The shortlist for the THRESHOLDS International Feature Writing Competition has just been announced, anf amongst the list of tehn is an essay penned by yours truly on the fantasy and horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.

THRESHOLDS describes its mission as, “to promote and celebrate the reading, writing, study – and pleasure – of the Short Story.” In January the website – which is run by the University of Chichester – launched its first-ever writing competition, for essays that explored either a single short story or a story collection, or a profile of a short story writer. Given that I was around ten or eleven years old when Lovecraft’s weird vision changed my life for ever, HPL seemed the natural choice.

Out of the hundreds of entries, ten have been selected for the shortlist, with a further fifteen noted as ‘Highly Commended’. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 25th April. All the shortlist, including ‘Geoff Holder: We Recommend H.P. Lovecraft’ will be published on the THRESHOLDS site over the next few months.

And if you are unfamiliar with the works of Lovecraft, may I suggest you follow in the footsteps of Alan Moore, Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker and Stephen King and other devotees of the Sage of Providence, and dive deep into his world. Within weeks, you’ll be wanting to own a plushy of Great Cthulhu. Not that I got one for Christmas, oh no. (Sob.)

A few days ago I appeared on UKPN (UK Paranormal Radio/Paramania Radio), and for two hours chewed the Fortean fat with Gary, Darren and Stuart, and a good time was had by all. My thanks to the three musketeers for inviting me on, and, with a fair wind, I may find my way back to the show later in the year.

To listen to my ramblings and witterings about everything from stone circles and Nessie to bodysnatchers and vampires, go to

http://paramaniaradio.com/On-Demand.php?ondemanddir=UKPN%20Radio.

On Saturday 31^st March I’m the guest on the Caroline Robertson show on BBC Radio Cumbria, talking about Paranormal Cumbria and weirdness in general. I’m on at approximately 10.10 (this could change on the day). Radio Cumbria can be found at 95.6FM, 96.1FM and 104.1FM, and the show can be listened to again for a week after broadcast on the BBC iPlayer. See here.

Select the 31st March show, and zip forward in the show to around 1 hour 13-14 minutes for the interview!