Dear all,
As Halloween draws near and the spirits gather at the edges waiting to be beckoned through, we wanted to let you know that we’ve released a spirit of our own in the form of Book 24. This issue is entirely devoted to ghost stories partly inspired by my deep dive into the ghost story tradition this year by way of my ghost story writing workshops.
One thing this submission call-out has proved is that ghost stories are very difficult to write. We had plenty of very good horror stories – I probably could have filled an extra issue with just horror stories. Many of these were horror stories with supernatural elements, yes, but that didn’t make them ghost stories. To quote E.F. Benson on the writing of ghost stories:
‘The narrator, I think, must succeed in frightening themselves, before they can think of frightening their readers.’
I wholeheartedly agree. As a writer, in order to create an unsettling ghost story, you must first explore what it is inside you that makes your skin prickle and bristle; what it is that you fear – like Will Nuth’s story, The Advent of the Bells – the thing that relentlessly pursues him is both in the interior of his mind and also, in reality, outside, stalking him.
The best ghost stories tap into very human anxieties – primal and otherwise, as well as the ordinary turned strange. The successful ghost stories for me are the ones that tap into the psychology of either the ghost, or the narrator. Often with an unreliable narrator dealing with a past trauma. Ro Hollinrake does this particularly well in her story, Why Won’t You Let Me Go, where the narrator explores the devastating, suffocating, complicated and claustrophobic happening of a female friendship gone horribly wrong.
Elements of relatability and emotional truth are really key for me in what makes a good ghost story. I get a lot of submissions from writers who are clearly writing what they think might be scary, but none of the substance of the psychology of fear is actually there. So it often comes across as clichéd.
Barry Charman’s tale, Reverse, taps into something else entirely, a future yet to materialise looking back into a past that cannot be erased. In this world it is possible to view and rewind a crime scene, to look forensically, to zone in as it hangs in the air on a screen before you. Unbelievable, you may think at first. But is it, really? We are all slaves to the ever evolving machines that we feed each moment of everyday. It’s coming, they said. Well, my friend, it’s probably already here. The ghost lingers, uneraseable.
Subtlety is also key to a good ghost story. In Robert Edgar’s story, Raby Road, the haunting in this story lies in what is implied, what is suggested and the unseen violence of the malevolent spirit existing on the landing – the halfway space of the stairs, linking above and below – a space of transience often believed to be where spirits of the dead become ensnared.
Originality in interpretation and idea for a ghost story is also something I look for: Abigail Moss’s, Hello, My name is Andy, was partly selected for its unusual setting – a dental surgery is not the usual sort of setting for a ghost story, the haunting occurring around a diorama displayed at reception, but its sterility is what makes it a chilling read.
Ghost stories with haunted objects are also a favourite of mine. In Mayfly Everlasting by Thomas Taylor, a bookbinder and bookseller specialising in restorations of old and antiquated books makes an irresistible discovery, but, the age old warning goes: some things should be left alone.
An eerie and unsettling location, in Henry Martin’s story, Check Out Before Dawn, in this instance, it’s a run down out of season seaside hotel which makes the perfect combination for a ghost story. I also love a ghost haunting an unusual space and in Jeff Clulow’s, The Boy in The Sycamore, a place adopted as a sanctuary soon becomes a place of peril for one unfortunate schoolboy.
All of these writers were selected because they demonstrated an understanding of the nuances of the genre. I hope that these tales haunt you well into the small hours, as all good ghosts should…
You can purchase your copy HERE
Happy Halloween!
Rebecca Parfitt
Editor
The Ghastling
