News

  • Kumi’s Cake is shortlisted for the 2020 Bridport Prize International Short Story Competition – October.
  • Kumi’s Cake makes the top 50 from over 1100 entries for the Brick Lane Short Story Prize – July.
  • Screenshot 2020-07-14 at 08.50.53The artist Huy Truong renders this brilliant illustration of some of the characters from The Wrong Story (see right) – July.
  • Kumi’s Cake progresses to the second stage of the 2020 CRAFT Short Fiction prize – June.
  • As part of #LockdownLit, James releases a series of previously published short stories for free and to be shared – May.
  • The Happy Family book launch at Nomad Books in London is deferred until later in the year – COVID-19 permitting. James will be in conversation with Germaine Kiecke, the lead character in Happy Family – April.
  • Happy Family BT PosterHappy Family is going on a blog tour, visiting 10 bloggers between March 12 and 21 (see right) – March.
  • Happy Family is published by Unbound on Thursday, February 6 in Kindle and
    paperback – February.

2019

  • Connor and His Amazing Ejector Boots is nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize – October.studio-080119-1-300x225
  • An Other’s Look has officially been retitled, Happy Family. It is now in it’s final proofread stage ready for publication early 2020 – September.
  • Connor and his Amazing Ejector Boots is published in the Future Shock short story anthology – September.
  • James interviews Keely Beresford actor, writer, director and narrator of audiobooks – July.
  • The Wrong Story is on the ‘recommended fiction’ shelves – June.
  • James joins Frome FM’s On-Air Book Group as a presenter – April.
  • Connor and his Amazing Ejector Boots is highly commended in the Retreat West Flash Fiction Prize – March.
  • James is the guest presenter on Frome FM’s On-Air Book Club talking about When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs; Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot; the first graphic novel to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Sabrina by Nick Drnaso; and The Watchmen by Alan Moore – March.
  • James stands in for Rupert Kirkham and presents the All About Frome show on Frome FM  on Tuesdays the 12th and 19th – February.
  • James’s article …Goldilocks pubs is published in The Gudgeon – February.
  • James is Frome FM’s guest interviewer on Rupert Kirkham’s show, All About Frome – January.
  • James’s article …West Barn volunteers is published in The Gudgeon – January.

2018

  • Writing under the pen name, Oliver Billingsgate, James’s children’s story, Mr Frogg Goes To Work, is published on Amazon – December.
  • James’s article …a Christmas Carol is published in The Gudgeon – December.
  • James’s article …the canal is published in The Gudgeon – November.
  • James is guest speaker at Writing Event’s Bath creative writing workshop – November.
  • James’s article …the ark is published in The Gudgeon – October.
  • The Wrong Story is on sale at the Arnolfini bookshop in Bristol – October.
  • James is at Bristol Festival of Literature with United Authors presenting Crowdfunding: A Masterclass – October.
  • James’s article …Preserving the Past is published in The Gudgeon – September.
  • James is a guest speaker at Bath’s Writing Events creative writing session – September.
  • James is presenting Crowdfunding:  A Historical Device with a Modern Twist to the Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust – September.
  • James’s article …Divine Inspiration is published in The Gudgeon – August.
  • James’s article …Station Therapy is published in The Gudgeon – July.
  • James’s new company James Author Ellis Ltd is now registered and trading, providing content and copywriting services – June.
  • James reads Connor And His Amazing Ejector Boots at the Carers UK Poem-a-thon – June.
  • Speed Dating is published on the flash fiction website, 101 Words – June 2018
  • James’s article …Our Three Twins is published in The Gudgeon – June.
  • Murder Most Kind is published on the flash fiction website, 101 Words and in Ad Hoc Fiction, Issue 145 – May.
  • James is at the Brighton Fringe Wordstock event reading Early Days for Rattle Tales and an extract of The Wrong Story for the Unbound Authors event – May.
  • The Wrong Story is on a Blog Book Tour – May.
  • James’s article …Dog’s Life is published in The Gudgeon – May.
  • James is a guest on the Frome FM Book Club and talks about An Other’s Look and how he came to write it – April.
  • James presents a follow up to the novel writing workshop, called Keeping Going with Writing Events – April.
  • Early Days is published in the Rattle Tales Brighton Prize anthology – April.
  • James’s article …Crossing the Bridge is published in The Gudgeon – April.
  • The Beast is published in The British Fantasy Society’s latest publication, BFS Horizons #6 – March.
  • James presents two novel writing workshops with Writing Events – March.
  • James’s article …Swimming is published in The Gudgeon – March.
  • James signs the contract with Unbound to publish his second novel, An Other’s Look – February.
  • James is the guest speaker at the Writing Events Memoir workshop – February.
  • James is the subject of A Day In The Life… series in the local magazine, The Gudgeon – February.

2017

  • James reads Early Days at the Carers UK creative writing celebration at The Roebuck in South-East London – November.
  • Coming out of the Upstairs is published by The Pygmy Giant – November.
  • The Beast is highly commended in the British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition – October.
  • The prose version of Early Days is highly commended in the short story category of the Carers UK’s Creative Writing and Photography Competition 2017 – October.
  • James is the guest speaker at the Writing Events workshop, What Does an Editor Do? – July.
  • James reads Early Days at the Rattle Tales readings – June.
  • The Wrong Story is launched at Burley Fisher Books in London  – June.
  • Early Days is long listed by the BBC Writer’s room – April.
  • The Wrong Story is launched at Topping Books in Bath – April.
  • The Wrong Story is published by Unbound on Friday, March 17 in Kindle and
    paperback – March.
  • James is the guest speaker at the Writing Events workshop, discussing crowdfunding – February.

2016

  • James joins fiction writers Bette Adriaanse and James Benmore at Burley Fisher Bookshop on Kingsland Road in London to talk about their novels – October.
  • James joins fellow alumni and authors Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Bette Adriaanse and Chrissy Lee Jing-Jing for an evening of readings to Oxford University’s second-year MSt students – October.
  • The Wrong Story submitted to the Unbound editors – July.
  • The Therapist and The Fire Diver’s Assistant are published in the Rattle Tales 4 anthology – June.
  • The Wrong Story is 100% funded – May.
  • James’s article on crowdfunding is featured in Writers Reign magazine – April.
  • The Therapist is published in the Carers UK anthology: ‘No One Should Have To Care Alone’ – March.
  • The Fire Diver’s Assistant is published by the London Journal of Fiction – March.
  • The Wrong Story is accepted for publication, subject to crowdfunding – February.
  • James reads at The Brunswick in Brighton – February.
  • The Wrong Story is featured on Hookline Books ‘Discover New Writers’ page – January.

2015

  • A Rare Bird is published by The Pygmy Giant – December.
  • The Therapist wins third place in the 2015 Carers UK creative writing competition – November.
  • James presents his paper on Muriel Spark and Flann O’Brien titled: Parallel Explorations of the Boundaries between Fiction and Real-life, at the International Flann O’Brien Society’s academic conference in Prague – September.
  • The Therapist is published by The Pygmy Giant – September.
  • James reads at the 2015 Brighton Fringe Festival for Rattle Tales – May.