Publication history

The Keeper of the Stones
My debut children’s novel The Keeper of the Stones was published in March 2020 by Hayloft Publishing.

“Both gripping and lyrical—a fine time-travel tale.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In May 2020 The Keeper of the Stones received a Kirkus Star from the preeminent American book review platform, Kirkus Reviews. You can read the review here.

The book is illustrated by Kelsea Rothaus. As well as the beautiful cover, Kelsea drew a number of inkwash illustrations in black and white that were also complimented by Kirkus. A detail from one is on the right, and you can see more of her work on her web site.

You can buy The Keeper of the Stones on Amazon (UK) or directly by emailing bookordersrk@gmail.com (shipping worldwide). Either way you get a discounted signed copy.

Bronze Moon: A collection of previously published short stories

Between 2016 and 2018, I wrote three short stories and a short memoir piece under the name Roz DeKett that were published as described in more detail below. I’ve now gathered these four previously published works into a short collection. They’re rather dark, dealing with topics such as adultery and dementia – with one dipping into something that might or might not be magic.

You can find the collection as a paperback by using the link here if you’re in the UK or if you’re in the US, here, with a Kindle option too.

The Silence of Geraniums
This literary short story was accepted for publication in Issue 11 of The Nottingham Review, published in May 2018 (as Roz DeKett). They look for “Diverse characters, voices and settings in stories that focus on the ordinary, mundane aspects of contemporary life … We particularly love literary minimalism/dirty realism, defined by Granta editor Bill Burford as stories ‘devoted to the local details, the nuances, the little disturbances in language and gesture… these are strange stories: unadorned, unfurnished, low-rent tragedies about people who watch day-time television, read cheap romances or listen to country and western music.’ ”

 

Friday’s Child
A literary short story published in 2018 (as Roz DeKett) after receiving the second prize in the Bedford International Writing Competition 2017. The anthology is available here.

 

The Adonis Effect
A literary short story in Fish Anthology 2017, selected for publication in the international Fish Publishing 2016 Short Story contest judged by novelist Neel Mukherjee; he described it as ‘beautifully and precisely written’. It’s available here if you’re in the UK, or here if you’re in the US. (As Roz DeKett.)

 

A Game of Cribbage
A short memoir piece about a strange episode in my life on a sheep farm in Wales appeared in the York Literary Review in May 2016 under the name Roz DeKett. York Literary Review is a journal of new writing and criticism, published twice a year.

 

Almost the Top of the World
Cricket magazine published my nonfiction account of climbing Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Almost the Top of the World, under the name Roz Kay. Cricket publishes fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction, and has published some of the most respected writers of children’s literature. You can access this online version using a US library card number.