventure that I think is faced past and exciting, well that was my intention anyway, but sure we'll see what happens.

As a result of the focus on Project V (and learning to drive, and doing a college course, and, and, and,… it’s been a busy, busy year) I’ve not done much in the way of short story writing but thankfully the year won’t be totally dry. The lovely people at Siren’s Call magazine recently accepted my short ‘Hot Topping’ for publication in their Winter 2023 issue.

I’ve been lucky enough to appear in Siren’s Call before, most recently in their Winter 2022 issue, and it’s great to be returning to their pages again.

‘Hot Topping’ features my recuring character, the exorcist Delton Waynes, as he’s called upon to deal with a haunted pizza oven. Good times.

Delton Waynes has previously appeared in the stories ‘Boo-B-Q’, ‘Should Have Bought Flowers’, ‘Bad Patch’ and ‘Exercising, Exorcising’ which you can find links to via the Stories tab above.

Finished up 2022 with some good news on the fiction front - my very short story 'Béaldubh Lough Hotel Brochure' got reprinted in the Winter issue of Siren's Call Magazine. You can check it out on page 205. The magazine's free to download at the link below and I’m delighted to be appearing in their pages again. Thanks for supporting new fiction and best of luck to everyone in 2023. Take care of yourselves and if you're looking for a relaxing hotel break you might want to give Béaldubh Lough Hotel a miss. @sirenscallpublications​ 

http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/pdfs/SirensCallEZine_Winter2022.pdf