Angus Softy has published only non-fiction writing to date - articles and reviews chiefly concerned with the arts, and a book about Irish first names. He is essentially, however, a story addict, and devotes far too much time to reading, television, and movie watching, where he finds generous portals of escape from a cool and indifferent world. In his fiction he attempts to redress the balance, insisting on the relevance of his imaginative experiences and seeking to connect with and support the imaginative life of others. His reading is almost exclusively given over to the realm of fiction. He favors writing that displays both visual flourish and psychological complexity. Fantasy, for him, works best when seeded in realism, but he is not adamant on this point. Henry James's "Turn of the Screw" is a touchstone of psychological horror writing to him, but he would admit that Alan Moore's world of Extraordinary Gentlemen gives him just as much delight.