Tagged: Alyson Faye

Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Winter’s Ghosts by Alyson Faye, Stephanie Ellis, Charlotte Riddell & Edith Wharton

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Winter’s Ghosts
Author: Alyson Faye, Stephanie Ellis, Charlotte Riddell, Edith Wharton
Genre: Ghost Stories, Gothic
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: 29th November, 2023

Synopsis:Winter is traditionally the time for a ghost story. Alyson Faye and Stephanie Ellis continue this custom with their short stories, ‘Chilled to the Bone’ and ‘Dead Man’s Fair’ where, in both gothic mansion and remote hills, blizzards close in and the dead walk. Pairing with these modern day writers are Charlotte Riddell and Edith Wharton, both known for their skill in weaving a ghostly tale but whose stories are in danger of being forgotten. Their inclusion here is intended to help prevent this and honour those female authors who paved the way for the rest of us.

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Night Visitor by Alyson Faye

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: The Night Visitor
Author: Alyson Faye
Genre: Occult Horror
Publisher: Demain Publishing
Release Date: 31st March, 2023

Synopsis: In the long hot summer of 1976 there is something ancient, and hungry stirring in the woods surrounding the peaceful town of Brintwood.

First the pets begin to go missing, then the daytime streets are emptier and Amy knows her best mate, Robin, is no longer himself.

She is forced to go on the run, find new allies and face the horror hunting her; a monster created by a madman’s long ago evil acts.

The night visitor and his army are on the move…

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Articles / Interviews

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WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Alyson Faye

In celebration of Women in Horror Month, we are continuing to highlight some of the amazing work that women have been doing compiling and editing magazines and story collections in the horror industry. We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Alyson Faye.

Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?

I am Alyson Faye, writer, tutor, editor, proofreader. I live in the UK, with my family and rescue animals. I co-run the indie press, Black Angel, with Stephanie Ellis https://blackangelpressblog.wordpress.com/ – where we publish women dark fiction writers at all stages of their writing journey. 

I also am an editor for the indie press, Bridge House and associate editor on The Casket of Fictional Delights.

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Trembling With Fear

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Trembling With Fear 11/21/21

Please note: We are temporarily closed to short flash stories (unless for one of the Specials) but open to drabbles, unholy trinities and serials. Please also remember to read our guidelines, especially on word counts!

By the end of the year, we will have caught up on all our short story publications for TWF. With that in mind, I feel it safe to reopen at the beginning of December – but please do not send before this!

This week I’ve been getting things ready for the UK Ghost Festival in Derby next weekend. I’ll be around for a panel and event but most of the time I’ll be at a table in the Quad (with wonderful husband, Geraint, manning it during any absence) selling books. If you’re around come over, say hello, perhaps pick up a book or two. Alyson Faye will be with me and we’re selling copies of Black Angel Press’ Daughters of Darkness I and II in addition to our own books which we’ll be more than happy to sign.

Reading has been Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard (almost finished!) and The Fiends in the Furrows II. The latter is an excellent collection of new folk horror stories which I really enjoyed. I’ve also been reading editions of Hellebore Magazine which deals with folk horror and the occult. It’s a lovely little mag, informative and interesting and I’d recommend.

I’m also looking at some special Indie Bookshelf Release Posts leading up to Christmas and I’m going to try and create a charity one. If you know of, or have been part of, any charity anthologies released this year – and I’ll say last year as well, due to covid – please let me know and I’ll add them to post.

Our first story in Trembling with Fear is The Rat Goes Underground by Rodolfo Boskovic is a grim tale recounting the consequences of selling people out. What was particularly enjoyable about this one was the ‘voice’ of the narrator, its fluid tone, the sense of being ‘in confidence’, which draws the reader in naturally.

Grandpa’s Girl by S.C. Fisher is a slightly ambiguous ghost story but one which reinforces a family bond from beyond the grave.

Reversion by Alyson Faye is a lovely gothic poem with some gorgeous imagery illustrating decay across the passage. Evocative.

Short Order Supervillain by Brian Maycock has an ending which equates human life in a shocking manner to an everyday product. This sort of blunt statement is a good trick to add in an extra level of horror.

Enjoy our stories and send in yours!

Steph

Stephanie Ellis

Editor, Trembling With Fear

We’ve been having some huge issues with our mailing list the past two weeks. I believe it may be resolved this week. If not, I’ll likely be juggling around room in the budget to go back to our old newsletter provider. So, that’s been fun. Thankfully, there are some great stories to cheer us all up below!

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

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Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Daughters of Darkness II, ed. Stephanie Ellis & Alyson Faye

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Daughters of Darkness II
Author: Various, ed. Stephanie Ellis & Alyson Faye
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Black Angel Press
Release Date: 1st Oct, 2021

Synopsis: The Daughters are back! This time with a new quartet of women horror writers to thrill and scare you, in the latest anthology, Daughters of Darkness II, from the women-run indie horror press, Black Angel.
Within these shadowed pages you will journey into the depths of the myth-rich Scottish countryside, into the horrors of suburban life, where beneath the skin of Hummingbird Academy true macabreness ferments. You will encounter haunted girls and young men, with dark and deadly secrets, and travel into the Gothic heartlands, culminating in the hell of WW1 and encounter who or what comes home from the trenches.
These are four women horror writers at the top of their game, conjuring stories of quiet, skin-creeping terror.

In the book’s Foreword, Faye and Ellis write that Daughters of Darkness was born of “difficulty in finding suitable outlets for our style of quiet, psychological horror and also the fact that many outstanding female writers just couldn’t seem to break through.” The Daughters of Darkness anthologies are designed specifically to showcase horror written by female authors. Daughters of Darkness II is the second installment, and it did not disappoint. 

The publisher broke down each author into sections. Authors had a certain wordcount, and their contribution varied. This collection included short stories, connected shorts, and novellas. 

First author up—Beverley Lee. I’ve read Lee’s work in the past, and she creeped me out with her sinister and atmospheric piece. Lee has presented us with a collection of four stories. Her lead story, “A Whiteness of Swans” opens her section, and the collection as a whole. By far, one of my favorites in the entire book. 

I had not read anything by Lynn Love prior, so I appreciated the chance to read a new (to me) author. Phenomenal, describes Love’s entry into this book. Each “part” of the story read different enough to feel fresh and interesting, but the connecting thread kept the reader grounded in the story world. Using Jack Sprat and life at home in a large house with an absent family gave the opening section both a fairy tale and gothic feel. By the end, I wondered how the sections would come together, and Love pulled it off with a finale demonstrating her mastery by seamlessly tying up the ending. 

Next up—Catherine McCarthy’s “The Spider and the Stag.” This novella-length tale combined elements of mystery and folk horror. McCarthy masterfully crafted her characters, and they felt like real people. She depicted a grieving widow in such a beautiful and poignant way, and yet somehow still managed to balance the fear, which made the story terrifying.

T.C. Parker is another new (to me) author in this collection. Parker’s entry comes in the form of two connected stories. I liked this approach, and the stories pleasantly surprised me. I preferred the tint of weirdness in the horror of the second tale, but the first did a great job at showing off Parker’s characterization skills. I felt an immediate connection with Jodie that sustained me until the story’s end.

This was an outstanding collection. Very rarely do I love all of the stories in an anthology, but for this one, I can wholeheartedly recommend every tale and author included.

out of 5 ravens.

Available from amazon.