WRAITHS AND STAYS - Cabaret of Dread stories revealed

Every Saturday I’m revealing the tale behind the tale of Cabaret of Dread Vol.1’s main stories, together with a short excerpt of each to whet your appetite.

WRAITHS AND STAYS

This ghostly horror is set in a medieval-like, dystopian future where darkness, depravity and death threaten men. I wrote it for a small press anthology which sadly never happened, but in 2011 I was interviewed by fellow dark fiction writer Erin Cole and offered the story to accompany the interview. 

Subsequent to its appearance in Cabaret of Dread, Wraiths and Stays was published in print, in Dreams of Duality by Red Skies Press. It is a short, short - at only 663 words.

So – what’s Wraiths and Stays about? 

The narrator is self-imprisoned in a rotting tower with hundreds of other men, all living in fear of a plague of spectral wraiths haunting the once green and fertile land. Staring from a window slit, he recognises wives and mistresses, mothers, daughters, sisters... The women sweep the earth and skies in half-dead hunger whilst the men find solace in each others' flesh. While the narrator reminisces his own sexual encounters over the years, can he resist the base urges being played out all around him?

Inspiration

The opening sentences came to me on the walk down the hall from my bedroom to the bathroom (no 'ensuite' for me sadly). This happens a lot - no soul-seeking, no begging with the muse, just out-of-the-blue stories delivered into my head and begging to be written.

Excerpt

We didn’t speak of it, for how could we? A blessing bell, the priests said but we knew the clanging peel sounded the death knell in our midst, announcing the journey to hell for the fairest and most sweet. Not even the healthy amongst them were saved from the buboids, eruptions and pox. And now, with them fallen like God-forsaken flies - daughters of Beelzebub – I tried to forget what my own looked like. Mother, frail but proud. My girls – a beguiling trilogy - unwed, unbetrothed. Even my wife, traitor that she was and bringer of plague to this island; she played still in my mind, a rotting wretch. Here we wallow, barely buoyant in the floods of death she has left in her wake, in this place that once drowned in roses and where trees dripped with pungent medlars and cider apples. All gone.

Out of high windows we stared at the seething, spiralling mass of living decay. They ruptured below us, then flew to our rooftops to snatch with sharp teeth at our desperate gazes. With every attack we fell to the floor, eyes closed in fear as our only protection.

It is days now; weeks. Food is on ration. Unseasonal snow hardens the ground making crops, seeds and grain inaccessible. Taunting voices steal through stone walls making whispers of love and a promise of more. Around me the weak seek solace in each others’ arms and between the hard legs of fighters and labourers. I don’t want to give in... Can I resist temptation? An intimacy only hinted at amongst the dandiest of types now seems so warmly and wantonly inviting....

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Like the excerpt? The full tale is waiting for you in Cabaret of Dread!  By visiting the book's 'Look Inside' feature on Amazon you can also read the opening tale DRESSING-UP BOX, a few pages of SMILING CYRUS and a handful of mini-tales.

Of course, the best way to read this - and the many other stories in Vol.1 of Cabaret of Dread, is to download it. If you do, I am ever thankful... 

Buy/Download Cabaret of Dread from
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Bits and Knobs

Just catching up with a few snatches of news...

Frozen Fear Deluxe Anthology

I'm very pleased to announced that Wraiths and Stays, which first appeared as a Guest Write when deliciously dark horror and paranormal mystery author Erin Cole interviewed me back in May 2011 has been accepted into the upcoming Frozen Fear Deluxe Anthology from Static Movement Press.

The antho. is being edited by Mark Crittenden, horror author and ed. of Red Skies Press which published Their Dark Masters, Tales of Extreme Vampire Horror in which my stories The Infanta Triptych and Walls of Flesh appeared. Thanks Mark!

Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers

I'm getting my hands well and truly filthy scrabbling through the vaults of TK'n'C and have posted two crime stories up on the site so far. Sonia Gets Hers - a pacey tale of revenge with a twist by Copper Smith, and A Short Break by TK'n'C regular Keith Gingell; if you thought the UK's Mad Dogs series was great - you'll love this.

There are loads more stories waiting in the wings so I'm hoping to post the next one in the coming days.

TK'n'C on Twitter

If you're a Twitter user, the TK'n'C editors have started a new hashtag, so whenever you tweet about the site, if you add #tknc somewhere in your tweet, then Twitter will gather our tweets all together. Just type #tknc into Twitter's search box to see what I mean or go to http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23tknc.

A Zombie Cock and Bull Story

My mate and fellow TK'n'C ed, the infamous crime writer Col Bury has been venturing outside of his usual genre lately. He's strayed deep into my personal comfort zone of horror with a very naughty - and rib-tickling tale of zombie love and... bits. Read Supper Time, on Christopher Grant's new site Eaten Alive. And hear more about what Col has to say on the matter on Col's blog.

Planting a Seed of Horror

I have just finished reading the Kindle version of Ania Ahlborn's SEED and can wholeheartedly recommend it. Accidents and shadows, backwoods and children whose grins reach from one side of their face to another - this terrifying story throws you in at the deep end and takes you on a trembling ride of fear. Don't take anything for granted. I loved it.

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Erin Cole's Beltane Breakfast Interview with Lily Childs

Friend, fellow horror-writer, Predictioneer and February Femme Fatale Erin Cole was kind enough to invite me over to her blog for a natter recently. And she has chosen today - May 1st - Beltane - to post the interview; a date that means a lot to me for many reasons.

To take a little nosey...
Interview with Spinetingler Award Nominee Lily Childs

There's also a new, previously unpublished short story Wraiths and Stays to tickle you, as well as some exciting news about my first Kindle publication which is hanging in the ether as I write.

Hope to meet you there. And Erin, thank you for the place on the couch.

Sun-up over Eastbourne at Beltane 2011

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May 1st - a date for your diary...

It's my honour to have been invited into beguiling and talented author Erin Cole's world as a guest writer. We'll be having a chat and a gossip about writing, inspirations and the future, and Erin will kindly host a new, unpublished short fiction story of mine Wraiths and Stays.

So please put 1st May into your diaries - I hope to see you in the the lovely writerly realm of http://erincolelive.blogspot.com. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Beltane.

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