Is It Too Early for Me to Tell You This?

Is it too early to announce that I’m planning to help resurrect the old-fashioned tradition of sharing chilling tales around a crackling fire? It’s often thought of as a Victorian Yuletide custom, but it can be traced back at least as far as Shakespeare and it was never confined to Christmas. Certainly, a perfect time to listen to a fireside ghost story is Halloween — or, really, any autumn or winter evening. Or any dark and stormy night.

My plan is to launch a YouTube series featuring my own readings of unsettling stories taken from the volumes published here at Brom Bones Books. I’ll sprinkle in some sound effects, too. The project is titled Tales Told When the Windows Rattle, and — if you don’t have your own nasty weather and cozy fire — the video will gladly provide those for you. I’m treating it as a conventional TV series, ten episodes per season. In fact, I’m now halfway through producing Season One.

As I say, it might be too early to announce this, since the first episode won’t debut until October 17. Afterward, I’ll release a new story every Sunday, taking advantage of the Halloween spirit first and then the approach of winter. Once the Christmas season arrives, all ten episodes will be available, and folks can choose which tales they’d like to enjoy (or, hopefully, re-enjoy).

Early, yes, but I wanted to make it a blip on your radar.

— Tim