In the days before photography and when the vast majority of the population could not afford to have their portrait painted, there were limited ways to remember loved ones who’d passed on. The memento mori tradition most likely began with mourning rings, small bands that may have had the name of the deceased engraved inside. They quickly became more intricate.
This is perfect kind of steampunk. It merely blurs the lines ever so slightly between fantasy and reality. Rather than imagining strange new worlds full of variant species or particle space travel, this book is set firmly in 1880s London. It is foggy, sooty and on the cusp of a new century.
I had the great honor to interview writer and editor Michael Sims about his newest book, The Phantom Coach and pick his brain about growing up in rural Tennessee, the (super)natural and what the ghost stories of our time will be like. Did that disconnection from what some might call “civilization” imbue you with an affinity…
Michael Sims has once again curated a fascinating and perhaps unexpected collection of stories for the Victorian reader. None of these stories rely on scare tactics as such. They are unsettling. They get into your head and rattle around, like a ghost clinking its chains. They are all the more unnerving, just as ghostly movies are…
Now it is time to give a little love to those little stories in your life. Share your love for your favorite shorts of any form. What is a short story or novella that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves? Recommend to readers what shorts you would suggest they start with. This book changed my…