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Help the Witch

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About this listen

Inspired by our native landscapes, saturated by the shadows beneath trees and behind doors, listening to the run of water and half-heard voices.

Tom Cox's first collection of short stories is a series of evocative and unsettling trips into worlds previously visited by the likes of M. R. James and E. F. Benson.

Railway tunnels, the lanes and hills of the Peak District, family homes, old stones, shreds fluttering on barbed wire, night drawing in, something that might be an animal shifting on the other side of a hedge: Tom has drawn on his lifelong love of weird fiction, folklore and nature's unregarded corners, to write a collection of stories that will delight fans, old and new, and leave them very uneasy about turning the lamp off.

©2018 Tom Cox (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Fiction Ghosts Horror Magic Short Stories Scary
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Only half way through the book via audible and simply had to leave a review as it captured my imagination immediately from the start.

That struggle in the first few pages up the side of a ‘mountain’ (which is commonly known by those that live in the Peak District as a hill) on a bleak and snowy day in what sounds like a completely inadequate car for the venture, made my teeth clench to be honest having been there myself with equally inadequate transportation, many times.

But, my previous journeys to destinations up hillsides in snow bear no comparison whatsoever to such a weird and eerie, deserted and isolated destination to plan to live in?

Resident ghosts who need to talk, having been betrayed & misunderstood in their former life, a deceased purring cat plus the weird and aloof landlord (with a history) as the only next door neighbour for miles?

I would have vacated within a day or two I’m sure.

But, in accepting being “a bit broken” himself, may have helped the author to stick around for awhile.
Only he knows.

I completely connected to the story and narration and simply stopped what I was doing, for quite some time today, to just simply listen.
Magical....

Having the author of this ‘diary’ narrate his own story makes it even more special. Saving the latter half for an afternoon this weekend. Will he really help the witch?

Edit: Finished listening this afternoon. Didn’t disappoint. Excellent!

Help the Witch. Tom Cox

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This is an unusual book, a collection of short stories that kind of almost link together but at the very least inhabit the same world. Motifs re-occur and characters re-appear. It's told with humour and has genuinely laugh out loud in parts in amongst the unsettling murk.

Tom Cox seems to settle into the narrator role as the book progresses and is obviously enjoying himself towards the end.

Now it's finished I think I have to start it again to pick up all the bits I'm sure I missed first time round.

Engaging and a bit bonkers

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