An eclectic site of weird fiction, weird art, peculiar period stories, folklore, strange detectives - and lurchers.
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A sort of living archive for the curious and confused.
Silence indeed, for goodness me, we've been away a while. But we're sort of back, so let's kick off with an open call for writers. This is quite time sensitive - mid-July - and not one of ours, but a project from Belanger Books, being edited by Dave Brzeski. We're very much looking forward to what turns up, however. Here we go......
An Open Call for stories to form part of a new anthology - SILENCE: Untold Cases of Algernon Blackwood’s Psychic Doctor, edited by Dave Brzeski
Happy birthday to poet Robert Burns and author Willie Meikle! For two hundred and twenty three years, the faithful have celebrated the life and writings of poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) on or around this day. And this day is also, as it happens, the birthday of Scottish* horror writer Willie Meikle, our inspiration for this series of peculiar Scottish supernatural tales and trivia, and who is still around, thank goodness....
More SCOTLAND THE STRANGE with Robert Burns' 'horror' poem Tam o' Shanter, and lots of associated strange Scots trivia to fill the brain cells
This week, in honour of Burns Night, which celebrates Scottish poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), our greydogtales site begins a ramble through the subject of Scottish supernatural/horror and related cultural stuff. We’ll have some classic tales, new material, guest reviews of some really bad films set in Scotland, and all sorts, alongside which we will also celebrate veteran storyteller…...
A series of article on Scotland and pecuilar or supernatural fiction, especially the classic kind, beginning with Ella Scrymsour's 'Eyes of Doom'.
The final free story of our winter tales from JLG this year is a bit different — a winter solstice on its way, a piece of quiet folk horror set in Northern England in 1975… “Our first mistake was the car we hired in York. I rarely drove; Petersen was used to London and the flatlands. It soon became obvious that we would have been better hiring a Landrover than the large, comfortable Ford Granada we had been offered....
A free folk-horror tale by John Linwood Grant, The Beasts of Kemberdale, from the 2023 Lonely Hollows anthology, Pavane Press.
Today, for your consideration during idle moments, we offer the full text of another of JLG’s stories of the strange and supernatural at this time of year, ‘The Heron in Winter’, to read here online or download as a pdf. Set in 1907, this tale concerns the Edwardian intelligence officer Redvers Blake, who is ordered to solve a mystery concerning the canals which serve the great mills of the North…...
Another free tale of the strange by John Linwood Grant, from his 'Last Edwardian' cycle, this time with Lieutenant Redvers Blake.
'Tis the season, and so today, for your consideration during idle moments, we offer the full text of one of JLG's tales of the strange and supernatural in winter, 'Aunt Hetty', to read here online or download as a pdf. First published in last year's Flame Tree's Christmas Gothic Short Stories, the tale concerns an old woman who attends a family's Christmas gathering in 1919......
A free Christmas supernatural story, Aunt Hetty, from John Linwood Grant, concerning a family gathering one winter in 1919...
There was once a time when many well-known authors—be they primarily romance, detective, historical adventure, or ‘literary’ writers—dabbled in supernatural fiction. A sideline, a quick sale, a whim — even yarns for the amusement of a small circle of friends. From Arthur Conan Doyle to Agatha Christie, to name a couple of scribblers who most will know, these folk produced a scattering of weird or ghostly tales, but such pieces often remained unimportant (even to them) in comparison to their bread-and-butter zones....
A review of the new edition of The Elemental, the sole collection of supernatural stories by Ulric Daubeny, from Solar Press
So, the monstrous Editing Helm has been clamped to my head again, and as the rusted spikes dig in, here are three separate projects which are looking for submissions of weird and horror fiction: occult investigators, Edwardian weird, and strange tales of Europe during the Second World War. More about those in a moment. This last twelve months has been a bit of a pain, literally, with more than one bout of COVID, then a long stretch of gastroenteritis, bronchitis, serious dental trouble — and a heart attack....
Three openings for writers of weird and horror fiction, and a quick update from John Linwood Grant on forthcoming works.
Armoured Siberian trains, Portuguese madmen, and depressed American academics — today we review three new books to hit a range of audiences — two novels and a novella by Rhys Hughes, John Guy Collick, and Polly Schattel respectively. As Banjo and Alexandra bicker, Perceval gets borne along by the tides, and Hetta grows resentful, we find intriguing protagonists, but, well, perhaps not exactly heroes....
New reviews of The Star Tsar by John Guy Collick, The Wistful Wanderings of Perceval Pitthelm by Rhys Hughes, and 8:59:29 by Polly Schattel
Today, in a desperate attempt to look like we know what’s going on in weird and horror fiction, we are relieved to have guest reviewer Dave Brzeski with us to cover a range of slimmer book releases. So we will hand you over immediately, and scurry off to find out what we did with all those other books we were sent......
Reviews of new slim weird and horror fiction books including novellas by Jan Edwards, Naben Ruthnum, Simon Avery, Ian Whates and others.
Great excitement in the kennels, as we announce TWO new anthologies of weird fiction opening for submissions this year and due in 2024 from Belanger Books. Both are being edited by John Linwood Grant, whose previous editorial work for Belanger includes four volumes in the popular Sherlock Holmes & the Occult Detectives anthology series, and The Book of Carnacki…...
Announcing two brand new anthologies of weird fiction opening to submissions this year - Alone on the Borderland and A Darker Continent
After a long absence, we return, dear listeners! Today we take a look at early zombie and voodoo films, gape at how bad some of them were, and point you to the campaign for an innovative new anthology of zombie tales by Black writers, called Blackened Roots... VOODOO ON SCREEN Although there had been literature which included voodoo before the 1920s — for example, Henry Francis Downing, an African-American politician and writer, wrote a play called…...
A look at voodoo and the classic zombie in early films, with examples, links and trivia.
Short story deadlines, anthologies and collection have rather consumed my time so far this year, but today we’re fortunate to have one of Dave Brzeski’s in-depth reviews covering, well, quite a lot. New Meteor House publications, and the strange worlds of Philip José Farmer, especially that of the Secrets of the Nine… SECRETS OF THE NINE by Dave Brzeski…...
http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-secrets-of-the-nine/
New Meteor House books by Frank Schildiner and Win Scott Eckert - non-fiction, and works based on the Secrets of the Nine series by Philip José Farmer.
As any fule kno, we do not cover the Beast That Is Poetry at greydogtales. Except when, occasionally, we do. Which is all very strange. However, we have two fine examples of this vexing animal in hand – Jessica McHugh’s Strange Nests, and Paul St John Mackintosh’s The Great Arcana, and they crept far enough into our kennel to deserve mentioning....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/strange-nests-and-cryptic-cards/
greydogtales examines the delights of Strange Nests by Jessica McHugh, and The Great Arcana by Paul St John Mackintosh, in one of our rare poetry outings.
Greetings, O Best Beloveds. Today, as keen supporters of independent presses, we’re pleased to have a special feature on the superb work of Canadian publisher Undertow Publications. We have on offer our own fresh-baked review of Kay Chronister’s collection Thin Places (Undertow, 2020), a reminder of Laura Mauro’s debut collection Sing Your Sadness Deep (Undertow, 2019), and a weird welcome from…...
http://greydogtales.com/blog/caught-in-the-undertow/
Greetings, O Best Beloveds. Today, as keen supporters of independent presses, we’re pleased to have a special feature on the superb work of Canadian publisher Undertow Publications. We have on offer our own fresh-baked review of Kay Chronister’s collection Thin Places (Undertow, 2020), a reminde...
Annnnnd... we’re back. Winter, work, COVID and all that stuff got in the way, but greydogtales is powering up for 2022. Weird literature, strange trivia, and of course, lurchers. So today let’s whet appetites, just for fun, with a new short tale of Mamma Lucy, the old hoodoo woman who travels through 1920s America, ‘adjusting’ things as she goes......
http://greydogtales.com/blog/on-the-seventh-day-she-rested/
Annnnnd… we’re back. Winter, work, COVID and all that stuff got in the way, but greydogtales is powering up for 2022. Weird literature, strange trivia, and of course, lurchers. So today let’s whet appetites, just for fun, with a new short tale of Mamma Lucy, the old hoodoo woman who travels th...
We are by nature trivia-hounds, fascinated by those odd little nubbets which litter the universe – facts and fancies which provide endless interconnections between people, places, and events, often to no great purpose. And thus we were delighted to receive a copy of Don Swaim’s new collection, Deliverance of Sinners: Essays & Sundry on Ambrose Bierce (Errata Press, 2021) – the book you didn’t realise you wanted (but you should)....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/deliverance-of-sinners-ambrose-bierce-lives/
Review of Deliverance of Sinners by Don Swaim, a fascinating miscellany covering aspects of the life (and death) of Ambrose Bierce
To mark the anniversary of William Hope Hodgson’s birth (15 November 1877), here’s one of my Hodgsonian tales again for free. It’s downloadable, designed with a cover and Author’s Note at the end. The original story, ‘A Dark Trade’, was written for Carnacki: The Lost Cases (Ulthar, 2016), and is a tale of the injustice and wickedness of other times.It hasn't yet appeared in any of my collections....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-sins-of-our-past/
To mark the anniversary of William Hope Hodgson’s birth (15 November 1877), here’s one of my Hodgsonian tales again for free. It’s downloadable, designed with a cover and Author’s Note at the end. The original story, ‘A Dark Trade’, was written for Carnacki: The Lost Cases (Ulthar, 2016)...
Today’s special – an extensive interview with Alan M Clark, award-winning artist and writer, on his recent novel Fallen Giants of The Points (IFD Publishing, 2021), something which should be of interest to many readers, novel writers in general, and those who use historical settings in particular. Most readers will know Alan from his Jack the Ripper Victims…...
http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-fallen-giants-of-five-points/
Extensive interview with award-winning artist and writer Alan M Clark concerning his new book 'The Fallen Giants of Five Points'
Paul St John Mackintosh is a jolly stimulating chap. He has many imaginative ideas, and he has strong opinions; he has written all sorts of interesting stuff, and a conversation with him never bores. Last year he added to his CV with a brand new RPG game based on the works and ‘world’ of M R James. We wanted to talk to him about this, but then we drifted into a much longer and serious conversation about weird and horror fiction, so we’re doing this interview in two halves....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/mackintosh-monty-and-roleplaying/
Author Paul St John Mackintosh discusses his new M R James related role playing game, and his work as a writer of weird fiction.
You’ll probably have heard of authors Nnedi Okorafor and Tananarive Due, and you maybe know of Helen Oyeyemi or Eden Royce; you really should have read Octavia E. Butler, who was a Grandmistress of SFF/horror. If you keep your eyes open, though, and if you’re willing to investigate, you can find many other talented Black women writers who are powering away out there in the speculative and horror fields....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/black-women-writers-slay-that-thing/
A look at new works by four Black women writers in the horror/SFF field - B Sharise Moore, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Valjeanne Jeffers & Penelope Flynn
Being ardent admirers of the work of Montague Rhodes James, we can never resist his lure for long. And whilst we re-read his tales on a regular basis, there are times when speculation cannot be restrained. As the great man himself once wrote: “It has amused me sometimes to think of the stories which have crossed my mind from time to time and never materialised properly....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/montague-in-buntlebury/
The less likely tales of M R James...
There have been a lot of lists going around recently. So this isn’t really one of them. It is instead a celebration of ten women who wrote the fantasies that built up our love for the genre, from the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties. We don’t care whether or not they’re the best, or what-have-y...
An update on our initial launch of ODM #0 a couple of weeks ago, when only .pdf was available. Today we have download links for both .epub and .mobi formats. And we offer not only tons of our usual occult detective stories, but a dark and fabulous Inspector Philemon mystery, a reprint donated by the rather well-known Mr Mike Carey -...
http://greydogtales.com/blog/occult-detective-magazine-0-mobi-epub/
An update on our initial launch of ODM #0 a couple of weeks ago, when only .pdf was available. Today we have download links for both .epub and .mobi formats. And we offer not only tons of our usual occult detective stories, but a dark and fabulous Inspector Philemon mystery, a reprint donated by the...
Writing about Africa. Slightly psychotic ponies. Mythos fiction. Weird fictional roots. We are responsible for little of what follows – but it appears to include an awful lot of words from John Linwood Grant. For here at greydogtales we find that even we are not immune to the latest fashions and trends. So today we welcome a guest interviewer – the handsome, intelligent, and adequately tall…...
http://greydogtales.com/blog/john-linwood-grant-is-not-in/
Author John Linwood Grant on writing about Africa, slightly psychotic ponies, mythos fiction, weird roots, and the new collection 'Where All is Night'.
Novel writing, tropes and themes, assembling collections and more! Welcome, dear listener, to the first of two extensive interviews in which authors Sam L Edwards and John Linwood Grant question each other. “What?” you say. “That sounds terrific!” And then, after some thought: “Oh, you mean nepotistic mumbling between chums about how writers earn squat. Dullsville.” But hey, hang on! Often we at…...
http://greydogtales.com/blog/sam-l-edwards-is-not-a-politician/
Novel writing, tropes, themes, collections and more, Welcome to the first of two extensive interviews with authors Sam L Edwards and John Linwood Grant.
In which, dear listener, we consider how nurture beats nature, as we end up with a Staffordshire x puppy who believes he’s a lurcher. Quite how this worked out we have no idea, but there’s little doubt that Biscuit, our ten month old staffy-type pest, thinks he's a long dog. Just a short longdog, that’s all. And we wonder how often this sort of thing happens....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/lurchers-for-beginners-the-impostorr/
In which, dear listener, we consider how nurture beats nature, as we end up with a Staffordshire x puppy who believes he’s a lurcher. Quite how this worked out we have no idea, but there’s little doubt that Biscuit, our ten month old staffy-type pest, thinks he’s a long dog. Just a short longd...
We’re back in action at old greydogtales, dear listener, with lots to come over the following months, but let’s get right in there today with exciting news from Occult Detective Magazine... OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE IS PROUD TO PRESENT A bumper new issue – almost 200 pp – featuring both unpublished stories and reprints new to the magazine’s pages, all generously offered by some terrific authors to promote the magazine....
http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-occult-detective-returns/
We’re back in action at old greydogtales, dear listener, with lots to come over the following months, but let’s get right in there today with exciting news from Occult Detective Magazine… OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE IS PROUD TO PRESENT A bumper new issue – almost 200 pp – featuring both unpu...
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