Here are eleven superlative stories, three of which are previously unpublished ... tales featuring dark and demonic occult encounters, pagan terrors and Jamesian chills.
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD is possibly the last collection from the pen of the late and much missed Ron Weighell to feature some of the author’s unpublished stories. “Older than Christmas” is a feast of pagan goings-on and, this story, as well as “The Tale Once Told” seem to have a distinct hint of the Jamesian. Ron had been working on and off on “On Murder Considered as One of the Black Arts” for many years and it is, maybe, one of his darker and most terrifyingly disturbing stories (no spoilers here but don’t read just before bed).
Seven of the eight previously published stories collected appeared in anthologies from Egaeus Press, Swan River Press, Undertow Publications, Zagava Press and Sarob Press. “The Mark of Andreas Germer” appeared as Quire xiii, a handmade chapbook from The Last Press.
So, kick off your shoes, settle down before (preferably) a roaring log fire, with a warming tipple to hand … and gently immerse yourself in this wonderfully dark and shadowy tome.
The stories: “The Malleus Bone” “Older than Christmas*” “The Palace of Force and Fire” “Spirits of the Dead” “The Invisible Worm” “The Mark of Andreas Germer” “The Tale Once Told*” “Under the Frenzy of the Fourteenth Moon” “Drebbel, Zander and Zervan” “The Chapel of Infernal Devotion” and “On Murder Considered as One of the Black Arts*”. With an extensive introduction by Mark Valentine.
*Previously unpublished and original to this collection.
