“Earth-Bound & Other Supernatural Tales is an intriguing, interesting and timely reissue.”
Originally published in 1924, the nine tales that comprise Earth-Bound were written by Dorothy Macardle while she was held a political prisoner in Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol and Mountjoy Prison. The stories incorporate themes that intrigued her throughout her life; themes out of the myths and legends of Ireland; ghostly interventions, dreams and premonitions, clairvoyance, and the Otherworld in parallel with this one. It is so easy to dismiss them, as some have, merely as part of the narrative of “Irish nationalism” of the time, but it is the supernatural elements that make them much more. To this new edition of Macardle’s debut collection, reprinted for the first time in ninety years, we have added four more tales of the supernatural.
Why We’re Excited About This Book:
Swan River Press are Ireland’s only press dedicated to supernatural and fantastic fiction. As well as contemporary work they reprint lost classics, making them available for a new audience. Their latest unearthed treasure is Earth-Bound & Other Supernatural Tales by Dorothy Macardle, an author best known for her writings on Irish independence and her ghost story Uneasy Freehold–later filmed as The Uninvited.
Earth-Bound was her début book of short fiction, written whilst she was held as a political prisoner by the Free State during the Irish civil war. The collection was originally subtitled Nine Stories Of Ireland and these tales take inspiration from the myths and legends of the country. This reissue adds four new stories to the original 1924 release, giving us an intriguing, interesting and timely reissue.
Included are the title story, ‘Samhain’, ‘A Story Without an End’, ‘Escape’, ‘The Curlew’s Call’ and many more.
Earth-Bound & Other Supernatural Tales is available to order from Swan River Press now.
“The secret of Grady Hendrix’s books are not the visual gimmicks but the story-telling talent.”
A heart-warming story of friendship and demonic possession. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act…different. She’s moody. She’s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she’s nearby. Abby’s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries–and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil? Like an unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist, My Best Friend’s Exorcism blends teen angst, adolescent drama, unspeakable horrors, and a mix of ’80s pop songs into a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller.
Why We’re Excited About This Book:
Grady Hendrix’s first novel, Horrorstor, a horror story published so it that looked just an IKEA-style catalogue, was both frightening and visually creative. He’s continued that combination with My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is in the form of a high-school yearbook. Inside the front cover of the hardback edition are the yearbook signatures of characters from the story, plus comments and doodles that might just shed some light on the tale… The physical book also has photographs and ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style questions inside its text, whilst the ebook edition comes with audio & video files.
But the secret of Hendrix’s books are not the visual gimmicks but the story-telling talent underpinning them. My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a horror tale set in the American South in the 80s. It’s full of period detail: the big hair, E.T., Duran Duran… But this isn’t just a game of spot the pop-cultural reference, for the story also deliberately recalls the ‘Satanic Panic’ that took place in America at that time. Hendrix cleverly weaves in references to that hysteria around heavy metal and Dungeons & Dragons into his tale of a possession that just might be the real thing…
My Best Friend’s Exorcism is out now from Quirk Books.
JAMES EVERINGTON