Horror stories captivate readers because they provide a safe space to explore the thrill of fear and the unknown, allowing us to experience adrenaline rushes and heightened emotions without real-world risks. (I don’t know about you but I do NOT want to be chased by a psychopath wielding a chainsaw, or be stuck on a spaceship with an alien who has acid for blood.)

They often delve into the darker aspects of human nature and the supernatural, satisfying the innate human curiosity about death, the afterlife, and what lies beyond the scope of scientific understanding.   Richard Wells has an affinity towards horror stories.  His first book, “Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology“ proves this and now, his new book, “Tales Accursed” is his next foray into things that go bump in the night or lurk in the shadows.

Tales Accursed is the second collection of classic supernatural stories selected by the artist Richard Wells. Each of the eighteen tales is accompanied by one of Richard’s striking lino-print illustrations.

Richard’s previous anthology, Damnable Tales, has been acknowledged as a classic both in the UK and the US. Tales Accursed explores similar territory: great stories by acknowledged masters of the genre like M. R. James, Shirley Jackson and Algernon Blackwood, alongside eerie tales by those less associated with the horror genre, like John Buchan, E. F. Benson and William Croft Dickinson.

What is it about these stories of the uncanny, many of them written over a century ago, that make them so appealing to contemporary readers? In his Introduction to Damnable Tales, the novelist Benjamin Myers offers a clue: ‘They take place in worlds we recognize as once-removed from our realities. These are the settings of our ancestors, and therefore are still carried somewhere deep within us now: remote villages and darkened lanes, lonely woodlands, obscure country houses and crumbling cemeteries. Places where the crepuscular light is eternally fading and in which the inanimate or the dormant is slowly stirring.’

Prepare, if you dare, to encounter a new collection, full of the old fears.

This book is being funded on Unbound and there are a few different offerings.

• A first edition Hardback
• ebook
• Signed Hardback with a signed bookplate designed by Richard

You can also purchase a deck of six art cards featuring lino-print illustrations from the book.