Born in Manchester, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and later studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury.
The stories were described by one reviewer as having "the nervous, risky feel of someone doodling with razor blades",[5] with technical innovations and the strangeness of the imagery aiming for "aesthetic ecstasy".
[6] The story combines black humour and, at times, over-rich language to seduce readers into embracing tales of intense suffering—an effect that may mirror how characters are tempted by guilty joys.
One explanatory phrase on the cover of the first edition "spiritual despair", perhaps helps to explain the ruthlessness and strangeness of Nature, its inappropriateness for human sensitivity and the ease with which evil is perpetrated, even in intimate relationships (whether between dysfunctional lovers or oppressive parents).
Other themes include: sexual rage, violence, frustration and taboos; poverty, prostitution and abuse; psychedelia; transcendentalism, magic and the occult.