The supernatural and the paranormal have long interested me.
In particular, I am intrigued by attempts to make such things seem plausible.
Whilst some geeks adore Star Trek or Dr Who, I was fanatical about the X-Files, especially the "Monster of the Week" episodes where Mulder sought to provide a convincing account of some Occult phenomenon.
I am also fascinated by traditional folklore about the Occult: indeed "Jack of Kent" himself was a medieval wizard who repeatedly bested the Devil.
And so I have often thought about how familiar Occult notions could be re-imagined, stripping away the layers of clichés supplied by contemporary popular entertainment.
I have now had a go at some short stories, the first of which is here.
These stories will be occasional, but I hope you will get to hear more of the lovely narrator and her strange employer, the Roebuck Institute.
After all, that august body ultimately superintends the United Kingdom's ghosts, demons, gods, homeopaths and other witches, werewolves, exorcisms, and so on.
To begin with, our narrator tells of her mundane work with the UK's stock of vampires.
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Monday, 5 July 2010
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The UK has had relatively little vampire and werewolf hysteria in its history (witches used to be more feared). That's not the say there hasn't been some hysteria, and not so long ago, either.
http://www.ghost-story.co.uk/stories/highgatevampire.html
Is it all part of a lawyer's mindset to be able to spin a plausible story about an unpromising set of facts? It’s interesting how the core of the story revolves round that fundamental of conspiracy theorists, a secret government institution operating on its own terms.
The other odd thing is, why did the institution chose this ghoulish experiment in composting human beings? I guess that motivation is not the point of the story.
Hi Steve
The relationship between evidence, "facts" and narratives interested me long before I went into the Law. I read Modern History at university and, to be candid, I really am more a historian by inclination than a lawyer!
The "secret government institution" is also a cliche I aim to deconstruct in time, if I carry on with the stories.
And, as for the motivation for this curious vampire research? That too should become clear...
:-)
It seems odd to term them "vampires" rather than "zombies". Being merely undead would seem to qualify them more strongly as the latter.
Also, so far no real reason has been given as to why a government might wish to keep the existence of the fungal infection secret.
Finally, and this is largely a stylistic point, references to popular culture such as Vincent Price or Thriller are dangerous; they make a work age badly. But this only really matters if you wish the work to be read after you're gone rather than some ephemeral thing.
References to popular culture are only dangerous if the work's set in a perpetual Now, rather than a specific time and place. Even then, Vincent Price and Thriller are hardly current reference points.
Either way, plenty of classic literature has references to popular culture of the time; it simply either passes us by or requires a quick footnote these days.
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