Introducing Bister...
Friday, 10 January 2014
Zombie gnomes, Walking Dead Monopoly and socks
See ya 2013...welcome 2014!
And so I wake out of hibernation, smash the sodding alarm clock, shoot dat damn wabbit and sit down to a warming plate of bunny curry.
7 Christmas shows, 6 tummy bugs, 5 family rows, 4 turkey breasts, 3 bottles of Baileys, 2 steaming hangovers and a bra that was meant to hold 3. ( if you have kids and do the panto you might get some of that!)
T.F.F.T! Bah humbug!
Only joking.
Christmas is well creepy, though. It makes you feel incredibly mortal, another year passing. Yet, at the same time you feel part of a bigger picture; a cell in the body of time.
Is it just me, when you 're wrapping the presents, dressing the table, cooking the food or making the beds, it feels like all the relatives of Christmas past are surrounding you, watching you, judging you?
"I never did it like that!"
"What's she doing now?"
"I'd have loved a microwave."
"What's M+S?"
"Well I never! Cauliflower cheese and Yorkshire Puds? And why is the gravy in a packet?"
We lost our beloved Nan this year. It was strange but not as sad as we anticipated. She has just joined the echelon of Christmas Dinner hostesses were, one day, (not too soon, I hope) I will be in the queue watching my great grand-daughter, tutting,
" Why the hell is she making duck a l'orange and spaghetti?!"
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Adios Mallorca, Hello Manchester!
It never ceases to amaze me what difference 2 hours on a plane can make. One minute you can be relaxing by the pool, basking in blinding sunshine, listening to the sparkling turquoise waters crashing against the cliffs beneath you. You watch the surfers ride the waves into white sandy coves as you sip on a frosty beer.
Then 150 minutes later, back in Blighty and down to earth with a bang.( Figuratively speaking, not literally. Sorry, Ryanair, you guys were great. ) The icy wind freezing my bare legs and sandal clad toes and then it hits me. Yes, it's cold and miserable, and yes, it's come around far too quickly again but it's one of my favourite times of year...Halloween.
Think of a costume, buy tonnes of sweets, put up the decorations. Hoping that it doesn't rain or my Weeping Angel wings will get soggy. Don't blink!
Everybody is back in school after half-term and I need to get my spooky head on and finish my story. In the meantime, I have a Halloween party on Saturday night in Liverpool.
Years ago, at a family celebration, my auntie saw our deceased grandmother come down the stairs, smiling and mingling with guests. I wonder if this Halloween will bring out any ghostly party-goers.
Happy Trick or Treating!! X
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Alfie & Autumn
Summer is truly over, as the rain and dark clouds outside my window rub my nose in the fact.
Time to knuckle down and get on with my new story..well, I started it many years ago but there is still a way to go. It is a prequel to "Week of 1000 Nightmares" and it's proving rather fun.
Trying to draw inspiration from my faves, I indulged in weeks of summertime reading. From James Herbert's conspiracy heavy "Ash" (Wow! What a bombshell to go out on)
to full immersion in my idol Agatha Crispy (as my sister affectionately calls her).
We finally got to see The Mousetrap, last year, at the Manchester Opera House, as it toured for the first time outside London. It was worth the wait and totally fab. This year it's "Go Back for Murder". So excited. Then I've a week in Majorca to soak up some sunshine before the winter gets fully installed.
But whilst I knuckle down and get on with some work, there are a few little stories I want to run by you. They are strange but true stories, happened to me or someone close to me. You'll probably think I'm bonkers but, hand on heart, I'm telling it how it happened. What you believe is up to you. I'll put one up every now and again as I get time to put them into words. Here's a little snippet to get going.
About eight years ago, before the kids started school, we were wending our way up a frosty M6 in early December.
A beautiful part of the world, the motorway cuts a rust and green canyon along the Pennines. Steep-sided clover scattered hills, speckled with the odd flock of sheep, it slices up two jewels of the North of England; the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.
Not a million miles from The Slaughtered Lamb and the Moors ( Beware the moon. And stick to the road..oops.) we ploughed through in a family convoy towards Penrith and our own little rent-a-cabin in the woods.
I am not a driver, Oh God, don't let me behind the wheel but as the other significant adult in the car, I kept one eye on the road whilst the other roamed the wonderful view as a decadent tourist. ( Curse of the Boss-eyed. Should have gone to Specsavers.)
What I saw that day has bothered me for years. It was probably nothing but now I'll never know.
To the side of this remote stretch of road, there was something lying very still, probably dead. Roadkill? I don't know. A weird discarded toy? A mutated animal? A Gremlin? Pinkish and grey, a tiny hairless monkey creature at the side of the road.
I regret we didn't stop to have a closer look.
So, if anybody threw a creepy doll thing out of their car all those moons ago, please let me know and put me out of my misery. Arrivederci and toodle pip. A X
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Holiday weekend scare spectacular!
"Two more months till Halloween, Silver Shamrock..."
A little something, for free, to get you in the mood for the moon-soaked nights ahead..
Let the darkness commence...
Week Of 1000 Nightmares will be free this coming Sunday 25th August through to Monday 26th. Free times are governed by the following Amazon times..
Free promotions will start at approximately 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time on the date specified & promotions will end at approximately 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on the date specified.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DETC1OM
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Alfie X
A little something, for free, to get you in the mood for the moon-soaked nights ahead..
Let the darkness commence...
Week Of 1000 Nightmares will be free this coming Sunday 25th August through to Monday 26th. Free times are governed by the following Amazon times..
Free promotions will start at approximately 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time on the date specified & promotions will end at approximately 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on the date specified.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DETC1OM
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Alfie X
Monday, 12 August 2013
Very pleased to announce my new eBook on Kindle!
Week of 1000 Nightmares.
Here's a link to the book on Amazon.co.uk..http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DETC1OM
My own little horror story on Kindle, how cool! From a girl, I absorbed every horror I could lay my hands on. Bedtime stories
were Poe, M R James and basically, anything Hammer related.
The Thing, in bunk beds with an ancient black & white
portable (it was the olden days) Waiting, terrified all night for the entrails
of my sister to wriggle down from above and envelope me in carnivorous agony.
Halloween: a daring trip into the night with Mum (Dad always
worked abroad) Nightmares with a hair prickling score ( and ringtone) etched into my brain for decades yet to come. Damaged for
life – I loved every minute.
Weekend sleepovers at my cousins – a mass of sleeping bags
and chair beds. Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Terrorvision, The Blob. The Stuff, Return Of The Living Dead...send more paramedics...LiKE THIS JOB!?!! Lying awake, thinking of all the surrounding cemeteries, brains...planning my escape, ahem, our escape…. We wouldn’t stand a
chance!
The grabbing hand at the end of Carrie.(Spoiler alert!) The ventriloquist's dummy Hugo in Dead of Night. The screaming Woman in Black over your bed, the watching shadowy ghosts in The Turn of the Screw. Alien, Demons, Evil Dead, The Fog, sequel after sequel, little pockets
of horror genius.
Argento, Carpenter, Craven, Fulci, Raimi, Scott, Herbert,
King. Loving nods to all my faves, they are my greatest inspirations.
Running out of room, gonna need a bigger boat – please
treasure my little contribution to an amazing genre. X A
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