A Ghost Story Omnibus Volume Two

by H.E. Bulstrode

Nine ghost stories spanning the ages from the ninth century to the present day.EpitaphAn academic with antiquarian inclinations is about to learn that posthumous reputations can, at times, be rather jealously guarded.The Fighting CheribatsuAs the Second World War rages, the urbane and somewhat wistful Sir Henry Fennick recollects the visit of Mr and Mrs Motazuku some quarter of a century earlier. Life at Lower Chertwell had appeared so full of promise. Such a brief visit, yet so profound. Poor little Bertie.Equal SharesAn apparently generous bequest proves to possess some rather unusual, and disagreeable, stipulations.The Cross at CrickmeadNo relic of the past is so sacred that it may not be removed to make way for the new. That was, and is, the spirit of the age. And so the ambitions of a young Victorian surveyor are permitted to get the better of him. Foolish, especially when considering that he had come to learn so much of the cross. But, what in God’s name does Odin have to do with it? Does anyone know?The Bread OvenIn the vicinity of the village of Plougvillac, the past, it would seem, casts the longest and darkest of shadows, no more so than when the sun shines at its brightest. An Easter break at an idyllic Breton gîte leads to an unwitting discovery that will change the lives of a young family forever. It is a mystery to which the toads croak their unworthy answer.Lord Guthlac’s WifeThere is much that is wondrous in a mediaeval chronicle, and so it proves here. A Norman lord, finding the spoils of conquest insufficient, must have that which was dearest to his Saxon predecessor, but at what cost?The Recovery ManIt is not St Peter with whom we are acquainted as the recovery man works the nightshift on the roads of urban West Yorkshire, but a Peter of an altogether more notorious stamp. He knows just what he’s doing, unlike the poor souls confined in his cab.LevellingSomething belches forth from the foetid depths of a Somerset ditch on a hot summer’s day. It is late August 1975, and Dr Geoffrey Meadham has brought his wife to his childhood home. Of his time here, he has never spoken, and she is about to learn why; she is about to learn the meaning of ‘levelling’.Eileen of the AislesAll right, chuck? Course you are. Eileen knows. She’s been watching you. Watching everyone else, an’ all. There’s nowt she likes more than sticking her beak in, and there’s plenty to stick it into round ‘ere. Hazelworth – it’s not what it were once, but it’s still Yorkshire. Eileen knows everything about everyone, or so she likes to think, but just what is it that she’s doing roaming the aisles of her favourite German discounter?

287 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 14, 2020

About the author

The author's childhood and formative years were spent in the English West Country, a region in which reality and fantasy are frequently confused, and where what elsewhere would be taken as peculiar, regarded as nothing more than an everyday occurrence. Soaked in myth, folklore and cider, his imagination eventually whirred into life and prompted him to pen, or at least type, a number of understated tales of the uncanny, drawing upon his wry observations of esoteric subcultures and beliefs, and the rich store of lore that seems locked into the land itself.

From the mist, the frost, and the wind, comes something ambling through the murk, seeking to ensnare the unwary: a village cunning man; a malignant Jacobean mannequin; a psychedelic Crowley wannabe; the sickle-wielding spirit of old Dorset; a pious guide who emerges from the fabric of a venerable minster; a mediaeval animalistic heretic with a still beating heart. Ghost stories, bizarre rites, and mental disintegration populate a world in which the living and the dead meet in an eternal present, and the author dares - the most horrific thing of all - to use adverbs where appropriate.

His tales have frequently been compared to the likes of those encountered in Tales of the Unexpected and The Twilight Zone, but the Bulstrodian world, as you will discover, is a realm unto itself, and quite distinct from either.

He is currently working on a number of future publications, including a 1970s ghost story set in the Somerset Levels, a novel set in 17th-century Cornwall in which the reader will encounter a heady mix of superstition, piracy and religious fanaticism, and a third anthology of supernatural fiction.

Reviews

[Doreen Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omnibus of terror

Chilling omnibus. Here you will find malevolent spirits and hapless victims. The author graphically portrays the eerie atmosphere. Each story is a treat for horror buffs like me.