In Gethsemane

by Stephen Gallagher

Novella, fiction. In the years following the Great War, a skeptical conjuror and a spiritualist medium merge their interests to tour the regional lecture halls of the United Kingdom. Originally appeared in "Heaven Sent" am anthology of original fiction

36 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2013

About the author

Stoker and World Fantasy Award nominee, winner of British Fantasy and International Horror Guild Awards for his short fiction, Stephen Gallagher has a career both as a novelist and as a creator of primetime miniseries and episodic television. His fifteen novels include Chimera, Oktober, Valley of Lights and Nightmare, with Angel. He's the creator of Sebastian Becker, Special Investigator to the Lord Chancellor's Visitor in Lunacy, in a series of novels that includes The Kingdom of Bones, The Bedlam Detective, and The Authentic William James. In his native England he's adapted and created hour-long and feature-length thrillers and crime dramas. In the US he was lead writer on NBC's Crusoe, creator of CBS Television's Eleventh Hour, and Co-Executive Producer on ABC's The Forgotten. Recent screen credits include an award-winning Silent Witness and Stan Lee's Lucky Man.

He began his TV career as a writer on two seasons of Doctor Who, and wrote two novelizations of his stories under the pseudonym John Lydecker.

** Photo by Lisa Bowerman **

Reviews

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story now available as an e-read, was originally published in 1995 as part of an anthology. I received a review copy from the publisher after enjoying The Bedlam Detective by the same author. This Victorian period piece is a slowly mounting well-paced story of the Spiritualist movement and examines people's feelings about death vs the dead. I really enjoyed the story and Gallagher has proven to be a writer I appreciate. A fun look into this strange part of the Victorian era with a rather brooding ending. The characters were well developed for a short story that was more about plot than character. After the story are synopses of both "The Kingdom of Bones" and it's sequel "The Bedlam Detective". Though this story takes place in the same time period it is not related to the two novels at all.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story which I think captures the essence of Stephen Gallagher. It is a mixture of character driven with a hint of mystery all with subtle hint of the supernatural - and in this case an air of the past since it was set in the age where the fascination with mysticism was all the rage. What I enjoy most about Stephen Gallagher is that you cannot define him to any one era or genre or style, each and every story you read of his holds the thrill of it being something totally different.