The Spoons That Are My Ears!

The book is a collection of very short fictions grouped into three sets. All the stories in each set are linked by mood, theme or technique, and the three sets are linked to each other in the same way. But each short piece is primarily a standalone.

I guess these stories can be called flash fictions but for some reason I don't particularly like that description. The texts are paradoxical and meditative and I think of them simply as speculations.

The true geniuses of this kind of fiction, in my view, were Kafka, Pessoa and Borges. Other influences on this book include Calvino and Barthelme (both are always an influence on me).

These are the authors I most admire. Do I regard myself as their equals? Certainly not. But I do believe my new book contains ideas that are wholly original and embodied in pleasing prose. In as disinterested a fashion as possible, I am willing to declare that The Eleventh Commandment is worth reading.

But it's your time and concentration, not mine. My task is over: the book exists.

The paperback and ebook editions are available from a host of online and real retailers. I am excited to announce that there will be an audiobook edition soon: my first audiobook.