Author Description

A collection of seventeen dark tales & novellas, in which some of today’s finest weird story writers provide previously unpublished work inspired by traditional murder ballads. The results are sometimes enigmatic, sometimes witty, sometimes desperately grim; just like the songs they often appear to belong outside — either before or after — recorded time, in some malleable epoch of blood-drenched mythology. They channel not only these ballads, but also that certain brand of outmoded publication which once reveled so joyfully in all manner of luridness; publications such as The Newgate Calendar, The Illustrated Police News and of course the Victorian Penny Dreadful. It is sumptuously illustrated with reclaimed images from these glorious sources. The full contents are as follows... Prelude Twa Sisters, Ane Swan by Avalon Brantley The Ballad Box by Alison Littlewood And Yet Speaketh by Timothy J. Jarvis Heaven’s Nightblooming Garden by Helen Marshall The Baby Farmer by Philip Fracassi The Sweet Princess Prized by Brendan Connell Black Wedding: A Footnote by Louis Marvick The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners by Angela Slatter The Vampyre Trap by Reggie Oliver The Kink of Human Mildness by Rhys Hughes In Scarlet Town by Rosanne Rabinowitz “We’ll Never Know” by Daniel Mills Something Close to Grace by Lisa L. Hannett Out of Bounds by Stephen J. Clark Old Maid by Colin Insole os cithara by Charles Schneider Through Flame and Fume by Albert Power Edited by Mark Beech The book has 385 pages; is a lithographically printed, sewn hardback with colour endpapers and numerous antique illustrations throughout. It is limited to just 375 copies. ISBN 978-0-993527845.