We received word today on an upcoming collection of 13 ghost stories and strange tales entitled, Death’s Sweet Echo, coming from publishers Tickety Boo Press. This is legendary horror authors Len Maynard and Mick Sims’ 10th collection. Read on for more details.
From The Press Release
Tickety Boo Press are publishing our tenth collection of 13 ghost stories and strange tales – 10 have never seen the light of day before. This will be published as hardback, paperback and ebook.
A scratching at the door, but surely no-one is there. The house is empty, so the footsteps on the stairs must be in my imagination. The way that shadow just moved, like breathing, must be a trick of the light.
“In thirteen new ghost stories and strange tales Maynard & Sims prove they are masters of subtle unease, shifting from reality to distorted nightmares with a few deft words, creating an atmosphere of dread with superb characterisation, pacing and plotting.” TicketyBoo
“Maynard Sims’ work is superbly detailed, and very well written.” British Fantasy Society.
“I wish Maynard & Sims were more prolific short story writers, because every collection they publish is a veritable feast for dark fiction lovers.” Mario Guslandi.
https://maynardsims.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/kicking-and-screaming-into-the-light
DEATH’S SWEET ECHO Contents
GLORIOUS DILAPIDATION
ANOTHER BITE OF THE CHERRY
HOPING HE WOULDN’T BE TOO LATE
I’M HERE
SWEET DECAY OF YOUTH
I HEAR HIS FOOTSTEPS DRAWING NEAR
AND IT GOES LIKE THIS
SILVER
GUILT CASTS LONG SHADOWS
JUST THE WAY IT IS
THE WALTZER KING
COLD COMFORT
RESTITUTION
Credits
ANOTHER BITE OF THE CHERRY was published by Hersham Horror as The Curse Of The Mummy in 2015
I HEAR HIS FOOTSTEPS DRAWING NEAR was published by Immediate Direction in the Midnight Street anthology Journeys Into Darkness in 2014
SILVER was published by Hersham Horror in the Dead Water anthology in 2014
All the other stories are unpublished. Total book word count is 82700 words
The Amazon UK link for the ebook https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deaths-Sweet-Echo-Maynard-Sims-ebook/dp/B018YK61XM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1449304185&sr=1-1&keywords=maynard+and+sims+death’s+sweet+echo
The Amazon US link for the ebook https://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Sweet-Echo-Maynard-Sims-ebook/dp/B018YK61XM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1449393998&sr=1-1&keywords=maynard+sims
The publisher link for the hardcover (with free ebook)
https://shop.ticketyboopress.co.uk/index.php?id_product=81&controller=product
Excerpt from GLORIOUS DILAPIDATION
The house had stood there for as long as I could remember.
When I say it stood that might seem to suggest it was proud and erect, possibly rising majestically up from the ground on firm foundations, the walls straight and true, the roof attached strongly, and the overall ambience pleasing to the eye. It wasn’t like that, and never had been all the time I knew it.
These days it leaned in a forlorn almost wistful manner, as if it knew it had died but couldn’t find the heart to accept a fate so final.
It was Ruth’s idea to go back and visit it, while we were in the area. I’m not blaming her for what happened. I was as eager to see what had become of the old place as she was, though I wouldn’t have told her that. I was surprised she wanted to go back, after I had told her about the first time I went, but once she had voiced the suggestion it took hold in my mind and wouldn’t let go, so that I became even more immersed in the plans than she seemed to be. I did wonder if she had second thoughts, and had mentioned the house simply because we would be so near to it on our trip. I have to admit I probably didn’t give her much of a chance to back out once she had mentioned it, but it was her who brought it up initially, so all I really did was go along with her idea.
That needs to be understood. I didn’t have any wish before she spoke about it to go near the house ever again, not with someone else. Obviously if I could have known how things would turn out my enthusiasm would have stayed what it had been for years, mere curiosity about a childhood event that had happened a long, long time ago. Trouble is I have always been the same. Once an idea is planted in my mind I have to see it through to completion or I get left with an irritation deep inside that borders on obsession.
I know I was on the spectrum of obsessive compulsive behaviour when I was younger, certainly in my teens. The word “obsession” often describes something enjoyable, but in OCD the obsession is usually unpleasant and frightening, and it was for me. As a teenager I began to suspect that my brain didn’t seem to work in the same ways as my friends. They were casual and carefree about life in general but I never did feel that way. I always needed to know in advance where we were going, what we were doing and who was going. If when I got there the plans had changed I was totally unable to cope with this at all. I felt as if I was trapped and that I had been betrayed if things weren’t as they’d been planned. I would appear to the others to be sulking, but in truth my brain filled with thoughts, going over and over, about how the plan had been agreed, and I was completely unable to manage to adapt to the alterations. The negative thoughts were going round and round in a loop in my brain.
In the back of my father’s car when we were driving on long trips with my parents I’d find my thoughts continually looping, going over things again and again. I’d recite in my mind my books, and my records, and what order they were on the shelves. I’d list my clothes and where they were in the drawers. I’d even list in my mind my washing things and continually recall where they were in the bathroom. The listing went on and on. If someone tried to speak to me I was impatient because they’d disrupted the pattern, and I had to start over.
Author Amazon page https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAYNARD-SIMS/e/B005XOR8H6/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1449394583&sr=1-2-ent
