Welcome back Jason Coggins, the last of our returning writers to feature here, author of  ‘Something Mean in the Dream Scene’ from The Red Book, nineth writer in the Yang Book and resident literary prankster.

A notorious late developer; Jason has made it his lifework to learn from the mistakes of those who foolishly developed before him.

To that end he is currently travelling the world to see how many countries he can live, work and write in… before creeping ineptitude and the usual suspects demand he settle down and pay heed to his weakling vegetarian body.

We asked Jason why he considered coming back to write this year and in true Jason style, this is what he told us:

So, you want to know why I’ve come back for a second crack at Chinese Whisperings, huh? Okay, I’ll tell you and then maybe – just maybe – you can have a word with my editors for me. Something about making good promises made, perhaps?

It has been a year, nearly to the month since I spawned “Something Mean in the Dream Scene.” Twelve months, post partum so to speak. And here I sit, my worldly affairs entirely and utterly unaltered by that fact. The tedious circumstances of my life, the apartment in which I hammer out these words, hell, even my selection of wildly out-of-date and ill-fitting clothing have – to the atom! – remained completely unchanged by the experience.

What is wrong with reality when it steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that I, Jason Coggins once wrote a story and that that story once ended up in a short story anthology? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it: Editors … that’s what!

What I naïve fool I was not have recorded FBI stylee each and every word of the midnight dealings and wrangling that went on during the editorial process of The Red Book. If only I had some kind of … evidence … to prove that the charges I make here are not just another brand of fiction! But I have nothing, except this list scrawled meaningfully with deliberate hand and a rusty compass, into the lid of my desktop.

Oh, ho hum (fiddling with the beautiful razorblade)… dare we ask what the allegations are?

Promise number 1: “Upon completion of “Something Mean in the Dream Scene” we the editors do solemnly promise to bequeath unto Jason Coggins a lifetime’s supply of the finest, made to measure codpieces any man could want.”

Promise number 2: “Upon completion of “Something Mean in the Dream Scene” Jason Coggins will be granted the ability to transform into a griffin once a day.”

Promise number 3: “Upon completion of “Something Mean in the Dream Scene” we the editors do solemnly promise to employ, for solely politically incorrect reasons, a ‘little person’ to serve in capacity as a court jester for the aforementioned Jason Coggins.”

So there you have it folks, the reasons why I have returned for the second Chinese Whisperings book.

It has nothing to do with artistic aspirations, the joy of working with such nice people and the pride in backing a worthy project. No! It is solely about the accumulation of medieval fashions, a lust for supernatural abilities and the opportunity to chase a diminutive person around a car park whilst brandishing an inflated pig’s bladder … on a stick.
One day, I will get what’s coming to me. You’ll see.

You can read Jason’s full bio or check out his literary adventures as the Hedge Monkey at Moult World.

Tomorrow the ever patient, Edwina Shaw, gets to stride out on stage and take her official place among the Chinese Whisperings female writers, as the final writer in The Yin Book.