One of the problems – or, perhaps, the best things – about Gothic Horror is that it does tend to be sad. Usually, there are at least one or two characters who don’t deserve whatever is happening to them, or who have done something which is being punished in a way which does not in any way fit the crime. M.R. James’s writing is perhaps a constant reiteration of the old proverb, “curiosity killed the cat”, but curiosity in itself isn’t a bad thing; while Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula finds himself in the initial dangerous situation through no fault of his own. Perhaps the saddest story in this anthology is The Lady Who Dances in the Ashes , which was first published by Sley House in Tales of Sley House 2022 . Here is the story of a man who is facing professional and financial ruin as a result of suggesting that mental health patients can be treated in the community rather than institutionalised. He is one of the most sympathetic narrators you will find in the book, but he bad...
 |
| © Christine Taylor |
I wrote Death At Priest’s Acre for a callout by Quill and Crow, who were looking for stories to fill a “Bleak Midwinter” anthology. It wasn’t the right fit for them and, to be honest, the beginning and end needed a revisit which has been provided for this anthology. Beginnings and ends are very important in Gothic Horror: they are what tell you that whatever terrible happening has been taking place has successfully scarred the characters involved. If the events of the story aren’t enough to leave an indelible mark on the character, they aren’t going to be enough to leave a mark on the reader.
Priest’s Acre was a completely new place to me, which popped into my head one day and I just loved the idea of writing the story of the vicar there. However, as I wrote it, I discovered that the priests who the place was named after were not, in fact, Christian priests at all, but from a time predating Christianity. Then, I knew that druidic magic would play a role in the story – and it became an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. The immovable object in Death at Priest’s Acre is the Regency and Victorian Christian ideology, which allowed men to buy their way into the priesthood despite not having a heart for Christian values. The unstoppable force is represented by the priest’s wife, who is a pagan at heart and who seduces the main character, who is searching for a sense of belonging and finds it with her.
Death at Priest’s Acre remains the first and only time I’ve ever written anything which has a semi-detailed description of sex in. There are what BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) would call “sexual references” in a few of my stories, but Death at Priest’s Acre borders on the erotic at times. This was a deliberate decision which I made: the main character in the story in a typical repressed Victorian gentleman, who has clearly had sex before but with a Victorian lady who was as repressed as he is. Yet, during the story, he is experiencing an affair with a woman who is entirely confident with her own sexuality, and who brings out the same in him. For me as the writer, I found this difficult. Sex is not something I’m comfortable writing about, mostly because I define myself as asexual, so it’s not something which appeals to me. However, it is an essential part of the story.
Having rewritten the beginning and end of the story, I can now look at Death at Priest’s Acre and realise that it’s reached its potential. This is a story which explores a lot more issues than some of the other tales in this book. It’s not an easy one, and it’s one which includes violence against women, which is not a decision I have taken lightly, but it earns its place in this book as a creepy winter story which explores the darkness which exists in humanity against the backdrop of the darkest time of the year.
[You can find Judith's other blogs in this series here]
Comments
Post a Comment