A collection of seventeen dark tales & novellas, in which some of today’s finest weird story writers provide previously unpublished work inspired by traditional murder ballads.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.
