The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark

Between 1971 and 1978, during the Christmas holiday period, the BBC broadcast a series of dramas under the umbrella title of A Ghost Story for Christmas, most based on stories by M. R. James and all directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. This December, Spectral Press will be publishing its first hybrid/non-fiction book, The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark, in celebration of those classic short films.

Edited and introduced by Tony Earnshaw (Beating the Devil – The Making of Night of the Demon); Foreword by Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock, First Men in the Moon, the forthcoming The Tractate Middoth); plus all the M. R. James tales from which the dramas were adapted, each prefaced by a new introduction by Clark.

Additionally, there will also be a reprint of an unfilmed “Count Magnus” script by Basil Copper, as well as other material including unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs.

Whitstable by Stephen Volk

"1971. A middle-aged man, racked with grief, walks along the beach at Whitstable in Kent. A boy walks approaches him and, taking him for the famous vampire-hunter Doctor Van Helsing from the Hammer movies, asks for his help. Because he believes his stepfather really is a vampire…

In Whitstable — which deftly mixes fact with fiction — the actor, devastated after the recent death of his wife and soul mate Helen, is an inconsolable recluse. In that vulnerable state he is forced to face an evil far more real and terrifying than any of the make-believe monsters he tackled on the big screen. And here he is not a crusader or expert with crucifixes to hand — merely a man. A man who in some ways craves death himself, but cannot ignore the pleas of an innocent child…"

Stephen Volk's novella, Whitstable, is available from the Spectral Press.

Whitstable by Stephen Volk

“1971. A middle-aged man, racked with grief, walks along the beach at Whitstable, Kent. A boy approaches and, taking him for the famous vampire-hunter Doctor Van Helsing from the Hammer movies, asks for help. Because the boy believes his stepfather really is a vampire.

The actor, devastated after the recent death of his wife and soul mate Helen, is an inconsolable recluse. In that vulnerable state he is forced to face an evil far more real and terrifying than any of the make-believe monsters he tackled on the big screen…”

So begins the new novella, Whitstable, by Stephen Volk, to be published by the British Fantasy Award-nominated Spectral Press in May 2013 to coincide with the centenary of the celebrated Hammer star, Peter Cushing. To pre-order visit the Spectral Press webpage.