I’m reworking The Red Spot Murders tonight. It’s a Pourquoi story exploring the haunted house phenomenon, and features a delightful antagonist by the name of Maeve. It was by researching this character that I learned that there are such things as Mother Trees. I had hoped there were. In fact I typed that exact term into my Google search to see what would come up, and was rewarded with this wonderful TED talk with Suzanne Simard, a Canadian ecologist. Damn, the woods have just got a whole load creepier.
I have been discussing the mechanics of story-writing with Simon Dewar recently. This guy is a true gent in the publishing world, and happens to know what he’s talking about. … Continue reading Shout Out
Keeping your Pringles tubes, sharing your baked beans, moving to Kent, and listening to The Archers, all could be vital in surviving a global disaster according to this handy guide … Continue reading Spam and the zombie apocalypse
“You had to run with a night like this, so the sadness could not hurt.” Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) In his book, Zen in the Art … Continue reading Zen in Wickedness
I thought I would share the small piece about Poseidon’s Standing Stones that I was asked to contribute by fellow writer Gregory L Norris. The story has been recently published in ‘From The Corner of Your Eye – A Cryptids Anthology’ by Great Old Ones Publishing, It’s a damn fine book which stands next to Lovecraft’s Necronomicon and Barker’s Imajica on my writing desk and features some pretty creepy tales about those creatures that exist on the edge of our consciousness. ‘Ere’s ‘wot’ I wrote:
Holidays to the coast as a kid had me searching the flat-line horizon for sea-monsters. I found none, so I imagined them. Years later, I imagined one again. I then gave her a place to live, a modest social life including friends from English legend, and of course, a leisure interest. Every monster needs a hobby. All this, I thought, ought not to stretch one’s imagination too far since individuality is embraced by the society I live in, and neighbourhoods have become extremely transient. Maybe she would live unnoticed in a town, possibly making weekly trips to the Benefits Office. Maybe she would be saddened by the lament of the gull or be comforted by the gentle shush of the sea. Maybe she would find love. Or maybe not. And here we are. How was I to know things were going to happen as they did? After all, she is a cryptid and they’re supposed to stay hidden, aren’t they? Something about the corner of one’s eye, or is that just myth?
To explore what inspired the other authors to write about their particular beasts, please do visit Gregory L Norris’ blog.
Some writers may try to wring compliments out of any comment made about their work. For writers that delve into horror fiction, I think this could be true even when what has been said seems quite the contrary. For instance, when the writing group I belong to met on Tuesday evening, one of my fellow writers said of my chapter: “makes me want to wash my hands.” In this particular case, job done.