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#HistFicThursday - Gothic Horror - The Clockmaker

One of the shortest stories included in my upcoming anthology was written for an Edgar Allan Poe competition in 2021, in which my work came Runner-Up, and is titled The Clockmaker . Edgar Allan Poe is most famous for his works of Gothic Horror, but it is easy to forget that he also dabbled in Science Fiction, as did many of his Gothic contemporaries. Indeed, a quick Google search has informed me that there are anthologies which solely contain his Science Fiction. The Clockmaker was designed to marry these Horror and SciFi elements to create the sort of story which Poe himself might have written. I won’t deny it: I was pleased with the outcome.  At only 500 words, it tells the story of a man who pays a visit to an old schoolfriend (you will realise, if you read much of my Gothic Horror, that old school/university friends play vital roles!) who is an inventor, and spends some time admiring a clock which he has made. I won’t spoil by telling you the ending, but I will say that he does...

#HistFicThursdays - Gearing up to this Year's Big Event - #HistFicMay

 After the fabulous fun and friendship of last year's #HistFicMay, I have decided to run the risk of doing it again! I'm sure that this year will be even better than last year! So here's your heads-up of what you can expect from this year's online historical fiction event!

I will be looking out for posts on BluSky, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Twitter, and I can't wait to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new friends too! Just like last year, every day will have a prompt. You can schedule posts or post them on the day. You can use pictures or use the #HistFicMay prompt image instead. Really, you can post anything which links to the prompt!

And speaking of prompts, here they are:

  1. Introduce yourself
  2. Introduce your writing
  3. Which writer(s) most inspire(s) you?
  4. Favourite quote from your writing
  5. Introduce your MC
  6. You take your MC to dinner - what do you talk about?
  7. Self-destructing hero of redeemable villain?
  8. Who (if anyone) is your MC based on?
  9. Would you give your MC a prequel/sequel? Why?
  10. What's your favourite #HistFic book?
  11. The last sentence you wrote
  12. What's your setting and why did you choose it?
  13. If you could time travel, when/where would you go?
  14. Which (if any) real events feature in your book?
  15. What aspect of your setting do you most struggle with?
  16. Do you prefer books set in the time you write about or others?
  17. Share your favourite research book
  18. Best description you've written
  19. What does you writing space look like?
  20. What's the top piece on your story's playlist?
  21. Who will your book be dedicated to? Why?
  22. What's the best feedback/review you've ever had?
  23. How do you advertise your book?
  24. What's the next #HistFic book on your TBR pile?
  25. Favourite quote from history
  26. Tell your story in Emojis
  27. With an unlimited budget, what's your book launch look like?
  28. What's the honest tagline for your book?
  29. Which scene (if any) have you written multiple times?
  30. In a perfect world, who narrates your audiobook?
  31. Spill the beans! What's the last word/line of your book?

Every Monday is a #MondayMusings prompt, and every Tuesday is a #TuesdayTruths prompt, all the others are mixed in with each other!

So, choose a colour scheme which works best for you, and let's have some #HistFic fun!





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