My name’s Frank Burton. I’m an author and podcaster. I’m also a fictional character, some of the time. This sentence, and the ones surrounding it, are written from the point of view of the non-fictional version of myself. I realise this is a slightly odd way of introducing myself. Writing this kind of official introduction to my work is a tough one. Doing so requires an assumption on my part about who exactly is reading these words. My assumption is that some of you have stumbled across this paragraph randomly while searching for something else, while others are familiar with my work, and have made a conscious decision to find out more about it. Some of you may have heard a rumour that this guy, Frank Burton, who may or may not be a real person, is kind of interesting, and maybe you’d like to find out more about him.
For this latter group in particular, let’s summarise:
I'm the author of the novels Endless Impossible (2023) Brollywood (2022), Getting Away With It (2021), Everything I Am (2020), One Hundred (2019) and the short story collection, A History of Sarcasm (Dog Horn 2009), with more books on the way.
Here’s the story of my books so far.
Here’s some further explanation about my ongoing fictional world, Ragbag.My short story, The World, was featured on BBC Radio 4's Opening Lines programme in 2009. In 2010 I created the non-profit online publisher, Philistine Press, which has published over thirty ebooks by some amazing writers.
I'm the presenter of the long-running podcasts, Ragbag Presents and I Like The Sound, and the video series, The Ragbag Rambler. My latest podcast project is the audio sitcom, Frank And Claude Are Following You, which is a wonderful thing indeed.
In 2022, I collaborated with David Ivar on Not On Top: The Herman Dune Podcast.
My latest project is the comic book series, The Green Room.
In 2017 I appeared on TV as part of BBC Ouch's Storytelling Live at the Edinburgh Festival.
Not a bad summary, right? You may have noticed the lack of expressions such as ‘bestselling,’ ‘award-winning,’ or ‘critically-acclaimed’. That’s because, at this moment in time, I’m none of those things. There was once a time when my lack of commercial and critical success would have been a personal disappointment. In the words of the great Pascal Pinon, 'I don't feel that way no more.'
I intend to use this website to explore lots of other ideas, as time goes on. Just like the Ragbag universe, I would I like this space to be an ever-expanding labyrinth of wonderfulness. Explore it, or ignore it. Either way, I hope you have a good time.