Tales of Mystery, Suspense & Terror

Haunting Short Fiction

List Price: £5.99

ISBN: 978-1-908858-10-8

Publication Date: 1 October 2014

We are pleased to announce the final short list for our next anthology. Congratulations to the following outstanding writers for their chilling entries!

Teufelsgrat by Melanie Atherton Allen

The Mother of Sands by Stewart C Baker

The Apparition by David Blackthorn

Cassandra’s Daughter by Maureen Bowden

Reflections by Denise Drespling

Habitual by Sarah Evans

 

The Stereoscope by Kathy Ferrell

B14 by Judith Field

Stairwell by Dora L Harthen

Until the Darkness Comes by Patrick O’Neill

This is Not the Story of my Life by Carol Otte

The Sick Room by W. Silverwood

Witches’ Refuge by Jay R Thurston

The Veil by Carmen Tudor

The Attic Room by DJ Tyrer

Send us Your Yowling Yūrei Yarn!

Keeping with the theme of our current callout, our blog for 'Y' features yet another malignant spectre in addition to our favourite phantoms and revenants! As with the ikiryo previously, this spirit is again drawn from Japanese culture. Today we focus on the yūrei. In our discussion on the 19th century ghost story, we noted that according to M. R. James when composing a good ghost story, the spirit should be odious and malignant. The yūrei most certainly match this description! Those familiar with the movies The Ring or The Grudge will be familiar with this spirit if not it's traditional name.

Yūrei is a composite word combining yu for faint, with rei for the soul. Traditionally, yūrei are female spirits, depicted with pale skin and unkempt long black hair which obscures their face. The distinctive hair of the yūrei may herald their presence, appearing in advance of the spectre and offering great potential for developing tension when setting the scene. Similarly, yūrei may express a distinctive sound or smell which may signal their presence before they achieve spiritual manifestation. 

Thought to arise from murder or suicide, yūrei are vengeful spirits. Typically tied to a specific location, the vengeance of a yūrei is indiscriminately dispensed onto whatever living outlet becomes accessible. To add to the terror imposed by this creature, as depicted in The Ring, yūrei typically move in a disjointed manner, often crawling, although possessing potential for very rapid motion and capable of defying physical laws such as gravity. Thought to be impervious to exorcism and with the sole aim of imposing harm onto the living, yūrei represent a truly fearsome spirit! 

So, what are you waiting for? Send us your yowling yūrei yarn!

Further reading:

Yūrei

Yūrei stories

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Our final post on Wednesday will be on Z. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.

X marks the spot!

Further to our current callout for ghost stories inspired by, and in the style of the 19th century ghost story, today's blog considers evidence of spiritual manifestations with 'X marks the spot'!

Observation of a ghost passing through walls or poltergeist activity that results in physical motion of objects are obvious indications of paranormal activity. However these remain extreme examples as most spiritual hauntings are thought to reflect far more subtle behaviors.

Traditionally, localised cold spots have been proposed to indicate evidence of a spiritual presence or paranormal activity. The definition for what constitutes a 'cold spot' is a small defined area of intense cold which should be at least ten degrees lower than surrounding areas once any plausible explanation for temperature variation has been excluded.

Many folktales refer to the presence of a ghost specific to an area that was once associated with  the spirit in question. Perhaps such reflects a location where the individual died or had a particularly intense life experience. Perhaps they were murdered and the spirit is now restricted to the area where the remains were placed, waiting for a more respectful form of burial.

Unexplained manifestation of scents such as perfume or tobacco have been suggested to represent a spiritual presence and may offer clues towards establishing the identity of the restless soul.

Some people believe that animals are more sensitive to spirits and there are certainly many stories whereby animals refuse to enter haunted buildings or specific areas. Again, more anecdotal evidence suggesting ghostly localisation to a specific area.

So when composing a chilling ghost story, perhaps your supernatural being should be crafted with a showpiece scene that keeps in mind an 'X marking the ghostly spot' for hauntings and paranormal activity within the tale. Once a location has been established as potentially threatening, this can subsequently be used to help develop tension within the story.

Further reading:

16 Signs That Your House is Haunted

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Tomorrow's post is on Y. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.

Wonderfully Witty Washington Irving

Washington Irving (1783-1859), having been born just before the the end of the American revolution was named in honour of its hero George Washington. One of the first American authors to achieve acclaim in Europe, Irving is perhaps best known for his stories: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. 

The fictional 'Diedrich Knickerbocker'
by Felix O.C. Darley
Image courtesy of Wikipedia, click for details.

Irving also proved to be somewhat of a rascal. Clearly ahead of his time, Washington Irving was perhaps the originator of hoax marketing. His first major publication: A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, was written under the pseudonym; Diedrich Knickerbocker. However the overwhelming success of this publication resulted from a homemade hoax marketing campaign! Irving mischievously published missing person advertisements in local papers inquiring as to the whereabouts of a missing Dutch historian named 'Diedrich Knickerbocker'. Encouraged by local campaigns which were established to help locate the missing individual, Irving subsequently published an alleged threat from the hotel proprietor indicating that if Diedrich Knickerbocker did not return to clear his bill, they would publish a manuscript which he had left behind. Having achieved significant public interest in a fictional individual, Irving's book was published under this pseudonym to instant commercial success!

Retrospectively, I would be quite interested to know whether this unconventional marketing campaign had any influence on establishing wasting police time as a criminal offence as I suspect a similar strategy would prove rather ill-advised in the modern world!

Irving's mischievous wit is clearly evident in The Spectre Bridegroom which is a satirical Gothic ghost story complete with a clever climactic twist. Despite the brevity of the tale, Irving manages to amalgamate a Gothic setting, a tragic twist, and ghostly romance all completed with a fairy tale ending that has surprisingly been overlooked by Hollywood. If you haven't yet read this tale, I strongly recommend it!

Further reading:

Biography of Washington Irving

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Monday's post will be on X. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.

How Very Victorian!

 

Séance conducted by John Beattie, Bristol, England, 1872 Image courtesy Wikipedia

With a callout seeking haunting tales written in the style of the 19th century ghost story, we would be remiss if we did not include a blog discussing the influence and impact of the Victorian period. The Victorian era (1837-1901) dates from the coronation of Queen Victoria through to her death and is associated with the industrial revolution, economic progression and expansion of the British empire. By the end of Victoria's reign as the saying goes, 'the sun never set on the British empire' as the global expanse of her empire ensured that there was always some portion of the British empire which would be in daylight.

The Victorian period was also associated with a cultural shift within arts and society towards romanticism and mysticism; e.g. the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, The Arts and Crafts Movement, Aleister Crowley and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn etc. It was also during this period when ghost stories acquired an association with Christmas. Although A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is probably the best known ghost story ever written, other authors from this period were also in the habit of sharing their haunting tales as a Christmas pastime including Washington Irving, Rudyard Kipling and M. R. James. Certainly Victorian authors were particularly good at composing ghostly tales, reasons for which are neatly examined in a Guardian article, and these tales are frequently trotted out as a Christmas tradition as with A ghost story for Christmas television series from the 1970's which was recently revived by the BBC in 2005.

Keeping with our theme of ghostly tales, perhaps one facet which was the most inspirational emanating from the Victorian era was the belief in Spiritualism: the belief that it was possible for the dead to communicate with the living. Commencing around 1850, interest in spiritualism is thought to have largely arisen from an occurrence in New York in 1848 when two sisters claimed to have communicated with the ghost of a murdered man who had previously lived in their family home. Clearly, this event fanned the flames of a pre-existing philosophy as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were recorded as having taken part in a seance on the Isle of Wight in 1846. Irregardless of the precise beginning of the spiritualism fad, seances involving a medium who would assist with communicating with the dead became all the rage during the Victorian era. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were both as famous for their interest and attendance of spiritual seances as Harry Houdini became for debunking them in the 20th century. As the success of any literary theme is entirely dependent on public interest, perhaps it was the burgeoning spiritualism movement which was primarily responsible for the breadth of ghost stories produced during the 19th century. Whatever the explanation, the enduring appeal of these tales over a century later is testament to the content and quality of the writing style. We certainly hope our pending collection will match this standard!

Further reading:

The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories edited by Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert 

 

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Saturday's post will be on U. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.

U is for unpublished stories of the unquiet, unseen and undead!

Do you have a previously unpublished ghost story that fits the following criteria? Is it a tale of the unquiet, the unseen and the undead, guaranteed to shoot shivers down a reader's spine and curl their toes? Want an opportunity to earn a few quid and see it published in our next print anthology? If you answered with a resounding 'yes' then pop over to www.chuffedbuffbooks.com and click on the 'submit your story' link to send us your tale.
The deadline is 31 May.

Tales of Mystery, Suspense & Terror 

Short story anthology

The Victorian era was the heyday of the ghost-story and it has been said that a good Victorian host would place a copy of work by Sheridan Le Fanu by their guest’s bedside for the hours after midnight. So taking inspiration from gothic fiction and the rich legacy of 19th century ghost stories, we aim to celebrate the supernatural through a new collection of tales of mystery, suspense and terror!

19th Century ghost stories were the extension of Gothic fiction pioneered by Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliffe, with M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu representing the best known masters of this genre.  Thus we hope to elicit narratives inspired by the 19th century ghost story. Tales that lure unsuspecting readers in through mood and setting, stories to be savoured through accounts which focus on suspense rather than gore, and fictions which leave readers to the mercy of their imaginations. We want the type of stories which are so compelling you’ll wish you had a second chance to read them for the first time!

We are especially interested in stories that are truly unique in character, whether written from less common points of view or because of the sustained chilling disquiet which they instil in the reader. Most of all, we want to produce a collection filled with stories we are as excited to read as we are to share. When you wish you’d waited for sunrise to put words to paper, that’s the story that we want! Sleep uneasy prospective authors, we eagerly await your submissions; may your night terrors give you inspiration.

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Tomorrow's post will be on V. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.

A Tale within a Tale & Two Tasty Teasers!

Nothing is more common form in old-fashioned books than the description of the winter fireside, where the aged grandam narrates to the circle of children that hangs on her lips story after story of ghosts and fairies, and inspires her audience with a pleasing terror.

 —M R James, 'An Evening's Entertainment' in Collected Ghost Stories, Wordsworth Editions, 1992.

A frame story or narrative is simply a literary device that uses one story to frame or introduce one or more other stories. The character in the framing tale is the narrator of the subsequent tale that is also usually a stand-alone story in its own right. These stories give a sense of oral tradition and generally establish an absorbing introduction to the narrative. This literary technique has a long history of use with the earliest evidence found in the Westcar Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian text which dates to the Hyksos period (circa 20^th century BCE). The story it relates is known in English as King Cheops and the Magicians. Other famed collections include One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, The Decameron, and Canterbury Tales. While these particular titles have narratives which frame multiple stories, the tale within a tale structure has also been used in novels, individual short stories and plays. 
 
Unsurprisingly, it has also made its way into tales of the 19^th century!



Charles Dickens frames his Gothic A Madman's Manuscript with two brief paragraphs (albeit set within the larger frame of The Pickwick Papers) describing the scene for the reading of an old clergyman's manuscript. The introduction reads as follows:

He had taken a few turns from the door to the window, and from the window to the door, when the clergyman's manuscript for the first time entered his head...drawing a small table towards his bedside, trimmed the light, put on his spectacles, and composed himself to read. ..the paper was much soiled and blotted. The title gave him a sudden start, too; and he could not avoid casting a wistful glance round the room...

 —Charles Dickens, 'A Madman's Manuscript' in Gothic Short Stories, Wordsworth Editions, 2002.

The tale then concludes mere moments before Mr Pickwick's candle expires 'without any previous flicker by way of warning'!

Consider, also, the introduction to 'There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard' by M R James in Collected Ghost Stories, Wordsworth Editions, 1992.

This, you know, is the beginning of the story about sprites and goblins which Mamilius, the best child in Shakespeare, was telling to his mother the queen, an the court ladies, when the king came in with his guards and hurried her off to prison. There is no more of the story: Mamilius died soon after without having a chance of finishing it.Now what was it going to have been? Shakespeare knew, no doubt, and I will be bold to say that I do. It was not going to be a new story: it was to be one which you have most likely heard, and even told. Everybody may set it in what frame he likes best. This is mine...

A tried and tested technique, a tale within a tale continues to tantalise, and any story which makes use of this device would make an interesting addition to our Tales of Mystery, Suspense and Terror anthology! (Send us your submissions, the deadline is 31 May 2014.)

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Tomorrow's post will be on U. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.

Spectacular strategies for setting a showpiece scene

A key advantage which can be exploited by a ghost story author is that the reader is aware and therefore awaiting the arrival of a spiritual element. As a result, the author may have opportunity to offer further detail when describing the initial setting than would be tolerated in an action based adventure. This can allow for development of an overall sense of foreboding, gloom or tension within the tale right from the outset. 

Modern ghost stories evolved from Gothic fiction and careful description of the setting represents a crucial component for both. Offering detail of the scenery can offer threat, intrigue, and even deception, all of which help to build tension into the tale. Selection of an atmospheric yet typically familiar setting can help to ensure the reader can envision the scenery as described. Castles, churches and secluded country properties all offer ample opportunity for terror due to the spacious isolation offered. Inclusion of macabre elements can help to build tension due to the potential threat which they may pose. Inclusion of a torture chamber within a castle implies spiritual disquiet; a cemetery presents potential legions of spirits while isolation in stories never bodes well!

Composing an eerie tale requires careful manipulation of the story to ensure maximum impact, which is perhaps best demonstrated by the mastery of M. R. James and his Jamesian style. This style includes selection of a protagonist that enables the reader to realistically imagine themselves in the heart of the story; detailed description of scenery; protracted story progression to build tension; and, of course, a malignant spirit. 

Another key advantage of writing ghost stories is that a crucial character exists 'off-stage' allowing for deliberate inconsistencies within the narrative. Perhaps a character closes a window to exclude a draft only to have it open in a later scene thereby allowing a stray cat, or perhaps a witch's familiar, to enter the room. As the reader is aware of the potential for supernatural elements within the tale perhaps these inconsistencies reflect a ghostly presence, an unreliability of the narrator, or merely a compositional blooper. Further reading is required!

Manipulation of point of view can allow for scope in setting the scene and offer potential for an unreliable narrator. Selection of first person point of view can make for a claustrophobic atmosphere. Alternatively selection of second person point of view could prove to make the story highly personal and intense, albeit also requiring a greater suspension of disbelief. Combining a descriptive Gothic setting and macabre elements with a restrictive point of view could achieve a high level of tension all before the supernatural elements manifest. All that remains is to select your favourite phantom and insert at your leisure!

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This blog post was written in the spirit of the April 2014 A-Z Challenge whereby a post is written every day during the month of April (with the exception of Sunday). The theme of each post is meant to correspond with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order. Wednesday's post will be on T. For details and to visit the A-Z Challenge website, click here.