Andrew Kirby’s first novel was completed at the tender age of five; a twenty page epic, it was read and reviewed by a South Wales Librarian who provided the quote for the back cover of the novel which read: “A promising first novel for the new tyro of the writing game.” ‘The Temple of Jerosca’, an irreverent look at a day in the life of a sandcastle, combined the genres of adventure fiction and postmodern literature, and although it was never submitted for publication, proved a first taste of the writing drug for the young writer- a drug to which Mr. Kirby remains highly addicted. Following the success of The Temple of Jerosca, Mr. Kirby continued to write creatively, and received publication recognition with a short story on wildlife conservation which won him a year’s free swimming pass at the age of ten.

Following his university degrees in English Literature (MA and BA), Mr. Kirby began to lose his way however, and sacrificed his writing ambitions at the altar of money for a number of years. After years as a poor student, the need to pay off debt and the pressure to enter into the sham society of wealth meant that he began to shy away from writing for a number of years. Fortunately, these wilderness years have proved a rich seam of material from which some of his writings have been mined. Gradually, Mr. Kirby’s creative instincts began to be reawakened; his job began to involve more and more writing - PR, copywriting, blogging all were key parts of his role as a Marketing Manager for a company within the security industry. He began to shake off the deep sleep… his technical writing began to be published in industry press and in other forms of media. Finally, he had the idea for his novel- based upon some of the knowledge acquired from the world of work. Shaking off the final complacent weariness, he penned his first novel, The Magpie Trap, which will be available for purchase by Christmas 2008.

Major influences include Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Ian Rankin, Will Self, Richard Blandford, Dan Simmons, John Irving...

   

A.J Kirby is the author of three novels; The Magpie Trap (to be published in time for Christmas 2008), When Elephants walk through the Gorbals (which was third place winner in the 2008 Luke Bitmead Writers' Bursary competition from Legend Press) and Leap Year (which he is currently re-writing). His portfolio also includes the novella Perfect World and over thirty short-stories. Publication credits for his short fiction include Nemonymous 8: Cone Zero, Graveside Tales, Sein und Werden, Dog Horn Publishing, The Second Hand, Skrev Press, Underground magazine, Necrology magazine, Monkey Kettle, Golden Visions, and Champagne Shivers.



He was runner-up in the 2008 Huddersfield Literature Festival creative writing competition, and this year was also short-listed for the Cinnamon Press short fiction prize and the Mere Literary Festival prize.

A.J Kirby is the author of four novels; Bully, a supernatural horror novel of revenge from beyond the grave (published by Wild Wolf Publishing in September 2009); the crime-thriller, The Magpie Trap, which has been published by Youwriteon.com and Legend Press through their UK Arts Council initiative (April 2009), the dark, techno thriller Perfect World (TWB Press, March 2011) and When Elephants walk through the Gorbals, which won third prize in the Luke Bitmead Memorial Bursary run by Legend Press in 2008. His published fiction also includes a volume of collected short stories, Mix Tape, which was published by New Generation Publishing in 2009, and the novella Call of the Sea, which was published from November 2009 in serial form. Andy’s prize-winning short stories have featured in a wide number of publications, including anthologies (Legend Press's Eight Rooms, and in the forthcoming Ten Journeys, Nemonymous 8: Cone Zero & Nemonymous 9: Cern Zoo from Megazanthus Press, Radgepacket 4 from Byker Books, the Dog Horn Publishing anthology, Dark Hoard 2010, and Graveside Tales' Fried: Fast Food Slow Deaths) print journals (Sein und Werden, Jupiter 24, Skrev Press, and Champagne Shivers) and webzines (New Voices in Fiction, A Fly in Amber, Pumpkin, The Second Hand, Pages of Stories magazine, US Short Story Library, and Underground). Award recognition has come from Huddersfield Literature Festival, Mere Literary Festival the H.E Bates Short Story Competition, and in writing competitions run by Cinnamon Press and People in Action. He received an honourable mention in the worldwide Best Horror of the Year 2008/9, judged by the esteemed editor, Ellen Datlow and in 2011, he has already been shortlisted for the Paperbooks ‘Tale of Two Halves’ competition and was awarded runner-up in the Dog Horn Publishing Fiction Prize. Andy lives in Leeds , UK with his girlfriend Heidi and his incredibly noisy, but lucky cat, Eric. To find out more, visit Andy's website: www.andykirbythewriter.20m.com.

Andy Kirby: The Writer
From feature writing to full length fiction details, you'll find it here. The site also features a blog and guestbook for you to sign.

TWB Press