Supernatural Tales

A reading from the very popular HorrorBabble channel.

I thought I'd list the contributors and throw in little samples from their stories, too. “It’s a decent little engagement, what with the world situation.” That was how Gerald Stackpoole’s agent, the lugubrious Raymond Duck, had sold the summer season on Hemsby pier, back in March. “I admit, it’s not the Palladium, but it gives you a chance to feather the nest in case…” and he’d waved his hand vaguely, sketching the multiplicity of unknowns that 1939 might hold in store. And in that poky office four floors up on the Charing Cross Road , it had seemed like a sound enough strategy. In Hemsby, however, at the wrong end of August, Gerald had his doubts. 'The Woofle Dust' by Steve Duffy To kick off, I’ll have to admit how much I loved to watch Gregory sitting so elegantly in his office chair, his slim legs crossed, that charming smile on his face, talking the good talk. It was easy to admire his fatal facility, the knack of being able to speak well on almost any subject, to ente...

I paused in my reading of this fascinating book to make a note of this remark by one key character: "When Hegel called Giordano Bruno 'Bacchantic' he didn't mean it as a compliment." This is not a conventional horror novel. The speaker is Aridela, a beautiful woman who becomes the lover and 'perfect Priestess' of Cyrus. The latter's quest to discover the truth about the long-vanished artist Gaunt takes him into the realm of a group of wealthy cultists, to which Aridela belongs. At first, it seems he has found his spiritual home. This is despite the fact that Cyrus is working-class and lacks formal education. But then the actual Bacchantic ritual of the Pan worshippers takes place, and things become rather unpleasant. Weighell handles the transition from erudite table talk to extreme violence with consummate skill. Cyrus, appalled by what he has seen, breaks up with Aridela and returns to the grim round of dead-end jobs and solitary questing after arcan...