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.
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.
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.
Not all stories have a happy ending... and you can't outrun a past life.
_________
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.
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.
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 AGhost Story for Christmas adaptations of the ’60s and ’70s.
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!
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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