Three designs inspired by ivyblossom's fanfiction The Progress Of Sherlock Holmes. With thanks to the lovely ivyblossom for allowing me to use her beautiful words.


shop | tumblr



shop | tumblr



(from Anchorite)
shop | tumblr


All my designs can be found at geekyness designs.

You invited me here out of courtesy; it’s your birthday, but I don’t really know you, and you really don’t know me. I haven’t bought you a present (what would I get?) and you won’t let me buy you a pint. Your friends are nice (and have got progressively more friendly throughout the night) but let’s be honest, come next week, I won’t remember their names, their jobs, their amusing anecdotes, or anything else slurred in my ear over the beat of 80s dance music.

The club was your choice, of course Birthday Boy, but you’ve done even less dancing than me. I wonder if you came here out of obligation. I bet you’d rather be at home in front of the TV, eating takeaway, and debating over quiz answers. God knows that’s how I feel when it’s my turn to be mandatorily optimistic once a year, and you’re older than me, so no wonder you’re completely pissed. But now it’s three-thirty in the morning, the club has closed, and it’s not even your birthday anymore.

In the cold night air, I realise that I am quite sober and that you are more affected than I thought. We stumble towards the takeaway. I make a joke about your lack of stability and put my hand on your back before I can think better of it. I’d forgotten how warm skin can be, but with just a cotton shirt between us, it feels like burning. When was the last time I touched someone here? The small of the back is quite intimate, isn’t it? But your girlfriend can’t see, and you need help standing up, and I will be the only one come morning that will remember the comfort of heat under fingertips.

You stumble, I laugh, and my hand shifts until it’s propped up against your hip. It brings us closer, our shoulders bumping, but the waist is more innocuous than the back, isn’t it? I don’t know. I try not to think about how much I miss such simple contact, but when your arm falls naturally across my shoulder, my heart jumps a little. You’re not even my friend, but for a little while, I can pretend that you are. I’ll take advantage of your drunken stumblings, pretend that I’m not enjoying the closeness or memorising the smallest brush of skin against skin, and it feels almost malicious.

I am borrowing friendship, that is all, and the next time I see you, in daylight and in hangovers, I will offer you a cup of tea and expect you to decline.

So, I've been busy. Very busy.

I've been writing a memoir-type-thing-of-doom (working title) since November and I've finally produced a draft that I'm happy with. And remember this story? Well, I've written a couple of short stories set in that universe and it appears to be writing itself into a full-blown novel...so, yeah, two books on the go. And a full-time job!

I've also been writing for Splendid Fred, the recent things are:
Grandma's Cardboard Box - weird moping, E.E.Cummings, more weird moping
November Dawn - poetry! run away!!
The Grey World - Mopey McMopeyson
Remembering The Third Date - oh, my heart! if you're going to read just one, let it be this one?
A Spectacle For Strangers - cringing at clichés

I've written two more which I quite like and I'll remember to post them here this time, promise!

Hope you're all well xx

So after mocking tumblr for so long, I realised that it's kinda useful for creative projects.

LISTOGRAPHY
this is pretty much just a list of stuff I've read so I don't forget
(there's still lots and lots to add!)

GEEKYNESS
if the name sounds familiar, that's because it's the name of my graphics journal here (geeky_ness) but this website is for all my t-shirt designs as I've got lots of new ones in progress and needed to put them somewhere!

If you're on tumblr, check them out, especially GEEKYNESS as I can't seem to stop playing around in Photoshop lately!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted here...wow!

Sorry folks, I've been busy with this top-secret project, currently around 50,000 words which is the longest thing I've written and it's still going. I've set myself the target of having finished (and edited ruthlessly) by mid-January and then I shall dispense with the mystery. Originally no one was meant to know I was writing anything but funnily enough people noticed that I was at my computer every free hour of the day, funny that!

So this was just a quick post to let you know that I'm alive and still writing. And watching Merlin and sadly loving it (hey, I needed some gay subtext during the Sherlock hiatus, ok?). Also, my shop is very busy before Christmas, I think January will come as a relief!

If I don't post soon, I wish you all a very good Christmas and a happy new year!

(meme stolen from dogearedhelen)

1. Favourite childhood book?
I have this one about a naughty rabbit who goes to a restaurant and stuff...it sounds silly, but I loved it.

2. What are you reading right now?
One Day, David Nichollas
Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
E.E.Cummings

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
I'm not signed up to the library at the minute.

4. Bad book habit?
I work in a bookshop, what do you think my problem is? Too many books, too little time...

( lots of questions )

It feels like I'm just linking you to things lately, I'm sorry! I've got a new job and things are a little busy! :-)



thoughts about flowers, family, and the Britishness of teacups...
@ Splendid Fred

I kept quiet because I like how happy you are when you think I don’t know; how you practically bounce on your toes with the suppressed joy of secrecy even as I mock artsy tourist merchandise. It’s beautiful, really. So I let you buy me Van Gogh and I pretend that I don’t see where you’ve hidden it through your transparent carrier bag.

Read The Van Gogh Confession on Splendid Fred.

"Because I had a row, in the shop, with a chip-and-pin machine."

"Do people usually assume you're the murderer?"

"Is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing."

"Try not to start a war before I get home."

"Oh you meant 'spectacularly ignorant' in a nice way."

"Just tea for me, thanks!"

"What must it be like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring."




I finally stopped being so lazy and made some new designs. If you know anyone who might be interested, could you pass it on? Ta!

I was standing in my parents’ blindingly white bathroom and blood was streaming down my prickly unshaven legs and I was not screaming; I was looking in the mirror. My eyes were blue. Ghostly blue; the palest blue you could ever possibly imagine, and all I thought was, “Blue must be the colour of pain.”

This piece is based on a dream I had. It's a bit weird. I wouldn't fault you in the slightest if you want to skip it for the womanliness and the squick-factor and the irrationality of celibate births. However, if you wish to proceed...

Read I DREAM OF OSCAR @ Splendid Fred