 His first short fiction, "Ahead of the Joneses," appeared in "Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine" in 1979, followed by a story in "Heavy Metal" magazine the following year.In 1980 he published 14 short stories.In 1982, after leaving publishing to become a full-time writer, he began his first novel, "The Worms", followed by "Campbell Wood", "Totentanz" and "The Boy with Penny Eyes".