Five tales from the world of the Occultaria of Albion.The Occultaria of Albion explores encounters of the the paranormal, the supernatural and the strange.
Seance On A Train
Four individuals: a clairvoyant, a grieving husband, a journalist and a paranormal investigator, come together for the purpose of a seance. The trainline they are on is known for its strange energies.
Night Thing
Is there a big cat on the rampage in Cobbington Woods? Where has it come from and can it be caught?
The Contactee
A young woman finally decides to confront her UFO experience when she is invited to take part in a research programme at the local university
Danger Deep Water
Is there some sort of terrifying creature living in the Cumbrian lake of Skellwater? Kate and Matilda are determined to find evidence for the bizarre cryptid known as the Archistrian Skod.
Asphalt Séance
Is the young Benjamin Hadley really being haunted by the ghost of Hecate Hopkirk, the outlaw biker he read about in a book?
Dark bleatings, my mysterious tribe! You might remember that I spoke with Richard Daniels of Occultaria of Albion magazine last year (on YouTube – I’ll link it at the bottom of the page if you’re interested). He’s the weird and wonderful brains behind the magazine that reads like real-life myth exploration but is actually fictional. I’ve never quite read anything like it because it really comes across as non-fiction but mysterious and spooky. I’m a fan, myself.
I’m here today to review his recently released collection, which contains 5 totally different but equally unsettling tales of weirdness. Let’s jump in!
Seance on a Train
Horatio bids goodbye to his wife one night before she boards a train, and then never sees her again. Unable to accept that she has simply vanished, he seeks the help of a team to conduct a seance in the very carriage that she apparently disappeared from. What follows is, frankly, batshit insane. The kind of batshit insane that you only find in the mind of Richard Daniels.
I liked it and thought it was a fun story to kick off the book.
Night Thing
Gary and Ruth goes to the woods for some sexy time, but it seems they are not alone…
Later, Casey – a kind of mercenary – is hired to find the thing that possibly ate them. He’s good at his job but apparently a bit short sighted in only one aspect…
I really liked this one because the story wasn’t quite about what I thought it was about, and the ending was great.
The Contactee
Libby agrees to hypnosis by a professor called Concrake so that she might unearth some repressed memories about a UFO experience she claims to have had in her past. However, when things get going, she makes some shocking discoveries and has to make an enormous choice.
This was also a fun one! As with the last story, the ending took me somewhere unexpected and I really enjoyed the finality of what happened.
Danger Deep Water
Kate and Matilda are staying in a remote cabin but – oh no! – it seems an escaped murdered is lurking outside in the woods. Unfortunately for them, it actually gets worse when it turns out that killer dude isn’t the only thing out there they should be worrying about.
This one was a (quite) a bit more savage than the previous stories and a side to Richard’s writing I didn’t know existed.
Asphalt Seance
Bloody hell.
And that’s all I have to say about the finisher.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection, though it’s not my favourite piece of work from this author. In general, I think what might have elevated the stories for me is if I felt more attached to the characters – the stories are quite short with not much time to get to know anyone, so I felt a little disconnected. Though, in saying that, this is very much written in the type of journalistic style (meaning from the same sort of angle) you find in non-fiction magazines or, obviously, Occultaria of Albion. The “facts” with embellishments on the weird events, rather than the victims of said events.
I think people who enjoy this approach and kind of writing would really get a kick out of this collection. If you’d like to check out the book, author, or my interview with him, I’ve popped some links below for you:
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD DANIELS
Bleeeeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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