Darklings is a new venture which will be coming your way in a few weeks. Featuring previously published as well as new stories, these tales are being offered up as standalone quick e-reads of novelette length. At some point in the future, I might combine them into omnibus print editions but the focus at present is the quick read on your devices.
To start, I am putting out the following four novelettes, all previously published. New ones will follow every 2 months. If I get into the swing of these, it may even be once a month but I will set up a schedule and stick to it (New Year’s plan and all that.)
All covers are my own design and creation via Pixabay and Affinity Photo editing.
Purchase links will be set up as soon as my Apple books account comes through. I am intending to offer these on a wider platform as opposed to just KDP. And yes, I could go to Draft2Digital to sort it all for me but somehow I don’t like the thought of losing a further percentage of my earnings.
Asylum of Shadows
Amongst the slums of Limehouse stands a new hospital, a monument to Victorian philanthropy. Marian, destitute and about to be orphaned as her father succumbs to the ravages of syphilis, is taken there by Dr. Janssen. This eminent physician offers her work and a roof over her head. Employed as a seamstress, she stitches shrouds for the dead and hoods for the hangman. Her additional duties are performed in the shadowy ward of St. Carcifex which receives the recently deceased, particularly those who have hung from the gallows. Her task in this gloomy place is to watch over them and make sure the dead stay dead.
First published by Demain Publishing as part of their Short Sharp Shocks series.
Of Blood and Stone
When Lina and Derek move to the dilapidated Scrin Cottage, they find they share their home with the Blood Stone, a monolith which stands in their front garden. As renovations progress, Lina discovers the vampiric nature of the stone, which according to old folk tales, once sat in the forest behind their home. Moved to their garden by the local minister and chained in place, the demon entombed within the stone was supposed to have been defeated …
First published in my collection, Devil Kin.
The Return
Max Hutton returns to his childhood home on the remote Northumbrian coast. His estranged father has died, leaving him the cottage. Old papers reveal the real reason his father drove him away, wanted neither Max nor his sons to return. An ancient entity is awake and it is calling …
First published in my collection, The Reckoning.
Beyond Hope
Developers Andrew Maudsley and John Lloyd are clearing the grounds where the church of St Francis Beyond Hope once stood. They have already built a hotel in the area and the land is to add to the complex. As the grounds are cleared, an ancient trapdoor is discovered which leads below, down old stone steps and into a world where monks worshipped another being.
First published in the Daughters of Darkness anthology.
Stephanie Ellis 
Leave a comment