Grace and the Grey Angel

I have a new story out in the world called Grace and the Grey Angel, which has been published in the anthology Fornever After from Jolly Horror Press.  In this story, delivery man Martel falls in love with agoraphobic sculptor Grace, and in vowing to help her conquer her fears gets way more than he bargained for.  The idea for this story came from an incredible angel sculpture that appeared outside my workplace a few years ago.  I never found out who the artist was.  When I returned for a second look a few days later, the angel was gone.

I'm unsure which genre this story falls into.  Maybe comic fantasy with a touch of horror?  Here's an except:

"But it wasn’t only awe the angel inspired in him, there was fear too.  When he’d said it was big, he hadn’t meant only in size.  It had presence.  A strange kind of authority.  The head jutted forward and the eyes were fixed as if it were scrutinizing him rather than being scrutinised itself.  And there was something about the way Grace had carved its expression that made it seem as if the angel looked right into his thoughts.  The sensation was so powerful the hairs bristled on the back of his neck and he had to turn away.  He could still feel its eyes boring into his back as he set the clay down where Grace indicated."

Grace and the Grey Angel was in danger of becoming a trunk story until my good friend the writer Robert Pope gave me some suggestions on how to rework the ending.  As a thank you I'm going to give a shout out to Robert's wonderful short story collection, Killers & Others (see cover at the end of this post).

I'd also like to thank the team at Jolly Horror Press, Jonathan Lambert and Autumn Miller, for accepting this story and the hard work they put into the anthology.

Myerscough and Skelton

My flash fiction, Myerscough and Skelton, has been published in Issue 10 of Blood Knife.  This story is only 900 words long, so it would be wrong to say too much about it except that it is about a particular kind of enslavement, and is somewhat based on memories I have of men who used to call at the house collecting money when I was a child.

Blood Knife describes itself as an online magazine about cyber-punk, sci-fi, horror, neon, knives, blood, and capitalism.  I'd like to give a huge thank you to editor Kurt Schiller for including my story, which can be read for free here.

10:10 to Throgmorten

My surreal horror story, 10:10 to Throgmorten, appears in the December 2020 issue of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine.  This story follows an unnamed narrator who sees something bizarre occurring on a passing near-empty train, and decides to venture himself to the train's destination: a town called Throgmorten.  There, he discovers a very different world.  

I'd like to thank Penumbric's editor Jeff Georgeson for selecting this tale for inclusion.  Read the magazine for free here.

Hollow Back

 

The Dread Imaginings webzine launches this October, and I'm pleased to say that editor Bill Hughes has chosen my story, 'Hollow Back', with which to kick things off.

Hollow Back takes place in a decaying north of England town gradually approaching it's end.  The men, young and old, are disappearing, and those left behind speak in low tones about a local legend: The White Lady of Hadenchurch.

This story can be read for free here.

Silver Maples

For various reasons, I wasn't able to write at all during the coronavirus lockdown period.  This seems to have been the case for other writers I've spoken too, although some managed to knock out whole novels but we won't talk about those people.  Luckily, just before the whole shitstorm started back in February, I managed to crank out a story called 'Silver Maples'.  The story was influenced by a ghoulish interest I had in the drowning of Hollywood icon Natalie Wood, a recurring bad dream a friend of mine had and was foolish enough to tell me about, and my general interest in conspiracy theories, secret sects, and cover ups.   The story revolves around a journalist  investigating the mysteries surrounding a derelict lakeside holiday resort.

Silver Maples has just been published in the Scare Street anthology 'Night Terrors #3', which is available now. 

Beyond the Green Garden

My story, Beyond the Green Garden, has just been published in the debut issue of Cosmic Horror Monthly.  In the story, a young couple on holiday in Portugal find a doorway in their hotel leading out into a beautiful garden.  When they disregard a warning not to go out into the garden, they come to wish they hadn't followed that particular path to its end.

Like a twisted Narnia tale (it even has a fawn - albeit not quite as innocent as Mr Tumnus), for me, this story is about the fear of getting older.  Some of its imagery was inspired by two paintings:  Autumn by Bill Martin and Untitled by Nick Hyde.

The Path Through the Woods

I'm over the moon to have my ghost story 'The Path Through the Woods' included in the new edition of The Ghastling.  This fully illustrated 'modern-day penny dreadful' as it describes itself looks amazing.  I can't wait to get hold of a copy.

I'd like to give a big thank you to editor Rebecca Partfitt for purchasing my story.

Visit The Ghastling's website for more information or to purchase a copy.