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Review: The Eyrie

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The Eyrie by Thom Burgess, illustrated by Barney Bodoano

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New folk horror-themed graphic novel The Eyrie draws on the folklore of author Thom Burgess’ native Sussex. It follows Rebecca, an American photo-journalist, who is sent to a remote part of Sussex on a job by her boss, staying in his old country house. Before she sets off to the local pub, she lights an old lamp she finds, to guide her home, and this signals to… something. Before long, she’s plagued by mysterious events: banging on her door in the middle of the night, devices losing power, mysterious figures turning in photographs, and terrifying, not quite human apparitions.

Compelling and eerie right from the start with its foreboding landscapes, The Eyrie is unsettling enough even before the supernatural elements coming creeping in. Once summoned, things escalate to the dreadful (in the best sense of the word) climax in a fashion that will make you feel almost relieved once the full horror of the situation is revealed.

Barney Bodoano’s gritty black-and-white art complements the atmosphere, encapsulating the bleak landscapes perfectly, with half seen figures in the mist adding to the menace.

One of the great things about the folk horror revival isn’t just looking back at the classics of the genre, but seeing the influence of them in contemporary works, and with its tale of coastal folklore, ancient objects and troubled locations, The Eyrie inevitably brings to mind MR James, but updated for a world where isolation can be conveyed by a lack of phone signal, and the encroachment of the weird by corrupted digital photographs.

Overall, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and creepy tale. If you’re a fan of the weird and eerie, well worth getting hold of.

Copies can be ordered at www.theeyrie.bigcartel.com.

Review by Scott Lyall.

The Wyrd Kalendar – The July Mix

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It is July.

It is time to venture onto the Kalendar Heath again. Let the heat of these songs enfold you as Jim Moon reads extracts from this month’s story “Grotto Day” (written by Chris Lambert as part of “Wyrd Kalendar” due for publication in October).

This month’s mix contains music by Goldfrapp, Terry Reid, Uriah Heep, David Cain, Be Bop Deluxe, Gordon Lightfoot, John Stewart, Laura Veirs, Roger Waters, Sesame Street, Nick Nicely, Slim Dusty, Velvet Opera and Soundgarden.

Wyrd Harvest Press – Charity Donation Midsummer 2017

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The votes have been cast and counted. For this season’s charity donation from sales of our books, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Dormice Hedge Fund is the worthy recipient of £355.78

Thank you to those who voted and especially to those who bought our books. In addition to being damn fine reads and essential items for all fans of folk horror and related fields, every penny of profit from the book sales will continue to be given to different Wildlife Trust environmental projects  

Buy our books here (more titles in planning and production)
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/andypaciorek

Support the Wildlife Trusts also here – http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals

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Top image – photographer unidentified

The Wyrd Kalendar – The June Mix

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It is June.

The sun is shining and people gather at tables to sup lemonade, watching the crops thrive and the flowers bloom.

This month wander the Kalendar Heath to the strains of Sparklehorse, John Shakespeare, Steeleye Span, The Kinks, The Sallyangie, David Cain, The Cocteau Twins, Marc Bolan, June Tabor, The Decemberists, Case-Lange Veirs, June Carter-Cash, Sam Gopal, Bright Eyes, Al Stewart, Linear Movement, Pinback, Jan and Dean, Petula Clark, Finn, The Clancy Brothers, Rodgers and Hammerstein and the B52s while Jim Peters regales you with choice extracts from this month’s tale, from the Wyrd Kalendar; “June Bug”.

Folk Horror Revival Presents Winter Ghosts, Whitby December 2017

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(Folk Horror Revival Presents Winter Ghosts 2017)

Folk Horror Revival Presents Winter Ghosts 2017

Folk Horror Revival presents Winter Ghosts Where better to spend an engaging winter’s evening in the compan…

Where better to spend an engaging winter’s evening in the company of the Folk Horror Revival group, than in the beautiful coastal town of Whitby. This event promises to be one of the highlights of the wyrd calendar, and is most definitely not to be missed.

In the intimate setting of The Metropole, Whitby, we cordially invite you to join us for our winter soiree, a gathering of the clans on the North Yorkshire coast. Folk Horror Revival present a series of exhilarating talks and musical performances for your terpsichorean pleasure.
Beginning at 4pm, the event gets under way with a series of thought provoking oratories with a distinctly local flavour, before we plunge headlong into an evening programme of esoteric, auditory treats for the soul.
Talks:
George Cromack – Coastal Terrors
Elaine Edmunds – The Tell Tale Art
Bob Fischer – A Story To Shiver To
Followed by – The Flash Company’s Mummer’s Play

Live Music:
The Equestrian Vortex featuring Melmoth the Wanderer
The Soulless Party featuring Chris Lambert
Leasungspell
Inkubus Sukkubus

Poster Image courtesy of Andy Paciorek and Erin Sorrey

Dark: A Poem by Carmit Kordov

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Dark

Come see Dark, the Master Manipulator!

He promises your rebirth.

Garish painted mouth stretching from ear to ear,

grinning beckoning.

Not for children this attraction.

Leave them with the carousel or the stuffed toys at the shooting range.

Let them keep their innocence – for now.

Eat a piece of cotton candy, you will need the sweetness on your tongue

to disguise the bitterness that will surely develop.

He is no circus clown

with red nose, balloons and pratfalls.

A trickster

A buffoon

Dark sees right through you.

You think you are strong enough?

Then come in and experience

your weakness

your fear

what delights or repels you.

He picks on you, plays silly.

Takes all he wants and spits out what he doesn’t.

Makes you tell your secrets

plays the game

The joker sees.

He is cunning

He is foolish.

He is a god.

He has been created from the earth itself.

Even his scent is musty, vegetative and wet.

No rules for him, no convention he is a disobeyer.

He is spirit –

Accesses your wounds, licks them, pokes at them with his rough tongue.

Accesses your desires and brings them to the surface of your skin like raised hackles.

Prodding and pushing and pricking of your conscience.

He takes all of you, mixes you up, shakes up your pretentions.

You can raise you hands to protect your face but he will bore a hole in your brain.

Takes you to places you never thought you wanted to go but now are willingly led.

Takes all your inhibitions, your begging and pleading, and laughs in your face.

Impells you to raise up your hands in confession, “It was me!”

He holds you under the water – will you drown innocent or float a witch?

As your confessor, he will discover what promises you kept and those you didn’t.

He takes you to the limit and beyond even the darkest corners.

So prepare and annoint yourself.

Make your decision.

You know what it will be.

​

Words and Picture (c) Carmit Kordov

This poem is one of a collection that will appear in a forthcoming book of Carnival themed poems and accompanying photographs by Carmit Kordov.

Please visit Carmit Kordov Words and Pictures for more poetry, photography, writing and other cultural content that veers towards Magic Realism.

Carmit Kordov is an administrator of the Folk Horror Revival Facebook group. Her poetry has appeared in Corpse Roads, a Wyrd Harvest Press book.

​

New from Wyrd Harvest Press

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This Game of Strangers by Bob Beagrie and Jane Burn (+ various photographers)


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Prepare to taste the worm in the golden apple of Camelot as the evocative poets Jane Burn and Bob Beagrie peer behind castle walls and uncover the soiled sheets of the romance / betrayal of Lancelot and Guinevere. Slipping seamlessly from the lyrical to the modern, Bob and Jane draw us in like voyeurs to the clandestine passion and sometimes mundane (though always rich in language) details of the love affair between the most beloved of the legendary king. Prepare to read the classic tale of romance and bewitchment as it has never been told before. Illustrated throughout with atmospheric photography by several great artists.

Available from – http://www.lulu.com/…/this-…/paperback/product-23170461.html

North by Tim Turnbull and Phil Breach (+ various photographers)


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The eloquent words of two poets brought forth from the land, the lodestone and lodestar. All roads lead here. Join Tim Turnbull and Phil Breach as through poetry, prose and the atmospheric imagery of great photographers,they explore and invoke the physical and emotional landscapes. Head North my friends and don’t look back.

Available from – http://www.lulu.com/…/phil-breach-and-tim-turnbull/north/pa…

 *NOTE: 15% discount on all Wyrd Harvest Press books. (The more you buy the more you save) just enter code LULU15 at checkout at

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/andypaciorek

100% of sales profits from Wyrd Harvest Press books are charitably donated to different Environmental, Conservation and Community projects undertaken by the Wildlife Trusts.

Gary Parsons Witchcraft Documentaries of the 1970s at Treadwell’s Bookshop

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Folk Horror Revival’s very own Gary Parsons will be giving his talk on Witchcraft Documentaries of the 1970s at Treadwell’s bookshop on 9th June 2017.

“Wicca rode on the countercultural sentiment of the late 60s onward. The 60s were a technicolour era, when recreational drugs got big, as did sexual liberation and a mass distrust of authority.” Dazed interviewed film expert Gary Parsons on this alluring subject. Parsons comes to Treadwells to discuss the portrayals of witchcraft in the documentaries of the early 1970s, considering also the involvement of people in Wicca at the time. Clips from rituals and interviews help show what Parsons means when he says witchcraft was an important part of the alternative scene in Britain. (Gary Parson interview in full.)
Time: 7.15 pm for a 7.30 pm start.
Price: £10 Ring, or book online

(https://www.treadwells-london.com/event/witchcraft-documentaries-1970s/)

R.I.P. The Crowman

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Geoffrey-Bayldon

Folk Horror Revival pay our respects to the great actor Geoffrey Bayldon, who has passed away at age 93 and mark our condolences to his family and friends.
Most infamously known within our circles as the title character in Catweazle and as the enigmatic Crow Man in Worzel Gummidge.
Bayldon also turned down twice the chance of playing the Doctor in the BBC television show Doctor Who, but also appeared in the programme as well as appearing in other such films /shows of interest such as The Mind Beyond, The Tomorrow People, Gawain and the Green Knight, Tales From the Crypt, The House That Dripped Blood, Journey to the Unknown, Greyfriar’s Bobby, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Monster Club, Asylum , Dracula and Tales of the Unexpected.

R.I.P. Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 -2017)

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