Supernatural Tales

Sometimes a title is just too good to overlook . Witches Allegedly Stole Penises and Kept Them as Pets in the Middle Ages I love that 'allegedly'. Keeps the lawyers happy, I suppose. Quote: Kramer goes on to describe one man's quest to restore his missing member. By his account, the poor, castrated fellow "approached a certain witch" who instructed him to "climb a particular tree where there was a nest containing many members, and allowed to take any one he liked." (He was unfortunately rebuffed after trying to pick a particularly large one because "it belonged to a parish priest.")

Aren't titles like that irritating? But apparently you're supposed to have them because they drive Google traffic to the cybernugs of your clickertron. Or something. Anyway, the writer I'm referring to is one you probably HAVE heard of, if you like ghost stories and are well read. The Executor - Ash-Tree Press They Might be Ghosts - Ghost Story Press

Holy Terrors: Five Stories by Arthur Machen. Teaser from Mr Julian Butler on Vimeo .

More here . Russian artist Dimitri Tsykalov uses apples, eggplants, watermelons and even cabbages to create his creepy skull carvings.

Over at the splendid Pseudopod you can hear a reading of a story from ST #10. It's 'The Last Reel' by Lynda E. Rucker, which went on to feature in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #18 (2007). So there. It's one of those cracking stories where people chat about movie endings, and end up facing a real life situation even more fraught than any on celluloid. Working in a kitchen had left her inured to minor cuts and burns. ‘Let’s see what’s in the box.’ Let’s not, he wanted to say, but what came out when he followed her back to the bed was, ‘Three movies featuring a head-in-a-box. Name them.’ ‘God,’ she said, ‘do you have to be so morbid? 'Seven'.’ She lifted the lid. ‘That’s one,’ he said, so he wouldn’t shout something stupid and hysterical like Don’t look inside! ‘It’s filled with photographs,’ she said. ‘'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'.’ ‘That’s head-in-a-bag, not head-in-a-box,’ he said desperately. ‘Oh, for God’s sake. Picky, aren’t we?’ H...

Over at the 9th Story Podcast , author Helen Grant talks about writing books, and short stories, including her work for ST. She says nice things about me and my 'warped little mind', showing what an excellent judge of character she is. She discusses specific tales written for ST. That bit begins around 47 mins, but the whole interview is fascinating. Insights into a writer's life, and all that. Helen's story 'Gold' will appear in the next issue. Here is an imaginative representation of her plumbing the depths, or something along those lines.

GOLD is for the mistress - silver for the maid" - Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade! " " Good! " said the Baron, sitting in his hall, But Iron - Cold Iron - is master of them all." Rudyard Kipling, there, proving yet again that he delivered more interesting facts per stanza than any other British poet, with the possible  except of Isidore McClunky, the Actuarial Bard of Berwick. What am I on about? Well, it's mostly down to the heat and lack of sleep, but I'm not just rambling insanely. Iron is traditionally the enemy of occult forces, far more versatile than a mere silver bullet or wooden stake. Iron sorts 'em all out - witches, fairies, the whole supernatural shebang. But why? Well, here's an interesting essay on that very subject! The use of lightning rods caused a furor of conflicting arguments from different factions of the Church. Some priests thought that they demonstrated the Church’s ability to control the elements ...