In my short novel A Strange Death in Devell’s Wood, which is set in the Victorian era, my main character often takes laudanum. But what is laudanum and why was it so popular in the 1800s? Laudanum is an alcoholic tincture of powdered opium, a substance obtained from opium poppies….
On my travels around the internet, I came across a TV series from the 1980s called “Shades of Darkness”. There were nine episodes, among them dramatisations of “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” by Edith Wharton, “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen and Agatha Christie’s “The Last Seance”. There’s a marvellous cast…
I’ve enjoyed reading these seven supernatural short stories written by women. You’ll find some familiar names among the authors, but there are a couple of writers here who are perhaps less well-known these days; namely, Louisa Baldwin and Elizabeth Bowen. Like many stories described as supernatural, most of these examples…
As the nights draw in and the mist begins to fall, you might be inclined to stay at home and curl up with a good story. And what would be a more fitting choice than a spooky tale? Of course, there are many novels to choose from, but short stories…
Montague Rhodes James (Monty) was an English Medievalist who held posts at King’s College Cambridge and later at Eton College. He was also a master of the short ghost story. The son of a clergyman, M. R. James was born in Kent, England in 1862. Three years later, he and…