Supernatural Tales

My venerable laptop died and I'm now relying on a notepad with a tiny keyboard. Typing, and indeed simply reading the screen, is tricky. New laptop on order. I think I backed up everything significant but of course if I didn't, it's not there any more. Oo-er.

Over to the right (and up a bit, possibly) is a poll asking you whether you believe in ghosts. You will notice that I have offered several options, but not 'I am in fact a ghost', because I only just thought of that. Poll runs until the end of the month, and then we will know the scientifically-validated truth about the supernatural. Vote carefully!

For a whole month. Yes, ST is open to submissions during the month of October, right through until Halloween. Please note, just one submission per author. Make it a good one! Check out the guidelines page for more information.

My earlier post about Lovecraftian stuff on deviantART prompted me to look again at the superb work of Abigail Larson, who's been producing original pictures zand illustrating classics of horror fiction for over ten years. You can see a huge portfolio of her work on the site here . Here are a few samples of her work to persuade you to mosey on over and enjoy lots more. As usual, click on the image to enlarge it to full biggosity. The Black Cat The House of Usher

I'm sorry that the autumn issue of ST is still stuck in limbo. The problem is that I order a bulk shipment for all those subscribers who, for whatever reason, don't want to buy the magazine online from the Lulu website. Unfortunately this time the printer (with whom I have no direct contact) has simply not delivered the box of magazines within the normal c.10 day period. Add to that that I was a little late in getting this issue on the road and we have a major delay. I have complained to the website and if I don't get satisfaction I'll have to take my custom elsewhere, probably to Amazon's print-on-demand service. (I know, Amazon, lots of people hate it, but I need to get the job done.) Sorry. Rest assured ST#33 will turn up, eventually. In the meantime, I've decided to make the print issue available to buy online. Here it is. New tales of the supernatural by Sean Padraic McCarthy, Tim Foley, Sam Dawson, Tom Johnstone, Rosalie Parker, Keith Coleman, ...

Yes, mermaids are apparently quite big now, thanks (I assume) to Disney. As supernatural creatures go they've got horror potential, of course, but in fiction they generally tend to be cute and whimsical. Anyway, the question we are all asking today is,  what are Germany's top mermaids up to? Merfolk-fanatics between eight and 48 years old attended the event in the town of Suhl in southern Thuringia which organizers claimed was the  first ever German national championship in mermaid swimming , also referred to as "mermaiding".  And especially competitors from the lower half of the Bundesrepublik proved that they had thoroughly analysed Disney's The Little Mermaid. Well, there you go. Congratulations to the plucky winners, who (wait for it) clearly got into a flap in the best possible sense. “Merthletes” from Bavaria, Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg brought in two wins for each state, as children competed over 50m and adults over twice that distance. L...

I spend a lot of time at deviantART looking for interesting pictures of spaceships, monsters, and other stuff. That's how I roll. If you don't know the site, it's essentially a forum for everyone to post art of all kinds, from photography to oil painting. And it's not surprising that classic horror fiction provides inspiration for many 'deviants'. This chap is a case in point. He's produced some excellent, atmospheric illustrations to Lovecraft's stories, among other things. Uncanny Valley...