Crowvus Book Blog

"The Spirit of Loughmoe Abbey" by Megan Wynne Plot Gwen is supposed to be home-schooled but her mum's mental health problems mean she isn't receiving any schooling. When it is clear that her mum needs hospital treatment to recover, Gwen is sent to an unusual boarding school where students are helped to communicate with spirits. While there, she is confronted with an unsettling truth about her past. Review I read this book in a day, so that is always a good sign! I really enjoyed the mix of normal and supernatural that happens in the book, and how it weaves together so seamlessly. There is an air of mystery around the staff at the school, in particular the principal, which I would love to be developed. I found Gwen thoroughly annoying at first. She had every trait I dislike in "home-schooled" children - I was home-schooled myself and get annoyed when people equate home-schooling to no-schooling or random trips to educational establishments. Maths is important...

 I know I've posted a couple of times already about this object, but today I'm adding an extra slant to it, exploring the myths and stories of mirrors and the supernatural. If you would like to read about how I came by the mirror in the first place, have a look at this blog . I've wondered multiple times if this object was a great big hoax - certainly, there seems to be nothing about John and Ann anywhere - but it almost doesn't matter. The wood, the nails and the glass itself are all of a decent age, and there is no impossibility in the eyes of a writer. Recently, I was struck by how much light the stained and marked surface produces. One night, on a near-full moon, it was enough to throw a long stretch of light about twenty times its own size across the room. It must have seemed equally frightening and enthralling for people in the past, that this flat, cold surface could redirect not only light but heat. But mirrors were not readily available for many people until ve...

Macbeth Seeing the Ghost of Banquo by Théodore Chassériau  Following on from last week, I'm sticking with the topic of the supernatural and looking at the history of ghosts. I've lived in a few haunted houses over the years (you can find some of These Experiences here ), and I've found that there are few things which capture a peaked emotion or imagination quick like tales of the paranormal. So, for today's #HistFicThursdays blog, here's a story or two of real ghosts in history... Who knows, perhaps I'll be reading some of your books inspired by them in the not-too-distant future. According to historians, the oldest portrayal of a ghost is from a Babylonian tablet . As someone who loves studying stones (check out my book about the carved stones of Stempster here ), I love the vague promise of this image. According to those in the know, Babylonian ghosts existed because they suffered from a deficiency - in this case: company. Ghosts are exorcised by following the...

As a writer, you're increasingly told to show don't tell . It's one of those phrases which has infiltrated all lessons from the highest ranked authors to the little primary school child taking their first steps into writing. Ironically, there are now so many clichés in this particular idea that it is now becoming something of a cliché itself! But one particularly significant area of inspiration and writing when this works at its best is when we are dealing with the supernatural. By its very meaning, the supernatural transcends the laws of nature. It's our job as writers of historical fiction not only to convey that but - and this is a real biggie! - to acknowledge and accept that these beliefs were true. Belief in these ideas (which, at best, now get you labelled as quirky) was commonplace in history, and you need not look too far back to find them. According to surveys run ten years ago, 34% of people in the UK said they believed in ghosts, and 42% of people in the USA...

Thank you Judith Crow for writing this book review. Mysteries and Misadventure - Tales from the Highlands by Aaron Mullins I do like short stories. There’s just something about having the option to dive into a book for five minutes and emerge having completed an entire story. Aaron Mullins' Mysteries and Misadventures is a collection of short stories which are inspired by the area we live in. It always helps when you can put yourself in the place where the stories are set but, never fear, Aaron has a genuine gift for descriptive writing which allows people from any place to put themselves in the settings he skilfully creates. I regularly do the “first read” of the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story competition, meaning that I can be reading over a hundred supernatural stories in a very short space of time. That makes me choosy and means I come at any such stories with a very critical eye. Mysteries and Misadventures does stand up well in this light. Again, that descriptive writing is wh...