Dark bleatings, tribe! In just a few weeks, Spring Haunts will be upon us. For those not in the know, this is an excellent writing event that includes writing and author workshops. More information and ticket links will be a bit further along in this post, but first, let me bring in the ever-spooky and hard-working Alex Davis. He’s been a good pal to us here at Happy Goat Horror, always keeping us informed of awesome events like Spring Haunts, and today he’s written us a little something.
Take it away, Alex…
Top 5 horror books set in Yorkshire
By Alex Davis
Yorkshire is often a county renowned for its ghost stories, and its many atmospheric and creepy locations – which of course makes it the perfect location for the SPRING HAUNTS horror writing weekend! And while we get ready for the main event on the 11th and 12th May, why not check out our list of horror titles set in ‘God’s Own Country’?
Wesolowski’s Six Stories series is, for me, severely underrated, and closes with Demon, set in the fictional town of Ussalthwaite. The entire series follows a podcaster who explores some of the most terrible crimes of the past, digging deeper into them and finding them perhaps less clear-cut than goes down in the history books. Demon explores a possession case from the mid-90s and is another fascinating read in the set, all of which are well worth your reading time.
Matt spoke more about the book and the series in a great BBC interview, which you can find at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-60207623
The work of Alison Littlewood might be familiar to many of you, and over a series of excellent short stories, novellas and novels she has cemented a reputation as a great contemporary Gothic author. The Crow Garden is Victorian-set story taking place at an asylum and following an ‘alienist’ – someone we would now know as a psychiatrist – as he tries to help the young and beautiful Mrs Harleston. But as both the resident phrenologist and a mesmerist are brought in, things begin to take a darker turn…
In many ways Hardaker’s second book is rather hard to classify, but is a fascinating read, also enhanced by some superb illustrations from Chris Riddell. Hardaker herself describes it as the strangest thing she has ever written, which is probably a fair enough assessment! The story centres on David, who in his youth sees a series of ‘mudmen’ that might be linked to a series of disappearances in the area. It’s only as he becomes older that he comes to deeper understand the even more bizarre truth about what has been going on. Mothtown has plenty of horror elements but blends other genres in seamlessly for a unique reading experience.
Many of you may have heard of Anthony Horowitz, a bestselling author who had deftly turned his hand to a wide range of genres and fields over the years. And while Raven’s Gate may not be one of his best-known, this is a book loaded with demons and black magic, all set within a rehabilitation programme for teenagers at a Yorkshire farm. It’s also the first in The Power of Five series if you want to get stuck into some serious reading! It has all the hallmarks of quality you’d expect from Horowitz’s work, presented through a much darker lens. Horowitz himself even wrote a film script for Raven’s Gate, which sadly seems to have stalled for now, that he described as ‘like Terminator, but with demons.’ Sign me up!
Probably more renowned as a historical novelist, Dunmore’s ghost story – written for the sadly short-lived Hammer Books imprint – calls upon some of those elements to tell a chilling tale set within the time period of World War Two. Ghosts and history of course are a perfect pairing, and Dunmore writes in her afterword: ‘Silence about the past does not mean that the past has died down… We may hide from the past, but it will always find us.’ The story itself has a fabulous setting of an abandoned RAF airbase at East Riding, and uses its evocative location to great effect.
And with SPRING HAUNTS, we’ll be bringing even more horror to Yorkshire! The event runs on the 11th and 12th May and will feature two lively days of horror workshops, interviews and more at the atmospheric York Guildhall. The event will be bringing together some great talent from the area – Robert Edgar (The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror, Venue Stories), Tim Major (Snakeskins, Hope Island), Amanda Mason (The Wayward Girls, The Hiding Place) and Mark Morris (That Which Stands Outside, The Wolves of London) as well as weekend facilitator Alex Davis.
You can check out all the info, and pick up your tickets, at http://tinyurl.com/springhaunts
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