Finding your Tribe May 2026

We first met Salem when they were the first person to arrive for the Thursday night Charity Auction at The Gothic Gathering in Whitby. They were on their own and seemed... introverted. By the end of the night they had supported the charity by buying a piece of art and had made some new friends - the goths in the front who were spending freely and appeared to be happy to welcome a new member into their 'happy band'.

The following day, despite being on a budget, Salem came to my stall and bought one of the first books I sold that weekend. They told me they were more into horror than fantasy, science fiction and the various oddities in my book, but they wanted a copy and they wanted me to sign it to them. I admitted, Salem was not a name I would quickly forget and they told me they hadn't liked the name they were given and so picked one more suited to who they were busy becoming. They also told me enough about their lives that I recognised that this was perhaps a 'baby-Goth' newly emerging and in search of a tribe.

For my part, I was quite thrilled to have been a very small part of that journey and grateful for the sale!

By Friday afternoon, Salem returned to tell me they had read the first story in the book, had failed to see the twist and had loved the story. I mean, they had me at 'I read it', but as they kept returning to heap praise upon praise I will admit, my heart and my massive (and massively fragile) ego swelled. 

During the weekend, as I pimped the book (more on that to come) and my daughter Jemma scrambled from event to event as one of the organisers of The Gathering, we both very much enjoyed the brief sightings of our favourite 'baby-Goth' emerging, ever more confident and apparently having a blast in company with her new Thursday night friends.  By the time Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye to Salem we felt like we had been on that journey with them and we also felt like friends. That afternoon Salem told me they had reached 'The Spartacus Protocol'. It was never my publisher's favourite, the twist is one I most worried people would spot before the end and it is very much the Science Fiction entry into the collection... but it's also one of the stories I'm most fond of, not just because it was fun to write and is fun to read (if you like that sort of thing) but also because it's incredibly and unapologetically silly.

With them having previously told me Science Fiction was very much not their jam, I expected that story not to land. I didn't expect them to tell me they loved it and admit it made them laugh out-loud (something they claim to never do!). This was another small victory after a long weekend of small skirmishes and much needed at this point in what is becoming a grinding and sometimes difficult campaign.

Having previously told me they liked to draw, Salem went on to tell me the story had left them conjuring up images of horrific monsters and I straight away threw out the same challenge I throw at anyone who tells me they want to be a writer; Do it, I said. Draw what you imagined, make it, draw it, show me what you imagined, show the world. Turn word to act and do it. I didn't talk or write about Salem after that first weekend because I knew she was coming back for a day trip THIS weekend and I was hoping for a creative full-stop and gloriously redemptive ending to this already joyful tale.

Salem was there before the market even opened. They didn't just have one piece of art, they had two. Two pictures, one in watercolour, one digital - both inspired by a silly story I wrote out of ego and hubris and a life-long desire to show off.

I will admit, I cried when they showed me the pictures, cried more when they gifted them to me and was almost speechless when - later that day - the 'baby-Goth' was standing on a chair in the market demanding people buy my book then dragging people to the stall to do so! They sold 5 books in 40 minutes, and at least another before the end of the weekend. Salem wasn't even there but the indelible memory of them remained in my soul, in Jemma's heart and in the mind of at least one woman who admitted on Sunday that she came to buy the book because Salem told her she must.

This is what finding your tribe can do; this is what makes events like these Goth weekends so special, as people of every shape and size, colour and creed come to live, present and embrace be their true selves in the company of people who see them for what, who and why they are.

Many of the people who I assumed might buy my book haven't. Many of those who have, have not and maybe even won't read it. But Salem did. And having seen me, they completed me and this journey in a way I never imagined and will never forget.