I suppose this is partly a reflection on married life, though in my case the relationship is reversed. My wife is the one who knows where the hell everything is. Some of the time.
Despite the fact it’s rounding off the collection, and is the title story, I’m not sure there’s much I can say about this one. It is what it is. Often, when it comes to my own work, those are the stories I’m happiest with.
THE DARKENING TREE
A very short poem. I don’t normally write poems. But I wrote this one.
This Is Now was originally in Best New Horror 16, Robinson 2005
Unbelief was originally in Stories, Morrow 2010
Walking Wounded was originally in Dark Terrors 3, Gollancz, 1997
The Seventeenth Kind was originally in This Is Now, Earthling Publications 2007
A Place for Everything was originally in PostScripts 10, WHC and Michael Marshall Smith Special Issue, 2007
The Last Barbecue was originally in Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback, running Press 2012
The Stuff That Goes On In Their Heads was originally in Swallowed By The Cracks, Dark Arts Books 2011
Unnoticed is original to this collection
The Good listener is original to this collection
Different Now was originally in Scaremongers, Tanjen 1997
Author Of The Death is original to this collection
Sad, Dark Thing was originally in A Book Of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books 2011
What Happens When You Wake Up In The Night was originally published as a chapbook from Nightjar Press 2009
The Things He Said was originally in Travellers In Darkness, the souvenir book of the 2007 World horror convention
Substitutions was originally in Black Wings, PS Publishing 2010
The Woodcutter is original to this collection
Everything You Need is original to this collection
The Gist was originally published as a chapbook by Subterranean Press, 2013
The Darkening Tree originally appeared to accompany the image used on the jacket of this ebook, on Instagram, 2014
Story Notes is original to this collection