One of my favourite areas in London that I’ve found so far is Southbank, along the river Thames. This cultural hotspot and tourist thoroughfare bustles with the sounds and sights of buskers and street performers, the area boasts theatres, an open-air book market, and a sheltered skatepark. It’s the setting of Wounds are Lips Waiting to be Kissed, the seventh ghost story in my collection, Corpse Road Blues, out now from Demain Publishing.

The main character, Swann, savours the sights along Southbank on his way to meet up with his girlfriend. He pauses at each street performer, mingling with the crowd, but what holds his attention is the mysterious living statue that appears to be following him.

In his article, Finding Beauty in Horror: Objective Observation and Personal Taste, writer and artist, Chandler Bullock says that “what makes horror able to be beautiful is the genre’s profound ability to make us feel.” In Wounds are Lips Waiting to be Kissed I was looking for contrast, to look at beauty and horror together, like what I feel Poppy Z. Brite explores in Exquisite Corpse, or Stephen King in his exceptional story, Herman Wouk is Still Alive (in the collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. Both certainly ‘make us feel’.

Wounds was about capturing the magic of Southbank, while doing a deep dive into one person’s pain. It is both a love story and a body horror, along with a haunting, and remains a tale that is close to my heart.

If you’d like to read the story, you can buy Corpse Road Blues here.