A Ghost Story Omnibus Volume Two

by H.E. Bulstrode

A volume for readers who appreciate ghost stories with a twist, where the past looms large, and the old gods lurk in unexpected places.

Within you will find nine supernatural tales spanning the ages from the ninth century to the present day. Some are of a darkly humorous and satirical nature, whereas others are possessed of a rather more sinister, and disturbing, hue. The characters whom you will encounter bumptious academics; a crass gold-digger; a wistful ex-diplomat; an ambitious Victorian surveyor; a rapacious Norman lord; a garrulous Yorkshirewoman who likes to lend an unwelcome ‘helping hand’; and families looking to get away from it all, and wishing that they hadn’t. Best read by the winter fireside accompanied by a glass of port, or a full-bodied red. Not recommended for those of an overly sensitive disposition.

Paperback

Published August 16, 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.