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A short paranormal mystery to unsettle the reader.Mark should be happy, what with a promotion and impending fatherhood in the offing, and yet not all is well. His nerves shredded by a succession of nocturnal images that flicker across the screen of his portable television set, his sense of self is beginning to disintegrate. He may be left perplexed and confused, yet that irritant of a colleague of his – Mike Pearce – seems to know something that he doesn’t. Could there be a hint of the supernatural in the mix? If so, what, if anything, does Pearce have to do with it, and what does it mean for his future?
This novelette is a standalone work in the West Country Tales series, also available in paperback, or Kindle ebook format, alongside four other tales in Anthology: Wry Out West.
This is a short story that follows Mark, a young man who works, is married, and has a child on the way. One early morning he hears the TV come on at 3:05 and as he watches it, he witnesses something that bothers me. He thinks nothing of it really and goes about his day. The problem is, the next day it happened again, and again, and again. Adding on to this was his co-worker seems to know something is up. At least Mark thinks he does, but then he really never liked that guy anyways.
So because this is a short story there is a lot of things that I can’t say because it would ruin the story, but this is a creepy short story that really makes you rethink what you know and what you don’t know about the universe and our place in it.
Give it a try, you may realize that this is perfect for what you are looking for in a story.
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About H.E. Bulstrode
The author's childhood and formative years were spent in the English West Country, a region in which reality and fantasy are frequently confused, and where what elsewhere would be taken as peculiar, regarded as nothing more than an everyday occurrence. Soaked in myth, folklore and cider, his imagination eventually whirred into life and prompted him to pen, or at least type, a number of understated tales of the uncanny, drawing upon his wry observations of esoteric subcultures and beliefs, and the rich store of lore that seems locked into the land itself.
From the mist, the frost, and the wind, comes something ambling through the murk, seeking to ensnare the unwary: a village cunning man; a malignant Jacobean mannequin; a psychedelic Crowley wannabe; the sickle-wielding spirit of old Dorset; a pious guide who emerges from the fabric of a venerable minster; a mediaeval animalistic heretic with a still beating heart. Ghost stories, bizarre rites, and mental disintegration populate a world in which the living and the dead meet in an eternal present, and the author dares - the most horrific thing of all - to use adverbs where appropriate.
His tales have frequently been compared to the likes of those encountered in Tales of the Unexpected and The Twilight Zone, but the Bulstrodian world, as you will discover, is a realm unto itself, and quite distinct from either.
He is currently working on a number of future publications, including an occult mystery set in Edwardian Yorkshire, and a full-length novel focusing upon the themes of superstition, piracy, and religious fanaticism, set in seventeenth-century Cornwall and beyond. The latter opens amidst an atmosphere of unease unleashed by a supernatural visitation. Both will be published in 2018.
