The Ghosts of Winter

Part the First

Gazed upon from the valleys between,

the high mountains may seem beautiful and serene places. The domain of wild things and of hunters, and wanderers with a little more wilderness in their blood.

But the mountains are also mysterious places, that hide secrets long lost to the inhabitants of the lowlands.

When a photograph of a remote high mountain valley comes into the hands of young wanderer, it ignites a fascination within him, that quickly grows into a compulsion to find and visit this place.

Only accessible in the winter, and rumoured to be a place never touched by the warmth of summer, this hidden place seems to hold traces of antiquity and dreams of what once were.

Like all good ghost stories, The Ghosts of Winter is a haunting tale of supernatural and ageless mystery, which can almost but not quite be rationalised, that will leave many readers pondering the implications.

Frequently asked questions – answered by the author.

Question: Where did the inspiration for the The Ghosts of Winter come from?

Answer: The decision to try and write a winter ghost which featured skiing came to me as a suggestion made by one of friends who composes and performs his own music. We been chatting about where we should go for our next ski and snowboarding holiday, and on a whim I suggested he should try and compose a piece of music which evoked the mountains in winter. Well he rose to the challenge, but in return he suggested I should do the same by writing a ghost story with the same backdrop.

Question: What about other authors, this title is dedicated to several horror/ghost story writers including H.P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood and Walter de la Mare amongst other writers of classic fiction, but are there any more recent authors you consider to be an influence on your writing?

Answer: Oh absolutely, I'm not a fan of overly grisly horror stories or anything with a lot of blood and gore in it, but there are authors out there who can still tell a terrifying tale of horror and suspense without any of that. Susan Hill is one name which springs immediately to mind for her Woman in Black story, Sarah Perry's Essex Serpent is another.

Question: Both your Glass Darkly series and your Flames of Time trilogy are set in the 1930s, is there something about this period that you find particularly interesting and will we continue to see your stories in this period?

Answer: I’d like to say there’s some great and convoluted reason for setting my stories in the 1930s, but in actuality I set my Flames of Time series in the 30s because of a simple plot device relating to when the narrator is telling the story. Once I’d decided on the time period and started doing my research I realised there was so much about those inter-war years that seemed so similar to how we live today, while there were obviously other aspects which are almost un-recognisable. It’s this blend of the familiar and alien that I thought would make a great setting for the low-fantasy type of stories that I like to tell.

Question: Finally, who do you think would enjoy your Ghosts of Winter story?

Answer: Well that’s a slightly more tricky question. I'd like to think it would make a nice gift for anyone who enjoys skiing or winter sports in high mountains, and the kind of terrain where the story is set, but aside from them I hope it will appeal to anyone who likes the slightly old fashioned style of horror, suspense and thriller story, where the real horror exists in the mind and imagination of the reader.