Since I last blogged here I have been travelling on the typical rollercoaster that is a writer's life. I was signed by an agent to work on my collection of short stories, the most exciting development in years. I then had something like ten rejections in a row.

Next I had my essay 'Fire Ireland' published in one of my dream publications, Banshee. The essay was also translated for publication in an Italian literary journal.

Then my agent moved on from her agency role, which sadly means that you get un-signed. I felt defeated, and the rejections kept coming. Then, unbelievably, I received a special commendation in The Stinging Fly / FBA Fiction Prize for my story 'Stars', and was once again flooded with the dopamine of approval. Here's what they said:

The judges also highly commended two other stories: ‘Stars’ by Greg Thorpe and ‘The Big Why’ by Brendan Killeen. Set in New York and San Francisco and suffused with an aching tenderness for a lost time, ‘Stars’ is a story about a gay man coming out and finding his people. Controlled, confident writing, full of sensuous, glowing imagery, all underscored with an uneasy undertone that snags on the attention and inexorably draws you – as the narrator himself is drawn – towards an ending that is beautiful and brutal in equal measure. A hugely impressive piece of work.

Incredible. I am attempting to leverage this big thumbs up into another agency signing, but who knows what the future holds. I'm currently enjoyably wrestling with a new short story called 'The Elevator Boy' set in 1920s Paris and how apt it is that his life goes up and down, up and down.