The Pale Ones — Bartholomew Bennett

Pulped fiction just got a whole lot scarier

 

Few books ever become loved.  Most linger on undead, their sallow pages labyrinths of old, brittle stories and screeds of forgotten knowledge… And other things, besides:

 

Paper-pale forms that rustle softly through their leaves. Ink-dark shapes swarming in shadow beneath faded type.

And an invitation…

 

Harris delights in collecting the unloved. He wonders if you’d care to donate.  A small something for the odd, pale children no-one has seen.  An old book, perchance? Neat is sweet; battered is better. Broken spine or torn binding, stained or scarred - ugly doesn’t matter.  Not a jot.  And if you’ve left a little of yourself between the pages – a receipt or ticket, a mislaid letter, a scrawled note or number – that’s just perfect. He might call on you again.

 

Hangover Square meets Naked Lunch through the lens of a classic M. R. James ghost story. To hell and back again (and again) through Whitby, Scarborough and the Yorkshire Moors. Enjoy your Mobius-trip.