Well, we're so close to release day for Beneath A Darkening Sky , and I've celebrated this by becoming a member of the Horror Writers' Association ! I also had a set of author photos taken in a local graveyard, complete with an entire flock of sheep watching me as some previous visitor had left the gate open for them. So now, I'm faced with the decision of which story to share with you. We've been through a few for this blog series, and I'm left with three: Guidman Trowie (a tale set in Orkney and inspired by the unique folklore of the islands); Moonsong (a love song from a werewolf to the moon); and Eaves-Drip , which is the story I'm going to talk about in this blog. It's no coincidence that these three stories have been left. Along with Ay Atomics , they're the short and (not-always-very-)sweet ones. Eaves-Drip was written while we were on holiday in Perthshire one autumn, but it goes back to Lincolnshire, where I grew up. Lincolnshire is ful...
Arthur Rackham's timeless illustration (from Wikipedia ) There was a big push a few years ago to rewrite fairy tales. Snow White and the Huntsman got a less than warm reception, but Maleficent was more kindly received. Not wanting to be left out, I also had a go at rewriting a fairy tale, although I think I was a little bit late to the party. Memories of the Grand Tour was based on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel , and features my only female narrator. I don’t know particularly why I chose a woman’s voice for this one. Generally, I find men in Gothic Horror to be easier to write about, simply because they had more possibilities and options during the time in which I set most of my writing. A Victorian woman sitting alone in a pub, for example, would say a great deal about her character before the story even starts, whereas male characters in the same situation wouldn’t even invoke a raised eyebrow. Strangely, by contrast, both Gothic Horror novels which I am cur...