David Penn writes fiction and poetry. His first published short story, ‘The Condition’, appeared in Midnight Street in 2004 and was nominated for a British Fantasy Award. Two more of his stories are due to appear in forthcoming issues of the same magazine.

‘I prefer not to categorize my stories, or pre-categorize them anyway, simply because I want to allow myself the exciting privilege of writing anything at all that comes to my mind. When I write I just try to let the imagination have its head of steam, and I’m fascinated by the way it then leads you to all sorts of unexpected and often very weird places. In my case, it seems to be leading me now to write dark fantasy and horror! But no surprise there: these are no-holds-barred genres where the imagination can have full play. The human mind is, after all, much stranger than we tend to think – or often feel comfortable with – and “polite” fiction doesn’t always do it justice.’

Some of David’s poetry can be found in The Heart as Origami, published by Rising Fire Press - go to www.risingfirepress.com - and on the South Bank Poetry Library’s online poetry magazine resource – go to www.poetrymagazines.org.uk and look him up under Magma.