If I’d just stumbled out of a coma this morning, I’d still know what time of year it was. The air has a savage bite to it and a faint touch of sulphur. It’s getting dark a little earlier every evening and the urge to stay in bed of a morning is that wee bit stronger.
It must be nearly Halloween.
It’s easy to forget amid all of the rubber masks and plastic pumpkins filled with sweeties that Halloween is in fact the Celtic New Year. That’s right, the bountiful summer is over and the promise of a bitter winter lies on the horizon.
This was never supposed to be the time to knock on doors demanding treats – it’s always been the time for humankind to realise its place in the universe and know that nature is planning a cull. Halloween is when we remember that all things must come to an end. So in the face of death, our ancestors thought it better to throw a big party rather than hide in the shadows.
Bit of a bleak start to the blog, I know, but give me a break here, it’s bloody cold and I heard something about Siberian geese that didn’t sound to promising at all.
So, if there are any open fires left in the houses of the world, then I urge you to spark them up and get the tea on because it’s time for a ghost story. I’m not just speculating either; the publishing world will back me up on this one by releasing a flurry of spectral tales within a couple of weeks of each other.
You can always count on Susan Hill for a good old fashioned ghost story and her latest offering, The Small Hand, doesn’t disappoint. At least that’s what I’ve been told by reliable sources. I’ll get round to reading it eventually but for now, the best I can do is to recommend her previous spooky yarns, most notably The Woman in Black.
By the way, if you ever want to scare a surprise into your undies, don’t pass up the chance to watch the stage show of the same name. We’re talking old-school horror here. Think the Turn of the Screw or the Fall of the House of Usher and you’re on the right track.
Michelle Paver’s new book is full of chills too. If you’ve ever been a teenager with a leaning towards pre-historical fiction, then you’ll probably remember her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. Dark Matter is a different animal altogether as it is set in the post-tool-age era, more specifically, the 1930’s and follows an Arctic expedition that takes a turn for the weird when people start to go missing. It’s a great chiller filled with existential paranoia and a mounting claustrophobia – just what you need for the winter – but, genre aside, it’s just well paced, well written, throat-gripping yarn.
And just when you thought it was safe to into your local bookstore, Peter Ackroyd’s new book, The English Ghost: Spectres Through Time, quite nearly takes the piss with its thoroughness. It’s not a ghost story as such but rather an exploration into the history of ghosts in England. In this case, the fourth wall is pretty well broken down so you won’t get the immersive dread of an actual ghost story but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it.
The book itself is as much a very specific story of the English as it is a description of the ghosts they see. Not only will you learn something but you won’t feel like you’re sitting through a lecture – Ackroyd’s writing flows with a lilt of humour that makes the book a very compelling read.
Or maybe you just want to scare the holy bejesus out of yourself...
Why not try Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill. Set in modern-day London, this is a haunted house tale for the 21st century. Not only does the book deliver a strange unearthly presence wrought with doom, he also brings to life the very real horrors of modern life in the stories of the inhabitants of the block. If you think that you’ve become too desensitised by torture-porn (Saw, Hostel) to enjoy an old fashioned horror story, then maybe this is the book for you.
Anyway, hopefully none of that will give you nightmares. I’m away to carve a pumpkin onto a pumpkin. I bet no-one has thought of that before.
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