Weaving elements of the supernatural, Folk Horror and Gothic Horror in a uniquely modern blend.
It’s a foggy November in 1895. Working covertly as a ‘stunt’ reporter and publishing shocking exposés of hospitals, asylums, and profiteering slum clearances, 26-year-old journalist Sidonie Dobis is in Westminster, reflecting on her father's death and wondering where she can get a story, when an explosion obliterates a dynamite factory in the depths of the nearby Devil’s Acre rookery. Body parts are flung as far as the Houses of Parliament.
When Detective Sergeant Icarus Challenger and earnest new constable Marmaduke Potts arrive on the scene, Sid is already at work. Icarus and Potts are part of the newly formed Special Branch and are working for future spymaster William Melville. Europe’s most wanted anarchist, known only as ‘The Magister’ and rumoured to have occult powers, is taking control in the city, and Sidonie is immediately under suspicion. Meanwhile, something else is murdering people in the streets. And it doesn’t appear to be human…
Wounded at the massacre of Sherpur in Afghanistan (1879) and shamed by his psychological trauma, veteran Captain Harry Davis of the Queen's Own Corps of Guides is shown a letter by his uncle, John Davis, the noted Liberal M.P. The letter is from controversial author and women’s rights protagonist Georgia King, and strait-laced Harry is shocked to read she’s been having an affair with his uncle.
Now she’s apparently travelling to Yorkshire with companion and studious assistant Lucy Jones, investigating female working conditions in the mining industry. Harry dutifully agrees to find them in order to prevent further scandal and embarrassment to the family.
Harry and manservant Percy have little idea of what lies ahead. Vionsholt is a remote, dank, unfriendly mining village in the heart of the fog-shrouded North Yorks moors. It’s mid-November, a week before the local pagan festival Dísablót. Soon, Harry, Percy and Georgia will be fighting for their lives as they encounter cannibalism, ancient rituals and cold-blooded murder in this gripping Folk Horror.
Local guide and hunter Tor Eiríksdóttir reluctantly agrees to help his cousin, 29-year-old divorcee Jasmine, set up a New Age commune on Tyrblod Island, in the Norwegian Archipelago. There’s a forest and a mountain, and a Viking longhouse where something terrible once happened. A dream location for a commune and rebirth. A perfect place for murder in this dark gothic horror novel.
Warm and enthusiastic Jasmine brings together six old friends from university, who also feel that life has not turned out as they hoped. Theirs will be a new way, combining online business with traditional crafts and eco-tourism, getting closer to nature through ancient beliefs and rituals. The friends start to relive ancient lives, human sacrifice and murder, as they discover that nature is not benign at all - in fact, it wants to kill them.
Artwork – Freidedia, Pixabay
Successful sculptress Kate Dawlin is young, talented, and troubled. The blackout came out of nowhere, and when Kate wakes up on the floor of her Exeter studio, a stranger is helping her. He says his name is Tom and he’s her fiancé. He says they’re getting married in six months – but Kate’s hearing voices, and she thinks a man in a fedora hat is following her.
Two weeks before the wedding, Kate murders her stepfather when he tries to assault her. A week before the wedding, the Fedora Man breaks into her studio and stabs her repeatedly.
When she recovers consciousness in the hospital, the nightmare is just beginning. Kate wasn't stabbed, and there is no studio. No one has seen her father since he walked out on them years earlier. There’s no one she can trust unless she can find Tom.
Artwork – Amrulqays Maarof, Pixabay.
23-year-old addict Laura Mortlock has just killed her sadistic minder with a bottle of Smirnoff when she discovers she is the new owner of Langley Hall. Located on Dartmoor.The old house is mired in slavery and dark magic.
As events unfold, Lady Laura discovers the history of the house is replaying. She and her new friends are at the centre of witchcraft, murder and reincarnation. She discovers she is pregnant, and the reincarnated lord and lady of Langley Hall want her unborn child. Only Laura's determination, obdurate housekeeper Mrs Gibby and the Witchfinder can save her.
Artwork – Stacy Stephens, Pixabay
Tread gently where giants sleep.’ City 5 Holy Book SSG1005, Volume 6.2.
Living in a magical post-apocalyptic Eden isn’t enough for 23-year-old Caia Esvane. Then she awakens a warlike, high-tech city living under the sea with unimaginable consequences in EMERGENCE, the first book of the gripping fantasy trilogy ‘Where Giants Sleep‘. The trilogy is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary post-apocalyptic world with its own unique cultures, beliefs and environments.
23-year-old Caia Esvane and her sisterhood are capable of mind-join, and yet this same unrealised power attracts City 5 to the surface, hungry for new resources. Lucas Venn is unique in the city; a gladiator set free by the Empress herself, yet he chooses to become a humble Lawkeeper, and the first city dweller to set foot on land. It’s no coincidence that Caia is the first inhabitant he meets; she is destined to become the witch-queen of the forests; Lucas is blinded and enslaved. Together, they must find a way to unite the two societies.
I write supernatural, Folk and Gothic Horror novels and genre-twisting fantasy with the John Jarrold Literary Agency. I started writing novels and short stories whilst commuting into London, before freelancing to provide more time for writing, family and horses. I’ve been with John Jarrold for some years and love the creative challenge and excitement of each new novel. I live in a Hampshire village with Sarah, my wife, psychologist and prizewinning author, and we have three children, two horses and lots of family.
Amazon author profile – amazon.com/author/johnfrankmarshall
A special thank you to The Pixelman for the cover image, adapted with Google Gemini for this site. I also thank Friededia, Enrique Meseguer and other artists on Pixabay for the artwork on this page and other images. Original header artwork on this page by an unknown artist, courtesy of Pixabay. Artist acknowledgements are on all web pages where possible. All images copyright resides with the original artists. Thanks also to John Jarrold for guiding and advising, and Sarah for proofreading and editing. This site is built with Google Sites. Other acknowledgements and further details here.