Supernatural Tales

John Gale's contribution to this anthology of haunted house tales is remarkable for its technical assurance, and its intense imagery. The plot is relatively simple. Philip Peregrine (a name that would not be out of place in any English ghost story penned in the 1890s) goes to an isolated country house, Tarn Ghyll. He writes letters to a friend and keeps a journal. He is enchanted by the beauty of weather and landscape - the story is replete with lapidary words to describe the delights of the British climate, a tour de force in itself. The pages almost glow with richly textured descriptions of a world that seems both real and Romantic in the original sense of wondrous and dangerous.  It becomes clear that Peregrine is not truly alone. A strange entity that seems to be part of the watery environs of Tarn Ghyll is interested in him. He is fascinated by her, concluding that she is a Naiad. But what traditionally occurs when a mortal becomes involved with a water sprite? Suffice to say...

  Available for pre-order on Amazon. My Amazon author page is here . Gosh, what a lot of things I've written, and no mistake...

 That Mark Gatiss chap is at it again, with an adaptation  of another M.R. James classic.  'Laced with M. R. James' trademark terror, The Mezzotint will guarantee a chill in the air for viewers this Christmas. 'Rory Kinnear (Years & Years, No Time To Die) stars as Williams, alongside Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet, Downton Abbey) as Garwood, and Frances Barber (Doctor Who, Semi-Detached) as Mrs Ambrigail. The Mezzotint also stars John Hopkins (Poldark, Lucky Man), Emma Cunniffe (Roadkill, Unforgotten), Nikesh Patel (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Indian Summers), and Tommaso Di Vincenzo (Dracula).' I assumed when I first saw this item that it was a planned production - but they're already got it in the can. 'Filming wrapped recently in the South of England. The Mezzotint will air this Christmas on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.'  

Robert Lloyd Parry gives a live performance of one of my favourite stories - and, for my money, one of the best storiies ever written in English. 

We return to the US for the next story in this anthology from Egaeus Press . The story is told from the perspective of a clergyman's son who begins by recalling his father's habit of telling a spooky tale to kids on a bus ride. The storytelling has to end when one boy commits an atrocious crime. Later, at university, the main character encounters an older student who is doing research into similar stories. They talk to someone who has visited a strange house, but did not go inside.  This is a story about stories, about the way the haunted house always exists. In a way, the houses in a million anecdotes are all that same house, one that can never be truly located or explored. Or at least, not in such a way that the legend is debunked, or confirmed. It merely persists. Attempts to establish facts fail, because the legend protects itself, guards its unfathomable truth with cunning and ferocity. Thus the narrator survives his visit to the house but knows that he has only been grant...