Sh! What's That? Sh, what's that, the wooden slap, the swazzle-voiced cry and the short sharp crack? Sh, what's that, the glazed-eyed clap, the hollow applause and the rat-a-tat-tat? Passing by, you pause and try to catch a glimpse of - sh! What's that? Where the shadows and lamp-oil meet, pooling gold in the midnight street,… Continue reading The Punch & Judy Man of Hangman’s Walk
Introduction In the previous post we looked at texts featured in Chapter 1 of Jane Aaron's Welsh Gothic, and very briefly at the postcolonial framing of some of these narratives. This post looks at the ghost stories and dark tales that were associated with different parts of Wales, used as inspiration for the Gothic tales of… Continue reading #AmReading: Cambria Gothica II: Welsh Ghostlore & Folklore before 1830
Part Four of the Gothic Tropes series looks at a specific type of character: the stately older woman whose watchword is 'Respectability'. There's one in The Crows, but she's a bit of a subversion of this trope. Let's get to know this kind of lady better... Who Is The Grand[e] Dame? I'll have to do this… Continue reading #Gothic Tropes To Feed Your Soul: (4) THE GRANDE DAME
What better way to celebrate spooky season than a series of blog posts on Gothic tropes? I'm hoping to get The Crows back from my editor by December in time for a January release, and every chapter heading is a different Gothic trope. Chapter Two is A Town with Dark Secrets, and introduces Pagham-on-Sea, a… Continue reading #Gothic Tropes To Feed Your Soul: (2) A TOWN WITH DARK SECRETS
This post is the first of a new series exploring a few #gothic tropes I love, starting with my absolute favourite: the creepy old house (which may or may not have a mind of its own)!
