Happy Halloween - free reads!

 

My library haul with dog!

It's that day I don't like. I'm okay with the ghosts, the pagan Samhain, but the commercialisation of it, the trick or treat and people dressing up, I just hate it. You get stupid people doing stupid things, so call me what you like, it's not for me. Writing about ghostly goings on or reading gothic stories, now that's different.

I've just read a very good book entitled Haverscroft by S A Harris which fits the bill. A couple and their twins move into an house and soon noises are heard, dark shadows move on the landing. The bulb on the landing keeps blowing. The husband doesn't believe his wife who is recovering from a breakdown. There are some logical reasons for some of the noises, as there always are. The kids are also aware of the house too, yet their father refuses to listens to them. Of course the house has a past and as Katie tries to figure it out, she also becomes suspicious that her husband (who is away a lot still working in London during the week) is having an affair. The atmosphere is ramped up with ghostly sounds, lingering odours of cigarettes and old rose petals, and laughter. The scene is set well. The previous owner has much to say, but only what she wants Kate to know. She is holding back. Kate is trying to hold on to her sanity while her husband seems to be making out that Kate is lapsing again. Is she fit to look after the children, especially after the boy nearly drowns in the pond? There is a twist in the plot and a climatic ending. What more could you want? This is a page turner. Great stuff.

And if you like thrillers that are pacey reads, you could no worse than the latest from C L Taylor. The Guilty Couple is just that. A woman convicted for attempted murder is released from prison determined to turn the tables on her husband who framed her. Ah, but there is more to it than that. This is another plot twister.

Before I get back to Halloween (must I?), I just wanted to dwell on the demise of Visual Verse. Visual Verse along with Popshot, my two favourite magazines (one online, one digital), are no more. Well, Popshot has gone completely digital, as they cannot afford to produce print copies anymore. It won't be the same. I shall miss holding the physical copy in my hands. Visual Verse finishes today. This online picture prompt monthly anthology has been a lifeline when I couldn't write anything else. The prompts were something to look forward to, a kick in the right direction. The website will stay with all the archive material there (so my page and most of my previous work will remain). And they are not saying never again, but it's hard to lose them. I am privileged to have a poem in the very last edition. Read my poem here.

So, I have written a little flash story for Halloween, along with a fun poem which I thought I'd share with you. I hope you enjoy them!

Blighted

A slithering sound woke me at 2am. I turned on the light. Nothing in the room. I slipped out of bed. The wooden floor was unusually cold beneath my feet as I walked to the bedroom door. As I stepped onto the landing, something squelchy met my foot. I withdrew it quickly and switched on the light. The carpet was slick with slime and at the top of the stairs a slug as fat as my arm and over a foot long was edging forward. It turned at my scream, its antennae’s wriggling. Slowly it slid over the top step, trailing gunge behind it. I couldn’t move. My eyes followed the trail backwards until the slime stopped at the bathroom door. I needed to call Greg. I was house sitting while he was away and because I needed a place to stay until my apartment was made habitable again.

Stepping back into the bedroom, I gasped. Slugs were slithering down the walls and across the floor towards me. Flinging myself on the bed, I reached for my mobile phone and came away with slimy gunk on my hand. I dropped the phone and gazed towards the window. If I could just get there and fling open the window, I might be able to call for help or crawl down the drainpipe. Something wet was crawling up my leg. Kicking out, I moved up the bed, but they were now in my hair. My mind trailed back to my own apartment and the infestation of cockroaches, and the house before that where I lived for a short time and the bed bug problem. Was it me? Did I bring these things with me? Was I the intruder, the infestation? My body went limp while inside I could feel myself changing. I watched in a cross between horror and fascination as my legs fused together, my arms into my sides, and I became one long body of slime.

He came a-calling

 A smart dresser, he was

In a dapper black suit

And a cape lined in red

Shiny black boots

And eyes that said come to bed.

 

A winning way, he had

A cunning bright smile

Always called at midnight

Punctual and tactile

Forever hungry for a bite.

 

What a lovely neck, he said

Nuzzling in close

I laughed, how sweet

And then he froze

As morning was on the greet

 

Irresistible, he might be

With elegant canines

But he hadn’t reckoned on me

Missed all the signs

Of a vampiress, a fellow devotee!