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...
This month being #HistFicMay has got me thinking about my closest-to-being-finished WIP, Poisoned Pilgrimage. As much as possible, I'm attempting to answer all the prompts based on this one and hoping that it might spur me on to actually write the last few chapters...
Alas, so far, time has been a rare commodity this May!
That being said, we did sit down this evening and watch the announcement of the newly elected Pope Leo XIV and listen (via the most appalling automatic translation software!) to his first address as pope. Whatever your religious beliefs, this was a moment for the history books. What happens during his tenure remains to be seen, but it was a deeply significant and spiritual moment to join people in every corner of the world and look forward in hope. While the commentary teams were discussing what the choice of Leo might represent, I was able to (with a small amount of smugness, I'm not going to lie!) impress Judith with my knowledge of the fact the Medici popes favoured the name Leo.
The Medici family feature heavily in Poisoned Pilgrimage, although it is a little while before their papal years. Piero "The Unfortunate" de Medici is one of the book's major players, but the pope at this time was the infamous Rodrigo Borgia, Alexander VI. It is between the artistry of Florence and the grandeur of Rome that Poisoned Pilgrimage is set, as the political rivalry plays out, not just between the two cities, but also between the Italian states and Spain.
Known predominantly for his nepotism and his shameless flouting of the church's rules, Alexander made as many enemies as he did friends, and his legacy is generally not regarded as a great one. At best, he was a family man, but he exhibited a shocking lack of humanitarian concern in the management of the newly discovered Americas, and was not adverse to using the individuals of his family for the advancement of the Borgias as a whole. But, as the history books show, his obsessive lust for ownership and power were to lead to the downfall of the Borgia family who, over the following century, faded into obscurity.
All that being said, there is very little evidence that Alexander stooped to the depths of which he is often accused, nor is it likely that Lucrezia went around poisoning people. And yet the jealous onlookers, frightened bystanders, and horrified members of the religious orders could hardly be blamed for watching the abuse of power Alexander exhibited and questioning just how he got away with it... A little bit like how many of us feel today about certain world leaders!
Although Alexander makes the perfect gangster-esque pope for books like mine, I'm sure - absolutely positive! - that Pope Leo XIV will not be like those Renaissance popes. There is something very reassuring about the return to the original role of pope of recent years. I wonder what books will be written about him in five hundred years time...
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