Miscellanea

Did you know that "miscellaneous" means "consisting of members or elements of different kinds"?

Feature Articles & Creative Nonfiction

I’ve never been sure where the line is between these two forms, so I’ve hedged my bets.

An Apology For Switching Off My Housemate's Fan (2018)

This is an apology. And by the end of it, I intend to say sorry. But before I do, please let me explain myself.

Cunts and Karl Marx: A Report from the E7B Male Bathrooms (2018)

An examination of toilet stall graffiti and its social implications. (I feel the need to disclaim the title - it was suggested by the Grapeshot Features Editor). It was published in Grapeshot, Volume 10, Issue 1: X.

My Best Friend's a Budgie, But Am I His? (2017)

It's about the complexity of considering animals to be our friends, with my pet budgie as the focus. Published in Grapeshot, Volume 9, Issue 6: Worms.

An Editorial

The Quarry Issue #10: Fiction (2017)

Cover art by Ailie MacKenzie, design by Teresa Peni

Co-authored with my fellow editors Hannah Armstrong, Ryan Hunter and Jasmine Aird.

Essays

Characteristic self-deceit: The characterisation of self-reflection in Barnes and Flanagan (2016)

For a class about why books win prizes.

Braid and the Bomb: Creating Political Meaning with Time Travel (2014)

This one is about video games.

Heroic Behaviour and the Author (2014)

For my first English literature class. It has Beowulf and Greek mythology in it.

Tens and tenths: decimalising calendar and angle (2014)

An essay about the advantages and disadvantages of adopting further decimal units.

Reviews

Video games and mental health: Celeste and Night in the Woods

Appearing in Grapeshot Volume 10 Issue 8, this one’s about the video games Celeste and Night in the Woods - mainly about how they address mental health.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This appeared in Grapeshot Volume 10, Issue 1: X (p 60).

The God Engines, by John Scalzi

A Dumb Piece of Video Game Comedy Writing

Which Nintendo characters would burn in holy water? A comprehensive study

Yesterday, Simon Belmont (of Castlevania fame) was announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. One of Simon’s attacks is holy water. The only possible conclusion to is that, in some way, every character in Smash is an unholy monstrosity that must be vanquished. Here, we try to work out why.

Scientific Writing

MRes Thesis: The host galaxies and possible progenitors of fast radio bursts

Fast radio bursts are brief radio-wave pulses from other sources, which we know not very much about. They’re really cool! I wrote my thesis on the visible properties of some of their host galaxies (which we are only just starting to find) and whether they might have anything to do with supernovae (spoiler: they probably don’t). Read the thesis for more!