Undertow Publications, 2021.
“Impeccably well written stories of the peculiar and off-kilter, reminiscent of Joyce Carol Oates and Alison Moore. Characters ache and fret in disquieting narratives, blurry at the edges. Many writers of the macabre and fragile psychologies claim to inherit the mantle of Poe, but Birnie earns it in spades.”
— Stephen Volk, Writer of Ghostwatch, Afterlife, and the Dark Masters Trilogy
“These are strange, paranoid tales, no less dangerous or jagged for the comic matter-of-fact way in which they are told. Birnie's style is deceptively amiable - he ushers you into his thought experiments cheerfully enough, and then blindsides you with accounts of real love, grief and despair. These stories get right under your skin. They unnerve you. They will indeed haunt you.”
— Robert Shearman, Author of We All Hear Stories in the Dark
Cover art: Jana Heidersdorf
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
'Lucida', short story, in Oculus Sinister, ed. CM Muller, 2020
'Dollface', short story, in Shadows & Tall Trees Vo. 8, Undertow Publications, 2020
'The Turn', short story, in Black Static #74, 2020
‘Other Houses’, novelette, in Black Static #71, 2019
‘Out of the Blue’, novelette, in Black Static #64, 2018
'The Generosity of Photographs: Eastlake, Barthes, Scruton,' published by Taylor & Francis in the journal Photographies, Vol. 9, Issue 2, September 2016
'Touching from a Distance: Spirit & Index,' journal article in Critical Studies, Vol. 2, September 2016
'An Impossible Task: On Beheld', James William Murray's Beheld artist book, 2015
‘Sleeptalk’, short story published by Nerve.com, 2016
'Sister' short story published in Black Static #31, TTA Press, 2012
'Okay, Bye,' short story in Litro Magazine, 2011
'My Name is A.B.C.' short story in TRANSMISSION Magazine, 2008
'A Young Man Goes To London' short story in TRANSMISSION Magazine, 2007
