I once answered a call for submissions based on ghost stories of my local area. Now, the funny thing with Caithness is: most people seem to believe in - and many people will share stories about how they've witnessed - supernatural happenings around the county. However, there aren't many well-known stories. Of course, there's the standard young-maiden-falling-out-of-castle-window story for at least two of the castles up here, and there's the eerie story of the man whose brother locked him up in Castle Sinclair Girnigoe with no food. Both characters feature in Caithness ghost stories. But it's high time someone actually explored the individual's ghost stories. In fact, that's something I might do, if I ever actually get sufficient time on my hands! Where are the stories which are connected to the "ordinary" buildings? We've been sharing our Stempster Spectres in our monthly newsletters and, believe me, there are plenty of those! A little further...
It's been quite a year! I'm delighted to have shared a post with you all on every Thursday of 2022 on the theme of Historical Fiction. I've loved spreading the word about some of the fantastic historical writers (as in writers of history!), shared a few ideas of my own, and looked at a few of the Horrible Histories songs along the way. While #HistFicThursdays will be continuing into the new year, this will be my last Horrible Histories blog (but take a look at some of the other songs which I didn't get around to, as well, because they are brilliant, too!). And it had to be this one... The great thing about historical fiction, is that it doesn't matter what period you want to write, each one of them offers something new to the world we live in today. Whether you're delving back into prehistory where this song starts, or just heading back to the World Wars where it finishes, there were major discoveries and personal stories along the way. With so much pull back i...