Ghost Cities

Hello, dear readers! I’m sure you’ve noticed that it’s been a while since I’ve posted any new ghostly tales on this blog. You might be wondering why I’ve been so quiet for the past two years. Well, the truth is, I’ve been on a mission to investigate the most haunted places in the world. It’s been a wild ride, let me tell you.

My journey has taken me to the darkest corners of haunted houses, the creepiest cemeteries, and even the depths of hell itself. I’ve encountered all sorts of spooky creatures, from ghosts and ghouls to demons and poltergeists. I’ve witnessed possessions, exorcisms, and even a few ghostly weddings (yes, you read that right).

But why haven’t I posted any of these adventures on the blog, you might ask? Well, the answer is simple: I’ve been too busy running for my life! You see, when you’re dealing with the supernatural, things can get a little… intense. I’ve had to dodge flying objects, outrun vengeful spirits, and even fend off the occasional zombie.

I even tried to get in touch with the infamous Slender Man, but it turns out he’s too busy starring in low-budget horror movies to contribute to my blog (what a primadonna).

But fear not, dear readers! I’m still alive and kicking (well, mostly). I’ve got plenty of spooky stories to share with you, and I’ll be back to posting them on this blog very soon. So stay tuned, and in the meantime, try not to let the ghosts get you.

Until next time,

Ghost Cities

No official posts as such today but I couldn’t let the one year anniversary of Ghost Cities go by without comment. Yes, this website/blog is one year old today! The very first post New Zealand Ghosts went up on 9 September 2011 and the rest is history. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has ever visited and/or decided to follow this site and liked and/or commented on any of the posts that have appeared on it. It goes without saying that any website or blog is totally dependent on its visitors and Ghost Cities is no exception. I’d also like to re-affirm my commitment to scouring every corner of the world and every period in history for the very best ghost stories, urban legends, unsolved mysteries, tall tales and conspiracy theories; reviewing supernatural-themed short stories, novellas, plays, poems, novels, TV shows and films both old and new; and bringing you the best of my own work, both published and unpublished. I plan to be around as long as there’s someone out there who wants to read the content on this site and I hope you’ll all join me or stay along for the ride for as long as it lasts.

Once again, thanks all and I hope to celebrate many more anniversaries with you in the years to come!

Anyone who enjoyed reading my post yesterday on ‘A History of Witchcraft’ may also be interested in my new novel Wydda, which has just been published as a Kindle e-book and is now available for download on the Amazon website. More details are below but Wydda is basically a story of witchcraft, paganism and the struggle between good and evil set in my own home town of Cambridge, England. It is also the first part of an ongoing series, The Eternal Struggle, which should appeal to regular readers of this blog and hopefully anyone else who has an interest in urban fantasy, mythic fiction and tales of mystery and the supernatural.

Continue reading →

Just a quick post to say that I’ve got snazzy new usernames for both my Facebook profile and the Ghosts in the Cloisters’ fan page, both of which are below together with my Twitter details if you’d like to follow or get in touch with me via any of those forums (they will from now on also appear on this site’s ‘Contact’ page).

http://www.facebook.com/legally.anil

http://www.facebook.com/Ghostcities

https://twitter.com/#!/legallyanil

As an added treat, given the time of year, I’ve also included a suitably Christmassy extract from my own story Ghosts of Fairport (click to read!), one of the forthcoming sequels to Ghosts in the Cloisters, which I hope you’ll enjoy.

That’s all folks!

Christmas is here! Well, not quite, but for most of us the excitement of the festive season tends to start in earnest when November becomes December. Christmas is also a time that is associated with ghost stories every bit as much as Halloween for reasons that I hope to explore in future posts. For the moment, given that authors as esteemed as Charles Dickens and M R James made it their policy to write Christmas-themed ghost stories, I thought that I would share with you one of my own contributions to the genre of the seasonal chiller. The following extract from The Secret of Thorn Lodge (click to read!) is another unpublished short story from the world of Ghosts in the Cloisters. It is the tale of two students who arrive at an ancient country house just in time for Christmas. Needless to say, Thorn Lodge hides more than one nasty secret and this is one holiday that will prove anything but festive for the young couple. I hope everyone who reads the extract gets a pleasurable shudder, which is of course the response I’m hoping for!

PS Tune in tomorrow, same place, same sort-of-time for a post on the darker, pagan origins of the Yuletide season!

Hi All,

Check out my guest post The Haunted Bookshop on the excellent blogsite The Write Place, The Write Time of talented fellow writer Tiffany Dickerson.

Enjoy!

Hi all,

Just a short one today. With Halloween approaching rapidly, I thought I’d treat (see what I did there?!) you all to some of my own work in the form of a sample from one of my own Halloween-themed stories. You won’t find The House on Banbury Road (click to read!) in the Ghosts in the Cloisters e-book which has been published but the full version of the story will be in the soon-to-be published paperback, which will also contain several more unpublished stories as well as a wealth of other material from this website and beyond (so watch this space!).

Regrettably, since the life of a writer is a busy one (especially when you also have a day job), the posts on this blog will henceforth be going out every other day rather than daily, as they have until now. Fear not, however, for I have lots of weird and wonderful ideas for posts going forward and I hope you all continue to enjoy and keep reading Ghost Cities.

Bye for now 🙂

Just to let everyone know that I’ve set up a Facebook fan page for my book, Ghosts in the Cloisters, so if you’d like to check it out click on the ‘Facebook’ link in the sidebar under ‘Blogroll’ (and if you like the book or this website you’re very welcome to join as well!).

There was a slight ‘glitch’ with Monday’s post ‘Books of the Dead’ so I’ve re-posted it below – apologies all round! I’ll be back with another brand new post this time tomorrow.