darren francis

My prose piece How We Scar has just been published at International Times. Read it here. My thanks to Malcolm Paul. How We Scar is a self-contained and reworked excerpt from an as yet unpublished novel. 

My text Strata has been published over at International Times. My thanks to them. You can read it here.

My text Dead Letter Office has been published over at International Times. Read it here.

Dead Letter Office is the fifth of eight texts from my unfinished and long-lost spoken word album Hate Ashbury, which regular readers may have seen me write about on here before. Maybe I'll get to finishing the album at some point; watch this space…

My new spoken word with music album Epicentre is now available for free streaming /download here.

Herewith the track listing:

Himmelstrasse (03.03)

Dogs Of Rome (04.12)

Voids (04.09)

Rain Of Run (03.27)

The Far Enemy (03.45)

Cathedral (03.32)

Snakes (02.53)

Ascension (04.56)

I'll post a more detailed look in due course.

My next spoken word with music album Epicentre releases 11 September 2026. 

I've added a version of the second track, Dogs Of Rome, to my collection Nexus over at my bandcamp page. You can listen to that here. Herewith the text:

Dogs Of Rome

We who asterisk dawn
We who snatch at moonrise
We who swallow twilight
We who scar to live

We who spit up angel
We spies in the wires
We of death's fiery squadrons
We of ghost asylums

We analogue to digital
We valentines in hinterlands
We who breathe within the word
We plastic model messiahs

We eternal after hours
We of sackcloth anthem
We of monument grace
We drunk on Golgotha

We who play at sinful
We who bleed for prophecy
We who set the world
We watch it burn

We who lost to Madison
We who ate the flesh of suns
We who seed flags in hospitals
We who dig graves in brothels

We here minutes to midnight
We the million-pointed
We assassins and not errand boys
We enjoying and suffering things

We face on glass
We belong in light
We numbers ticked
We only eternal

We stealers of fire
We sentinels of Eden
We lone we level
We boundless we bare

We astral remnants
We down on time
We slender as dust
We tracer sing

We apostate
We untermensch
We dogs of Rome
We life unworthy of life

You can read an interview with me alongside some excerpts from my work at the excellent International Times website here.

My thanks to Malcolm Paul for everything.
 

My text Rubicon # 1 has just been published over at the literary journal Sage Cigarettes. You can read it here.

Rubicon # 1 is one of twenty short pieces which make up the text to my forthcoming spoken word with music album Rubicon. More information on that in due course.

I mentioned recently on my social media that I had a new spoken-with-music album named Rubicon on its way. What I didn't mention is that I actually have two albums on the go concurrently. The second is titled Epicentre. I'm uncertain which will release first - I'm still tinkering with the Rubicon mix in particular - but both will arrive this summer. I'll preview some of the texts on my social media and perhaps here too beforehand. Watch this space.

I still have some paperback copies of my book She Waits By The Water left if anyone wants one. These are available via my Bandcamp page which you'll find here. I've tried to keep the postage costs realistic and can only apologise on behalf of Royal Mail for the extortionate cost of sending books overseas (US readers would probably find it cheaper to buy direct from the publisher here). Still, the option is there if you want it. All books are sent by me by first class post and come signed.

You can now read lengthy excerpts from my fiction books for free on this website. Links below:-

The Way We Leave

She Waits By The Water

Cutting

Alice Dee

Belong

Skin

If you like the look of a particular book and want to know more, click the link in the menu at the top of this page for further information.