Laptop Repairs and Vicious Valentine Verses
My laptop finally got fixed so I am back to it. Here is a little something for Valentine’s Day.
Cauldron of Chaos! A Red Cape Publishing creation!
Cover art by David Paul. Published by Red Cape Publishing. ‘Cauldron of Chaos’ is coming very soon…
Thank you so much to Red Cape Publishing for including my short piece ‘The Night Hag’ in your upcoming edition, ‘Cauldron of Chaos.’ What a great title that is!
Peter and Leanne Blakey-Novis of Red Cape Publishing are always so supportive of indie authors and have been a source of great encouragement and support to me over the few years I have been at this. Thank you Red Cape Publishing, I appreciate you more than I can say.
Fabulous illustrations and cover image copyright of David Paul.
Hanbury Arms Haunted Hotel and Museum
Not a story title, an actual place not too far from me. Might well spend a night or at least go for a visit one of these days.
Hanbury House Haunted Hotel and Museum Pontypool, South Wales.
Please Note: I am not sponsored by or otherwise affiliated with Hanbury Arms, I just thought it looked great. Since it is a (relatively) local business I wanted to spread the word a bit. That’s all.
If you go, let me know how you got on! Photos always welcome!
Photograph by kind permission of Tracey and Nigel Turner.
Medieval Torture and Punishment
I have shared this post on a couple of social media sites so I thought I would share it here.
Often over the years I have looked to medieval forms of punishment and torture to inspire my horror writing. Some of it is truly horrific in every sense. I often end up getting so absorbed in the history and folklore that I waste hours just reading and shaking my head in amazement when I should be writing! Did you ever see Wire in the Blood, based on the books of the same name by Val McDermid? Some of those scenes were medieval or inspired by the same. An excellent series in my view. Anyway, do you ever delve into the horror of the past? True horror, that exists in the history books because it really took place? The say truth is stranger than fiction. It's often crueller than fiction, too.
If there is anyone out there, if this blog does not exist in some lonely, unique vacuum populated by lost posts and drifting authors, please leave a comment. Thanks!
Check out the ‘Not Horror’ pages to find out a little more about what I do!
While you’re there, why not enter the current competition?
Written Undead: Award Nominations
‘Written Undead’ Awards - now accepting NOMINATIONS for best zombie books of 2022.
2 Categories (each with 1st, 2nd & 3rd)
1. Best Book of the Year
2. Best New Book in a Series
Ponder these Rules and choose wisely:
1. original publication date must be in CY 2022
2. Author(s) must be current member(s) of the Written Undead FB group.
3. Authors may not nominate themselves.
4. Topics MUST include zombie characters or themes.
5. Books must be widely commercially available via at least one online sales site (Amazon, B&N, BAM, Godless, etc)
This year - awards will be cool certificates that authors can print out and frame for their “love me” wall in addition to the eternal awe of their fans, friends & family (as well as the jealous rage & vengeful thoughts of their fellow authors who were callously rejected) for being immortalized as the best of 2022!!
Post your nominations in the comments in this format:
Book Title:
Author:
Award Category:
Publication Date:
Nominations will be open through January 31, 2023.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/WrittenUndead/permalink/1336609470525893/
2023 so far…
You might find this update in total contrast to my previous hopeful, happy wishes for the new year, despite our Christmas having been a relatively stressful one (see previous blog post.) So be warned. I have decided, for once, to let the cynic in me have a say. Nobody comes here to read or comment anyhow, so I think I am safe to have a rant (there’s a small one, right there.)
So far, 2023 has been nothing but a bag of the proverbial shit. I am usually a very upbeat, positive person who manages to see the bright side in most things. I have something of a reputation for that in my family. It takes a lot to make me otherwise, but so far this year, it has come close.
Firstly, I realise how blessed we were to get mum safely out of hospital and both she and my sister much healthier and on the mend now. Since then though…
Properties on my husband’s place of work (where he manages) have been broken into three times already since New Year’s Day. Three times. Count ‘em. The most recent one was into a charity shop. Just how much of a lowlife do you have to be to steal from charity shops? Stressful for the property owners, a headache for my husband who has to deal with the fallout. This is on top of the usual pain in the neck trouble makers who have nothing to do but hang around and make life a misery for other people.
Five or six items were stolen out of my husband’s car. One of the scumbag thieves had the nerve (and the stupidity) to throw a First Aid kit and its contents over my railing. Trash he had no interest in, obviously. The bloody nerve. Never mind, he was kind enough to leave us his fingerprints. (There that cursed bright side again!)
Our elderly neighbours, friends we look in on and look after as best we can, have both been very ill. They stayed with family over Christmas. However, shortly after they came home, the man (I won’t use his name here) went out in the rain to nip to the chemist around the corner. Why he didn’t message me and ask me to go I will never know. Anyway, long story short, he slipped and fell, banging his head. A lady saw it all and called for help. Two men rushed over and carried him home, where he was later checked out by a nurse. He’s okay, but at 80 he looks like he has done a couple of rounds of MMA.
Our friend’s elderly mother fell in her home and broke her leg. She was taken into hospital, where she has since contracted Covid. She has to stay in indefinitely.
Our other friend’s brother suffered a major stroke and is now in an induced coma. Who knows how long he will be hospitalised for?
My nephew had his hand trapped in a door and broke his knuckles (grown man, not a child, but even so.)
So there you have it. That is the first week of the new year. Nothing but trouble, stress, crime, stress, illness, stress and injury. Oh, and did I mention stress?
It’s okay. I think writing that was therapeutic in a small way. I won’t dwell on misery or fall into ‘woe is me’ mode. There are a lot of good things in my life I am very thankful and grateful for.
Even so, it does you good to have a moan now and then.
Happy New Year everyone.
By the way. 2023; you can start getting better from here on out, if you like…
Got a moan or a complaint, or just want to get something off your chest? Fire away below. Just bear in mind that bullying, racism or general abuse will not be tolerated here.
Christmas Day
We had a lovely but also a stressful Christmas. Mum was taken into hospital Christmas morning with breathing difficulties. My sister, who lives with her, was a trooper at getting mum the help she needed, even though she was/is unwell herself. Thankfully they are both on the mend now. Mum is back home, just had a video call with them both. Such a relief to see them chatting and laughing! Thank you Sylvia Williams for all you do. Thank you to all my sisters Sherry Cullen, Joyce Ward and Wendy Mitchell for always looking out for us all and for being what I have begun to think of as 'The Mitchell Dream Team!" Thank you also, to our under-financed and over-burdened NHS staff and the always amazing paramedics. We are indescribably lucky to have access to such health care here. Christmas is all about family ultimately, for me at least. We are very fortunate to have each other. I hope all of you reading this have had a happy and healthy Christmas, with the ones you love close by. Pets count - they are family too! #NHS #SaveOurNHS #thankyou Tell me what your Christmas looked like!
Merry Christmas and Thank You!
Here it is, Christmas Eve! Thank you to everyone who continues to support my writing and who encourage me to keep going. You know who you are! I appreciate you more than you can know. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
Competition Winners!
Thanks everyone for all of your imaginative entries to my recent competition. I would like to announce that the winners are
Winning parcels will be sent out asap. I would also like to announce that there is a runner up who will win a free download of any one of my books, of their choice
Lisa Day
Thanks everyone! Keep your eyes open for more news, competitions and more!
Hag’s Breath - coming soon on Audio!
‘Hag’s Breath: A Collection of Witchcraft and Wickedness’ will soon be available as an audiobook!
Narrated by the excellent Paula Hines, I will keep you updated on progress.
Kobo!
Wakeful Children - Now on Kobo!
Just a quick note to say that Wakeful Children: A Collection of Horror and Supernatural Tales, is now available on Kobo.
Thanks!
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED!
COMPETITION TIME! UK OLY!
Some great entries via Facebook and here. Thanks to everyone who took part. A winner will be announced soon.
I will try to get your prizes out to you before Christmas, but please bear in mind Royal Mail strikes plus the time of year, when demands on postal services are so stretched. Thank you.
Now to read through those entries…
Who or what is in the distance on this foggy beach? Where is it going? What is it doing? Use your imaginations. Make it interesting, funny, frightening: whatever. The answer that makes me laugh, think or shiver the most will be the winner. I may even pick two or three winners! Prizes may include bottles, beanies, gilets, hoodies, signed books and more. Get those brains going!
Only entries on my Facebook Page or website will count.
Ends midnight GMT Friday 16th December.
Competition in no way associated with Facebook.
Judges decision is final!
P.S Someone once described this competition format as 'weird.' Is it weird? Or just a bit different? Let me know!
The End of the Path
Just a little video to show you the inspiration for The End of the Path, written for a free Christmas read a few years ago. It is still on my website if you want to take a look.
Hag’s Breath Giveaway! Work Your Magic!
Hag’s Breath: A Collection of Witchcraft and Wickedness
If anyone feels like sending some magic my way and sending the number of reviews upwards (honest reviews of course) that would be great! Regardless, it's Halloween and I am feeling generous. Below is the link to claim a download of 'Hag's Breath: A Collection of Witchcraft and Wickedness.' Very few codes left so get it while you can and please, consider reviewing. Thank you and enjoy!
Llancaiach Fawr
This past Thursday evening I went on a Ghost Tour of the beautiful sixteenth century Llancaiach Fawr Manor with my mother -in-law and daughter-in-law.
Llancaiach Fawr has been featured on television many times. It was used as a location for filming (I believe) ‘Dr. Who’ amongst other things and is well known for its beauty and intriguing history. Above all, it is famed for being ‘one of the most haunted houses in Wales.’ Taking the guided tour by torchlight, it is easy to believe that might be true.
Even the grounds leading up to the house are thought to be haunted, many people reporting seeing figures there. Various parts of the house are believed to be haunted, some areas more so than others. I am being deliberately vague just in case anyone plans to go there. I don’t want to give anything away.
Anyway, on the tour a few people reported being poked in the back, having their hair pulled and other similar things. Now, it might be that some of us are highly suggestible, especially in such an atmosphere of expectation. It might also be that these people were genuinely touched by spirits. Who am I to say one way or the other? However, there was one thing that gave us all pause, as a group. Only a very small thing, but it was odd.
We had all gathered in the final room of the tour. One of the guides was telling us about the ghosts that are said to haunt that particular area. We were having a moment of silence, listening for anything out of the ordinary, when a tiny stone rolled across the floor.
Big deal, you might think. Except I was sitting opposite the direction it came from. There was some muted torchlight on, allowing me to see the feet of the people opposite. They were leaning against a table, nothing behind it but a bare, whitewashed wall. I was looking at the ground, concentrating. I did not see the stone, but we all heard it rolling across the stone floor.
A few of us said, at the same time, “What was that?” One of the tour guides (there were two) switched on the big torch and began to search the ground. She found the tiny stone in the middle of the room. To demonstrate the noise, she threw it so that it rolled across the floor and sure enough, it was the same sound.
Nothing big. No apparitions or strange vapours. No moaning or rattling of chains. But something caused that stone to be thrown between the legs of those people standing opposite, to come to rest in the centre of the room. Strange.
I should also add that two of our group were given EMF metres to carry round. I am on the fence about whether these things work. I suspect that there might be natural electricity, so to speak, in certain areas, or electrical cables or whatever that we don’t know about that set the devices off. Regardless, one of the EMF metres flickered quite vigorously at certain points during the tour, mostly when the names of individuals who existed were spoken. Like I say, I am not entirely convinced, but it was interesting.
There were definitely parts of the house that made me uncomfortable to stand in, especially in the dark. Suggestibility, or genuine haunting? Who knows.
The house is most definitely creepy at night, as beautiful as it is. A family lived in it until fairly recently. They have reported all kinds of weird, unsettling events happening there.
All I know is, I would not sleep in it and I certainly wouldn’t stay there alone! Don’t listen to me though, go see for yourself.
They are about to run mock Witch Trials there, based on real-life trials that were held there. If I get a chance to visit when they are on, I will share the experience here.
Happy Halloween!
Put you in the mood to visit? Find out more here: Llancaiach Fawr -What's On
Have you been there? Experience anything? Feel free to share in the comments!
Witch’s Fingers…
Perfect for the time of year, for those of you who can bake! I am hopeless at baking generally speaking, will do you a good cooked dinner though. Anyway, if you have a go at this recipe, it would be fun to see the outcome (photos) in the thread below, with a word or two on how they tasted.
Credit: The Alamanac, A Seasonal Guide to 2022 by Lia Leendertz
Halloween 2022 Free Read is up!
Halloween 2022 Free Read - The Convict - by S P Oldham
Find my latest offering, a short story based on prison hulks, here:Halloween 2022 Free Read - The Convict
If you enjoy it please let me know. Feel free to share! Happy Halloween!
Halloween Giveaway Event
Only ten 'Mystery Bags' available! Also down to the last few copies of Wakeful Children. If you want one for Halloween or Christmas then get it while you can! Comment below if you are interested and I will pm you. Thank you. UK ONLY.
