Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: Here in the Night Beats Community, we embrace the unusual, the unexpected, the things which don’t quite fit. So of course we had to have Tom Norford here, to give us an interview about his collection of science fiction short stories which does exactly that. Tom, can you tell us about Anomic Bombs?

Tom: Anomic Bombs is a collection of science fiction stories. They vary from semi-serious to outright silly, a tale of aliens commandeering the body of the wrong Taylor Swift due to an admin error being a prime example of the latter. One of the more serious ones is about an incel-type kid who develops an affinity with the angry alien locked in his barn. I’m a bit of a weirdo, I fear, and the stories are written with fellow weirdos in mind.

Zilla: What inspired you to write this book?

Tom: I’ve hawked my first novel, The Starved God, at various book events and craft fairs, but was a bit self-conscious at having only one book on offer. I had a few short stories knocking about which I’d written for my blog subscribers, and figured if I could squeeze out one or two more, I could release them as a collection. I got to work on a story which rapidly ballooned into a novella, and bundled it together with four shorter pieces. Retrospectively, I realised the stories were loosely held together by the theme of not fitting in.

Compared to my first novel, this collection is more accessible and light-hearted. The Starved God was a little dense for some readers, like some miserable 19th century Russian novel

Zilla: I love miserable 19th century novels! But I take your point. In your short stories, who was your favourite character to write?

Tom: Probably Tavian, a hog wrangler in the story “The Sacred Furcula of Yukiang the Bird-Whale.” He comes across like a simple country bumpkin, cap-doffing to his betters and overly attached to Janet the mad pack-sow, but is actually cunning and resourceful. A bit like a rough version of Wodehouse’s capable gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves. For example, he gets his friend out of a scrape with an eldritch contraption powered by human brains by getting the thing stoned on the psychoactive weed he smokes habitually. (It makes sense when you read it. I think). I also like Tayler Swift, a Deliveroo driver who finds himself in the body of pop megastar Taylor Swift. He’s understandably discombobulated but makes the best of it.

Zilla: That sounds delightful! Is your work more plot-driven or character-driven? Or a secret, third thing?

Tom: Some stories are more character-based, others plot-driven, but overall I wanted to convey a sense of wonder, of novel things happening in novel places. You could call it environment-driven I suppose.

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Tom: You can find Anomic Bombs here on Amazon and check out my Substack blog here. The blog is very silly. This is a Booklinker link to Anomic Bombs (so wherever you are in the world, it will take you to your own country’s Amazon store).