Undawnted Presents: Paul Kane and Joseph Carrabis for WordCrafter's Midnight Garden Anthology

About Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow

17 authors bring you 21 magnificent dark tales. Stories of magic, monsters and mayhem. Tales of murder and madness which will make your skin crawl. These are the tales that explore your darkest Midnight Garden... if you dare.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com.

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Midnight Garden Anthology Giveaway

Three lucky winners will receive a digital copy of Midnight Garden in a random drawing following the tour. All you have to do to enter is follow the tour and leave a comment at each stop that you visit.

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Paul Kane's Drip Feed

Inspiration for “Drip Feed” by Paul Kane

I had so much fun writing ‘The White Lady’ for Kaye’s previous anthology, Midnight Roost, that when the opportunity to write something else for the next one in the series cropped up, I put my thinking cap on about another one.

‘Drip Feed’ is sort of the spiritual cousin to a story I wrote over a decade ago now, called ‘Rag & Bone’ – or at least the beginning of it is. First published in The Butterfly Man from PS Publishing, that one got picked up for Best New Horror so I’ve been trying to think of how to do something similar for a while now (although the two stories ended up being nothing alike really).

‘Rag & Bone’ begins with the main character hanging around in what he thinks is a serial killer’s lair, which is the conclusion Daniele in ‘Drip Feed’ also leaps to here. Both have twists about what’s actually going on, of course – it’s never as simple as just a ‘serial killer’ in one of my horrors – but in this case it was sort of influenced by the surge in spiking people’s drinks these days. We saw something about it on breakfast TV and I figured it would be appropriate in this tale.

There are bits that are nods to certain movies, and if you read ‘Drip Feed’ you’ll understand what those are and why I can’t mention them; Daniele herself has seen the films and although she can’t remember the titles, you’ll get where she’s coming from, or at least I hope you will.

I wanted to do a tale this time that offers a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, instead of that just being a train coming to run you over. There’s a glimmer at any rate, and that won’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t read it yet, because that’s not the full story by long chalk. The ending I think will still surprise you, as indeed it does Daniele. 

It’s enjoyable sometimes to do a piece that’s self-contained. Something which, although a back history is hinted at, doesn’t contain huge amounts of mythology or whatever that you need to know. Just a beginning, middle and end. I also like doing stories that are circular, though I’m not entirely sure this one is. We definitely leave it in a place where things are going to continue on, but then that’s most tales anyway isn’t it – unless you end the world that is (and I’ve done that a few times too). 

So sit back and read Daniele’s struggles to overcome her obstacles – her background, if not her predicament, are similar to mine; though in art and writing, rather than acting. Things are tough out there, and the only way to get through life is to become tougher. 

If you can, that is.

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About Paul Kane

Paul Kane is the award-winning (including the British Fantasy Society’s Legends of FantasyCon Award 2022), bestselling author and editor of over a hundred and fifty books – such as the Arrowhead trilogy (gathered in the sellout Hooded Man omnibus), Hellbound Hearts, Wonderland (a Shirley Jackson Award finalist) and Pain Cages (an Amazon #1 bestseller). His non-fiction books include The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy and Voices in the Dark. He has been a Guest at many conventions, as well as being a panellist at FantasyCon and the World Fantasy Convention, and a fiction judge at the Sci-Fi London festival. A former British Fantasy Society Special Publications Editor, he has also served as co-chair for the UK chapter of The Horror Writers Association and co-chaired ChillerCon UK in May 2022. His work has been optioned and adapted for the big and small screen, including for US network primetime television and as the feature film Sacrifice starring Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, You’re Next, Suitable Flesh). His audio work includes the full cast drama adaptation of The Hellbound Heart for Bafflegab, starring Alice Lowe (Prevenge), and the Robin of Sherwood adventure The Red Lord for Spiteful Puppet/ITV. He has also contributed to the Warhammer 40k universe for Games Workshop. Paul’s latest novels are the sequels to RED – Blood RED & Deep RED (aka The RED Trilogy) – the award-winning hit Sherlock Holmes & the Servants of Hell, Before (an Amazon Top 5 dark fantasy bestseller), Arcana, The Storm and The Gemini Effect. In addition he writes thrillers for HQ/HarperCollins as PL Kane: the sellout novels Her Last Secret, Her Husband’s Grave and The Family Lie. Paul lives in Derbyshire, UK, with his wife Marie O’Regan. Find out more at his site www.shadow-writer.co.uk which has featured Guest Writers such as Stephen King, Catriona Ward, Dean Koontz, Olivie Blake and Guillermo del Toro. 

Socials: Facebook, X (@PaulKaneShadow), Instagram (@paul.kane.376) and Bluesky (@paulkane.bsky.social)

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Reading from Midnight Garden

“Grande Ture” by Joseph Carrabis
https://youtu.be/iOKyI0fG9Qg.

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About Joseph Carrabis

Joseph Carrabis told stories to anyone who would listen starting in childhood, wrote his first stories in grade school, and started getting paid for his writing in 1978. He’s been everything from a long-haul trucker to a Chief Research Scientist and holds patents covering mathematics, anthropology, neuroscience, and linguistics. After patenting a technology which he created in his basement and creating an international company, he retired from corporate life and now he spends his time writing fiction based on his experiences. His work appears regularly in several anthologies and his own published novels. You can learn more about him at https://josephcarrabis.com.

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Midnight Garden Tour Schedule

Monday – October 7 – M.J. Mallon: Interview & Reading (The Seagull Man) – Writing to be Read
Tuesday – October 8 – Danaeka Scrimshaw: Guest Post (“Fae Game”) & Denise Aparo: Reading “Jack Moon & the Vanishing Book” – Roberta Writes
Wednesday – October 9 – Joseph Carabis: Reading (“The Last Drop”) & Guest Post (“Striders”) – Paul Martz
Thursday – October 10 – Paul Martz: Reading & Guest Post (“The Blackest Ink”) – Writing to be Read
Friday – October 11 – Molly Ertel: Inspiration Reading (“Antipenultimate”) & Abe Margel: Guest Post (My Balance) – Kyrosmagica
Saturday – October 12 – Paul Kane: Guest Post (“Drip Feed”) &a Joseph Carrabis: Guest Post (Grande Ture) – Undawnted
Sunday – October 13 – DL Mullan: Guest Post (Kurst) & Ell Rodman: Guest Post (The Drummer) - BookPlaces
Monday – October 14 – Joseph Carrabis: Reading (The Exchange) & Guest Post (The Tomb) – Writing to be Read

Press Release: 12 Angry Dead Author Interviewed by Joseph Carrabis

12 Angry Dead is my short story for Tales from the Hanging Tree. Joseph Carrabis asked fellow "hangers," as he calls contributors, about my creative write for his website. 

 

Read more here.

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What is this story about? 

It is about: 

When the souls of the wronged rise to avenge their premature deaths, is there anyone who can stand against them? 

 

Marilla Gibbs, an heiress and a director of the historical museum, is a descendant of Aida Worthington, a victim of one of these unjust homicides. The mid-1800s was a tumultuous time, especially with figures like Josiah King, who took lives with impunity. 

 

In the afterlife, his victims came together to form a jury. On All Hallows Eve, when the veil separating the living from the dead is at its thinnest, Aida and eleven other spirits took control of their descendants to confront their killer, who is now a seven-year-old boy.

 

With the aid of her assistant, Shaun, and Justin, the child's father, Marilla seeks to outmaneuver the twelve angry dead. Yet, will their combined efforts be sufficient to redirect the course from vengeance to authentic justice? 

The trio soon realizes that no one can escape a past life. 

Go to 12 Angry Dead's page. 

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What is the interview about? 

You will learn:

• Why I chose to write this cryptid, horror, mystery tale. 
• What relevance the story has to my own journey. 
• How no one can escape their past lives.

Read more here. 

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Quote from the Interview

Real or not, there are tales from centuries hence and into the recent past that illustrate the horrors that humans can inflict on one another. 12 Angry Dead pursues the idea that karma follows us from lifetime to lifetime. Some karma is about balancing one experience with another. Not all karma is about revenge, as is espoused by the spiritual community. Karma ties an individual to energies that also restores them to their soul’s purpose.

Read more here. 

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Purchase Links

Read my story, 12 Angry Dead, at your next Halloween party!  

Buy your copy of the Tales from the Hanging Tree on Amazon and other fine retailers: 

DL's Author Central page

Books2Read

Not all stories have a happy ending... and you can't outrun a past life.

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About DL Mullan:
 

A writer at heart, Undawnted’s own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet.

Currently, she has embarked on writing her multi-book Legacy Universe, Supernatural Superhero Series.

For news and updates, subscribe to the Undawntable Newsletter. Find DL on Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

 

 

 

Undawnted Presents: Paul Kane's The Hanging Men for WordCrafter's Tales from the Hanging Tree Anthology

About Tales From the Hanging Tree

There exists a tree that is timeless, spanning across all dimensions, which absorbs every life as those who are hanged as they die… and it remembers every one. The stories within are a select few of the Tales From the Hanging Tree. Tales from the Hanging Tree is a wonderfully dark, themed anthology which revolves around an ephemeral and timeless hanging tree that absorbs the memories of all hanging victims. This WordCrafter Press anthology was created by invitation only and includes stories from authors Kaye Lynne Booth, Paul Kane, DL Mullan, C.R. Johansson, Joseph Carrabis, Sylva Fae, and Matt Usher.

 

Purchase through Books2Read. 

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Inspiration for “The Hanging Men”, by Paul Kane

As soon as Kaye mentioned that there was a Wordcrafter anthology coming up she was gathering stories for, called Tales from the Hanging Tree, something clicked. I remembered an old tale I’d started many years ago, in fact not that long after I’d begun writing and sending submissions off to small press magazines back in the 1990s. Back then, I’d also attend events with like-minded people, all chatting about their influences – such as MR James, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgson, Lovecraft and so on. 

I’d read a few of those kinds of tales growing up, usually in supernatural anthologies, but was really coming to horror/supernatural writing via ’70s and ’80s fiction by authors like Jim Herbert, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, Ramsey Campbell, Graham Masterton et al. So I went away and read some of those recommendations from my fellow writers, and loved it all – so much so that it influenced tales like ‘Shadow Writer’, ‘St August’s Flame’ and ‘Star Pool’. I eventually moved more towards the modern kind of horror writing again, but still liked to keep my hand in with the more old-fashioned style of tale. 

Which is where ‘The Hanging Men’ comes in. I began writing it in either the late ’90s, or early 2000s, aiming to produce something that was a mix of ghost story and folk horror; the kind of thing that might morph into a myth or legend itself. There’s definitely more than a whiff of James about the whole thing, probably also influenced by those wonderful BBC A Ghost Story for Christmas adaptations of the ’60s and ’70s.  

For some reason I can’t remember now – it might even have been to do with moving more towards a modern style, or perhaps it was because I was starting to teach around then and so my time was a bit limited – I never got around to actually finishing it off. But like something I might have mislaid during a house move, it niggled me. Those things tend to do that – I’ve just recently rediscovered a full-length novel I wrote in my early 20s, which I went through and sent out to be published: The Wet, which has just been released as a curiosity (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wet-Paul-Kane/dp/1953905935/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2OT394GFS7A40&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Z5N5llZqAAvpsFpjpXneog.fasuXHPlidz2Ik_jjO2jXQ1AjZSPboqiOvAK0eudfm8&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+wet+paul+kane&qid=1724771978&sprefix=the+wet+paul+kane%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-1). 

And while that one is not the novel I’d write today, when I finally laid my hands on ‘The Hanging Men’ in an old folder and re-read what I’d done – maybe 1000 wds or so – I found I slipped very easily into the voice again, like a pair of old comfy slippers. Maybe it’s because we’ve just been putting together an anthology called Beyond & Within: Folk Horror for Flame Tree (out now, folks! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Horror-Short-Stories-Beyond-Within/dp/1804177326/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VASDFLOSSYL1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JHGNriPdOKCpgs65pre9wQ._Df1E3MW5R_JlmdmOb5h7VnV9F3o-vM4NnovHRf-4mQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=beyond+and+within+folk+horror&qid=1724772064&sprefix=beyond+and+within%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-1) that it felt so right. Or perhaps it was a simple matter of completing something that needed completing. 

Either way, I’m delighted Kaye took the story for Tales from the Hanging Tree, giving it a new lease of life. A tale that spans 25 years or more, not in the narrative itself, but in the writing of it. I hope readers enjoy this short shocker when they pick up the book! 

Purchase through Books2Read. 

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About Paul Kane

Paul Kane is the award-winning (including the British Fantasy Society’s Legends of FantasyCon Award 2022), bestselling author and editor of over a hundred and fifty books – such as the Arrowhead  trilogy (gathered in the sellout Hooded Man omnibus), Hellbound Hearts, Wonderland (a Shirley Jackson Award finalist) and Pain Cages (an Amazon #1 bestseller). His non-fiction books include The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy and Voices in the Dark. He has been a Guest at many conventions, as well as being a panellist at FantasyCon and the World FantasyConvention, and a fiction judge at the Sci-Fi London festival. A former British Fantasy Society SpecialPublications Editor, he has also served as co-chair for the UK chapter of The Horror Writers Association and co-chaired ChillerCon UK in May 2022. His work has been optioned and adapted for the big and small screen, including for US network primetime television and as the feature film Sacrifice starring Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, You’re Next, Suitable Flesh). His audio work includes the full cast drama adaptation of The Hellbound Heart for Bafflegab, starring Alice Lowe (Prevenge), and the Robin of Sherwood adventure The Red Lord for Spiteful Puppet/ITV. He has also contributed to the Warhammer 40k universe for Games Workshop. Paul’s latest novels are the sequels to RED – Blood RED & Deep RED (aka The RED Trilogy) – the award-winning hit Sherlock Holmes & the Servants of Hell, Before (an Amazon Top 5 dark fantasy bestseller), Arcana, The Storm and The Gemini Effect. In addition he writes thrillers for HQ/HarperCollins as PL Kane: the sellout novels Her Last Secret, Her Husband’s Grave and The Family Lie. Paul lives in Derbyshire, UK, with his wife Marie O’Regan. Find out more at his site www.shadow-writer.co.uk which has featured Guest Writers such as Stephen King, Catriona Ward, Dean Koontz, Olivie Blake and Guillermo del Toro.

Socials: Facebook, X (@PaulKaneShadow),  Instagram (@paul.kane.376) and Bluesky (@paulkane.bsky.social) 

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 Undawnteum Vlog: 

 Author News and Updates Playlist

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Tour Schedule

Monday Sept. 9 – Writing to be Read – Reading Excerpt by Joseph Carrabis & Guest Sylva Fae

Tuesday Sept. 10 – Roberta Writes – Guest Kaye Lynne Booth

Wednesday Sept. 11 – Carla Reads – Guest C.R. Johansson

Thursday Sept. 12 – Undawnted – Guest Paul Kane*

Friday Sept. 13 – Writing to be Read – Guest Matt Usher

Kurst Accepted into the Midnight Garden Anthology

Great news! 

Undawnted received word that DL Mullan's short story, Kurst, has been accepted into WordCrafter's Midnight Garden anthology. Due out this October 2024, this publication will be another installment in the dark fiction trilogy. 

Imagine if you inherited an age-old curse...

Kurst explores an insane, evil cryptid monster: 

Karen Kurst comes into the legal possession of her deceased grandmother's cabin in Salt Pines, Arizona. As she delves into the secrets of the quaint mountain village, she discovers that there is more than meets the eye. A mysterious creature roams the woods, a blended cryptid: Elemental, Sasquatch, and Skinwalker. The only way to contain this entity is through a magical spell passed down by her ancestor, Ralph Wallen. Teaming up with the local indigenous sheriff, Karen is determined to break the family curse. 

However, the question remains - will she have to sacrifice her own life to protect her newfound community?

Join this collection of writers in sharing their nightmares with you... 

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A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. 

Currently, she has embarked on writing her multi-book Legacy Universe, Supernatural Superhero Series.

For news and updates, subscribe to the Undawntable Newsletter.