An exciting Gothic conference that I'm co-organising with Strawberry Hill House and a few other organisations, to be held at Strawberry Hill next June. Please circulate the CFP far and wide: www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/gothic-confe...
A Ghostly Little Book is a handsome little hardback containing five specially commissioned spooky tales from five big names in fiction:
Roddy Doyle, Olga Ravn, Eliza Clark, Tom Crewe and Helen Oyeyemi.
Out now!
#Horrorskyπππͺ
LAST CHANCE TO BE A PART OF THIS UNIQUE GRAPHIC NOVEL!
The HOLLOWBANE Kickstarter is over TOMORROW! We have ALMOST reached the all-or-nothing goal! It would mean the world to me if you could help spread the word today, we might still be able to make this happen!
thehollowbane.com
DRACULA COOKBOOK 1978 This gothic delight imagines what #Dracula served his guests; he does not eat (or drink wine) himself of course! #31DaysOfHalloween
I admire your softness from afar and regard my barbs
My prickled skin won't ever feel your touch
I love you too much
The #mountain I conquered is a perfect vantage point
And a great excuse to not let anybody close
#vss365#poetry#poem
You have to get out of your comfort zone once in a while.
After you've haunted a lonely stretch of forest for a few millennia, why not try haunting a historic theater, or an abandoned Radio Shack on the ragged edge of town.
It was the old crone's dying wish to #bequest her few remaining possessions to the boy who was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. An old knucklebone, a worn coin with a strange symbol and a whistle that didn't make any sound--that is but to him.
#vss365#microfiction
That very night he woke up from someone tapping on his bedroom window, but the coin still didn't glow. The boy clenched it in his fist, the cold weight enveloping him like a blanket and the dark lumbering shape outside his window eventually skulked away.
The next day the boy returned to the unmarked grave that was now empty. At the bottom of it was a small pile of coins--all icy cold to the touch, and the boy knew that they were his.
It was the old crone's dying wish to #bequest her few remaining possessions to the boy who was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. An old knucklebone, a worn coin with a strange symbol and a whistle that didn't make any sound--that is but to him.
#vss365#microfiction
The boy played his whistle as the bone lead him through the woods to an unmarked grave. The coin was burning hotter than it ever had before.
A strange urge made the boy dig a shallow hole in the gravemound where he burried the knucklebone and the coin suddenly went cold.
Then the boy ran. He ran as fast as he could back home. And the whistle never made another sound again and the coin had become as cold as ice and felt heavy in his pocket, but he didn't dare to get rid of it.
It was the old crone's dying wish to #bequest her few remaining possessions to the boy who was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. An old knucklebone, a worn coin with a strange symbol and a whistle that didn't make any sound--that is but to him.
#vss365#microfiction
The farmer who would beat his animals, the old gossip who spread lies and the bully in class all made the coin glow like an ember. And it was strange how no one seemed to notice the glow coming from his pocket.
One day the boy blew into the whistle as hard as he could and the old knucklebone flew off his bedside table and hit the window. He blew the whistle again and the bone piece rattled like mad against the glass pane until he opened the window.
It was the old crone's dying wish to #bequest her few remaining possessions to the boy who was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. An old knucklebone, a worn coin with a strange symbol and a whistle that didn't make any sound--that is but to him.
#vss365#microfiction
His deaf ear could pick up a faint melody coming from the whistle that made the knucklebone shudder. His blind eye could spot the twisting shapes in the coin,like molten fire beneath the metal, and when he carried the coin in his pocket it would sometimes heat up around certain people.
A few chapters into Gideon the Ninth and I'm still not hooked, but I think I'm getting there.
It's very lore heavy which makes it difficult to get into, but I'm going to stick with it.
#booksky#amreading
Terrified by the
vasty unknowns of liberty,
Shrinking from the maze
of choice and agency
Chary of promises
of health and prosperity
Is it any wonder
they did not #renounce
the enduring solidity
of the boot upon their necks?
#vss365
I was staring into the pitch black night sky when the stars suddenly moved
A hand reached down to grab me, a child god's hand
#Renounce your faith, renounce your gods
If you don't want to be a plaything; you better join the game
#vss365
an abyss meeting an abyss
that's how it #commences
we are two galaxies full of unexplored wonders
that #marvel at each other
how do we #embark on this journey into the unknown
we can't avoid #stormy days
& #conflicts are bound to arise
only love can #sustain this dance & make it eternal
#vss365
I hear myself think with your voice
Your words really set fire to my soul
Your anger and your anguish are mine to bear
We'll #embark on a journey with our shared pain in our hands
These swords that once hurt me are my arsenal
I'm armed to the teeth
No time to spare for the past
#vss365#poetry#poem
Her eyes are covered with a veil of linen
To hide the #storm in her eyes
If I didn't know better I would have thought she was asleep
Her bloodstained hands solemny clasped on her chest
A bed of white roses
Oh, ferocious you, they tried to make a lamb of a she-wolf
#vss365#poetry#poem
A #storm in a teacup
Shattering china
To shards on the floor
Pieces entrenched
Between threads
Of comfort, no more
We pick and we preen
Pretend it's okay
With needles in soles
And blood in our wake
Speckled in red
We tiptoe around
Oh but the stains
The stains
Of tannins of trauma
Remain.
#vss365
I guess I get suspicious when something good happens to me
There's gotta be a catch, I just know it
Waiting for the other shoe to drop
For how long can I #sustain this feeling?
Because if everything ends and good things don't last then I gotta ride this high while I can
#vss365#poem#poetry
Free yourself from the shackles of time
Just a race to the grave
#Commence the countdown
Three
Two
One
Are you ready for your life to begin?
#vss365#poem#poetry
Summer forgot herself
last evening, breathed
a chill that whispered
of an #autumnal guest
gracefully descending
as upon a grand stair.
She rains today, thundering
vicious, uncloaking the sun
only to boil us--
but in her own time,
a visitor herself,
she too will depart.
#vss365
Let me kiss your eyelids and whisper a prayer as you fall asleep
This #autumnal bed welcomes you
The stars mourn you
And I will always yearn for you
#vss365#poem#poetry
Hey everyone! Please take a moment to enjoy (and share if possible) this new video by Moon Books π π
New Video π₯π»πͺ MarΓa Lionza, Queen of Spirits: An Introduction to Venezuelan Goddess of Nature.
youtu.be/Gg2LjhpRNBY?...#goddesses#sorcery#witchsky#occultsky#booksky@moonbooksci.bsky.social
The world will fall in love with you through me
My star from above, you fell far down below
Plucked from the heavens in your prime
A trail of tears carved into the sky
There's a scar where you should be
I carry that pain inside of me
#poetry#poem#writesky