Lake Isle

I started writing Lake Isle in a workshop at the Doolin Writers’ festival in 2019 – it was one of those workshops where you choose a newspaper headline and write a story based on that.

This story imagines a young Slovak man who lives in Sligo and falls in love with an Irish woman. She gets pregnant, but aborts the baby, and the story explores the young man’s feelings around the abortion.

I linked the story to the famous poem Lake Isle of Innisfree by W.B. Yeats, as well as picking up some of my own experiences of the time when I lived in Slovakia. You can read the whole story here.

Claw

Although the story is fictional, Claw very much comes from the community I grew up in, a small town in Donegal that was blighted by gambling addiction and had more casinos per person than shops or pubs. I remember as a child wondering why the adults were so fascinated by the one-armed bandits and slot machines.

It’s true that my father did become briefly addicted to the Crane or Claw machines, what we referred to as ‘teddy-bear machines’. Whilst we were delighted as children to get all these new toys, as an adult I can see how terrible it is that such a gambling machine was ever invented; exploiting the adults’ need to gamble, but also their desire to provide for a young family.

Claw was published by Crannog magazine in April 2025.

Dustcloud

Dustcloud is a traditional ghost story that has been told in my family for several generations. I wanted to explore the idea of changing the setting of an Irish ghost story, to see how that would sit in England and Australia.

Dustcloud is set in the late 19th and 20th centuries and tells the tale of a soldier and a nurse who are engaged to be married, but something unexplained gets in the way of their engagement – the hidden violence of the dust cloud and a dark energy from another life coming through to disrupt this one.

It was longlisted for the Minds Shine Bright competition (based in Australia) in 2023 and published by Trasna magazine online in January 2024. You can read the story on Trasna‘s website at the following link: https://trasna.online/mauk-donnabhain/

The Human Ikebana

I came up with the idea of The Human Ikebana during the lockdown in 2020, when people were becoming obsessed with handicrafts and online social groups. I tried to imagine what it would be like if that obsession were carried forward into post-lockdown life.

The Human Ikebana tells the story of that obsession, with a healthy dose of revenge, and the pursuit of perfection.

It was shortlisted for The Plaza Prize: Sudden Fiction in 2023 and published in The Plaza Prize Anthology later that year.

Where the River Returns

Where the River Returns is a story about growing up queer in a small village. The isolation that is felt by queer people, and the dream of a better life.

It was published online by The Galway Review in November 2022, and you can read the whole story on this link:

https://thegalwayreview.com/2022/11/12/mauk-donnabhain-where-the-river-returns/

The Rabbit and the Moon

This story was shortlisted for the Colm Toibin International Short Story Award in 2020, and it tells the story of a woman dealing with a broken marriage, a child with autism, and her own struggle with depression. All too often the stresses on caregivers are overlooked, as the focus is on the person who needs care.

I wanted to highlight how difficult caregiving can be, and how we need to also care about the carers.

You can read the whole story on the Honest Ulsterman’s website at the following link

The Dog Knows Finnish

The Dog Knows Finnish is a fictionalised version of my first encounter with a foreigner, back in the 1980’s – I remember being amazed that our dog seemed to understand what he was saying, even though he was speaking another language.

The story was published in Profiles Journal in October 2022. The first print run sold out within days, but another run is planned, so you can pre-order copies on the following website:

https://profilesjournal.bigcartel.com/product/profiles-issue-1

Tsunami

Tsunami is a reaction to Brexit; the closing of the Teesside steelworks, generations of workers who were let down by politicians, and a renewed isolation felt by those of us living in Britain who would like to remain closer to Europe.

It appeared in Crannóg 54 – if you would like to buy a copy of the magazine, please visit Crannóg’s website:

http://www.crannogmagazine.com/

Come on Eileen

‘Turkey in the oven. It was the screaming that I looked forward to most. I knew they would scream. I was ready for it. The moment she opened the oven door and said,

“There she is!”’

First published in November 2020, you can read the story online here.

Lámha Suas

Lámha Suas tells the stories of two adults and two young children, whose lives intertwine across cultures and languages.

Published by The Honest Ulsterman – read the full story here http://humag.co/prose/l-mha-suas

Peace Treaty

Whilst children play at games of war, a real war rages around them in the adult world.

Published in The Blue Nib online literary journal in June 2020.

You can read the full story here.

Finn Valley Festival Queen 1985

The news about his cousin Mary-Lou had come as a shock to him and he’d been distracted the whole evening. He remembered how beautiful she was, in her tiara and sequined dress. 

Read the full story, as it was published on Cold Coffee Stand’s website in March 2019

Conas atá tú?

When five women from the Lifford/Strabane area head off to Lanzarote for a wee holiday, you’re guaranteed to hear some stories along the way!

Originally published on Pendora Magazine’s website in April 2018, you can read Conas atá tú? here for your enjoyment!

Get her!

When the incident at the school happened, Ruth didn’t have the courage to do anything about it. All the extremities of Catholic and Protestant identity had risen to the surface and become accepted as the norm.

See the full story as it was published in The Galway Review in April 2017