S.P. Oldham's Blog, page 20

My First Entry Just to Say Hello!

Hi, thanks for dropping in. This is my first ever blog post here on my shiny new SquareSpace Blog. Sorry to say I have had some serious issues with another website which shall remain nameless, so here I am and here I hope to stay!

I am an avid reader as well as an author. I read all kinds of genres, not just horror or dark fiction. I have a particular love for historical fiction and you are just as likely to find me reading Conn Iggulden, Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory or Lyndsey Davis as you are to find me reading Stephen King, James Herbert or Dean Koontz.

It sounds cliched, but I really have been writing all my life. Any one of my family (I am the youngest of five sisters) will tell you that I have been writing stories and poems ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I pursued the orthodox route to publishing for years on and off, with little success. It was only in 2017 that I decided to throw caution to the wind and try this self-publishing thing that everyone was talking about. It’s been onwards and upwards ever since.

My writing partner and constant companion Milo pictured in the thumbnail would also like to say hi!

So Lost in Words - Advent Calender - December 2021

A little heads up to get involved and maybe spread the word to friends - I will be running an advent calendar this December. UK ONLY I am afraid as postage abroad is prohibitive. You will have to add your name to my list (on a specific post as names added elsewhere won't count.) The list will close at midday on 30th November. I will then run the names through random name pickers daily, to find a winner for that day's advent. The prizes will be various small promotional items such as torches, pens, bookmarks, keyring/trolley tokens and those little pen things you can use on mobile phones and touch pads! There will also be some free book downloads and free signed book giveaways, so look out for the list to open very soon! 

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PLEASE DON'T ADD YOUR NAMES BELOW, LIST WILL OPEN NOVEMBER 1ST! 

Competition Winner and New Horror Poetry

From Donna Henry, winner of my recent little competition.

Thank you so much for my prize S P Oldham, Author

Also, some new poetry on my Horror Poetry page! https://solostinwords.com/home/desper... 

Runner Up - Dog Jumping in a Muddy Puddle!

Unfortunately the winner of the 'little something' prize for saying what you see on the spooky stone has not got back to me, so the runner up is Donna Henry with 'a dog jumping in a muddy puddle.' Donna I will contact you shortly.

P.S if the original winner James Smith would like to contact me, I would be happy to send you a little something too!

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'A Dinosaur Eating Africa' - Winner James White

Thanks for all the witty, imaginative responses. The winning comment, which really made me go 'wow!' is "A dinosaur eating Africa" by James Smith! I will be in touch shortly James. Thanks everyone, keep coming back for competitions and more, spread the word with a like and share the page too, if you feel like it! Thanks!

Spooky Stone...

My sister Joyce Ward found this 'spooky' stone on our recent holiday together. What do you see in it? Most amusing or original answer, or one that just makes me laugh o

r think, may even win a little prize...

Wishing Trees - Trading Disease for the Price of a Coin?

Just back from nine days away with my husband. I am going away again next Saturday, with my four sisters and my mother. Hopefully I will have something interesting to share with you then, too.

In the meantime, here are some 'wishing trees' we found on our travels. As a friend suggested to me, I might well end up having a go at a short, scary story based on this piece of historical folklore. (Photographs are mine. Feel free to use them but please quote either S P Oldham or solostinwords.com if you do. Thank you.)

Some of the mysterious 'wish trees' in Portmeirion. Apparently there are seven (we found three or four) and there are others like these in other places. I have never seen this before. "...coin-covered trees (date) back to the 1700s, when they were apparently used as wishing trees. People believed that a person suffering from an illness could hammer a coin into a tree trunks and the tree would take the illness away, but if someone removed the coin, they themselves would become ill. Whether some folks still believe this legend, or they do it simply because it’s fun is still a mystery, but the fact is this bizarre habit has spawned some pretty unbelievable sights that apparently unique to the UK" Quote from Oddity-Central, the article is here: https://www.odditycentral.com/pics/britains-mysterious-coin-covered-wishing-trees.html?fbclid=IwAR3398C-JPHC8XonNPhkakoRR2-Beu_gzy51HTF5lj2FfqVcskFFlxFG3Ng

Fantasy Genre Submissions Wanted

Up for a challenge? Fancy your hand at some 'real' writing? I know lots of you here are great at story writing - at least if the entries to my caption competitions are anything to go by. Angry Eagle Publishing, run by the lovely Dee Cooper are looking for submissions for Fantasy Genre stories. But there's a catch! Your work must include the words Sword, Crystal, Cloak, Lock of Hair and Mystery. For more information and submission details, click the link. I can't wait to see what you creative souls come up with! Good luck!

Angry Eagle Publishing - Submissions Wanted

'The Castle Fortress' - Image Copyright Angry Eagle Publishing

Competition Winner

Thank you to everyone for entering the competition. I am happy to announce that the winner is...

Becca Walton!

Honourable Mentions for the competition are:

Robin Hartmom

Paul Bell

Nicola Hall

Well done!

Read their entries on my Facebook page: So Lost in Words on Facebook

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Joe Gallows - An Excerpt

An excerpt from one of my more brutal stories, Joe Gallows, one of the stories in Wakeful Children: A Collection of Horror and Supernatural Tales. N.B, This is horror. I am always surprised when people read my work, knowing I write horror and dark fantasy, and then complain to me that it is 'not very nice' for want of a better phrase. Well, no; it's horror... Anyway, enjoy, hope it tempts you!

"Gallows smashed against the parked car, twisting mid fall. His face hit the front tyre, sending blunt shafts of pain into his forehead and leaving a tarry black smudge across the bridge of his nose. The road beneath was unforgiving; small, stinging shards of gravel embedded themselves spitefully into his palms and his knees throbbed with pain, yet he did not attempt to rise until his tormentors had moved off.

They appeared oddly subdued as they went, the man who had shoved him pushing his hands deep into his pockets, Debs arms folded about herself as if seeking reassurance. She turned to look back once, hurrying onwards as fast as her ample frame could carry her when she saw Gallows was watching.

Gallows had forgotten the other man; he didn’t see the kick to his stomach coming as he finally tried to stand. The blow drove the air from his lungs, winding him. Waves of agony rippled the length of his body, rendering him paralysed. A second kick followed, snapping something loud in his pocket and pitching him heavily forwards. His forehead hit the road, now as pitted with stones as his hands; it felt like a thousand rodent teeth trying to burrow into his brain.

His eyes were streaming, his kidneys aching beyond comprehension, his stomach cramping. It felt like an eternity that he lay wedged between the kerb and the car, willing the white waves of agony to end. They subsided at last, allowing him to sit cautiously back on his knees; he could tolerate the pain now, but the snap had worried him.

He fumbled clumsily in his pocket and pulled out his catapult, snapped in two places and dangling like a broken limb from a stretched and useless tendon.

Gallows moaned, the grief of this loss worse than the physical pain; it didn’t matter that he could always make another. This was his; his belonging, his possession; the man might as well have stolen it from him."

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C04VGUG

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C04VGUG#nav-subnav

https://www.troubador.co.uk/.../fantasy.../wakeful-children/

Paperback cover version (Amazon/Troubador and most good online bookstores.)

Ebook cover version