The Haunted House Hotel will be shown at the Realtime International FILM Festival 2026.
The film will be shown during the festival, which takes place from October 23 to 25. It’s in Worcester. Tickets are available now.
It’s always fun when a new audience gets to watch The Haunted House Hotel, and I hope everybody at Realtime International enjoys it. You could also see lead actor Bojidar Nikolov as the main image on the announcement of the Realtime selections for a while.
I have a real soft spot for this film, and loved making it. To celebrate its release to YouTube, I revisited the characters for a sequel, set in the modern day.
The Cost of the Crown had its latest screening. It was shown at Amenno at The Hub, in St Albans.
The team behind the festival do a great job – certainly always leaving Crown director Moe Acharki impressed. I’ve got a program from when they screened The Eyes in the Box. They do an excellent work on the presentation, which is so important.
I couldn’t go, so I’ll quote Moe’s report of the evening:
He said: “I’m incredibly proud of how well the film is doing, and I’d like to thank the folks at The Amenno Project for selecting it to be screened at their latest event. I always say this, but I love what the Amenno team are doing for independent and local cinema.
“A huge thank you as well to everyone who came along to support both my film and the event. Your support is truly appreciated.”
A Brief Encounter, my latest flash short, has been published at 101 words.
The piece, which you can read here, was originally the first paragraph of a novella I was writing. I’m hoping to one day go back to it!
After a rough year, I’m back on the submission train – Nepo Baby and all the shorts have been sent out to agents and literary outlets. I’m hoping there’s more good news in the coming weeks.
And that’s without mentioning The Caretaker, which is going to be published next year.
101 Words has a great rule. Each of their published stories must be exactly 101 words long. Writing to that length means being as tight as possible – getting character, moment, atmosphere, location into just a few short pars. If you’re a writer or you want to see some excellent examples of craft, take a look at their website.
The Cost of the Crown had a screening at Wolverhampton’s Lockworks Cinema, with both Moe and I signing posters and talking about our future plans.
The screening was part of The Hive Connect (June Edition), during which two films were shown. As well as The Cost of the Crown, we also watched I’m Toby.
After the film was shown, director Moe Acharki and I answered questions, then took part in a networking session. It was tremendous to meet so many passionate filmmakers, and I love what the guys behind The Hive are doing. We heard about lots of exciting projects. Some are in post-production, others in pre-pre-pre-production. I can’t wait to see them all come to fruition.
As part of the event, a signed Cost of the Crown poster was given to a member of the audience, and we were signing copies as part of the network event. It’s a beautiful poster, and that was reflected in the interest. Thanks to everyone who bought one, or who came and chatted with us.
We managed to talk a little bit about our next project together – a feature film set against the backdrop of an historical event in Morocco. We also were asked a few times about a sequel to The Cost of the Crown, although neither of us really wants to do it. Don’t forget, I wrote a sequel to The Haunted House Hotel here.
We both really enjoyed our time with The Hive. I’d seriously recommend them to filmmakers in the West Midlands. Check out their Instagram for details of any upcoming events.
The anthology for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize 2026 is now available. It includes my winning story, In His Life.
‘Fandoms’ is available to purchase on Amazon, and includes fantastic stories by Ruth-Anne Walbank, Ben Daggers, Louisa Hann, David Hartley, Alison Armstrong and Shekina Rose. It’s available for 99p, and is brilliant value at that price.
My contribution, In His Life, is the story of a father and son going to The Dog and Lamb pub to see a Beatles tribute band. Real life returns, and the joy of the night is short-lived. Other tales include Elvis impersonators, cliff divers and radio DJs, and all are worth reading.
You can also buy the full collection of Dinesh Allirajah anthologies for a decent price.
