Richard Wells

Damnable Tales is an illustrated collection of classic short stories drawing upon the haunted landscapes of ‘Folk Horror’, a now widely-used term originally applied to a series of British films from the late 1960s and 1970s: Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and The Wicker Man (1973). But as this collection shows, writers of uncanny fiction were dabbling in the dark side of folklore long before those films. These 22 stories take the reader beyond the safety and familiarity of the town into the isolated and untamed wilderness. Unholy rites, witches’ curses, sinister village traditions and ancient horrors that lurk within the landscape all combine to remind us that the shiny modern, urban world might not have all the answers… The collection will feature classic stories from masters of supernatural fiction including M.R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Arthur Machen, alongside lesser known voices in the field including Eleanor Scott and Margery Lawrence and popular writers less bound to the horror genre, such as Thomas Hardy and E.F. Benson. They have been selected by Richard Wells, an illustrator and graphic designer known for his dark folkloric style and whose work for television has featured in Sherlock, Doctor Who and the the recent BBC adaptation of Dracula. Each story will be accompanied by one of Richard’s full page original lino-cut illustrations.

Tales Accursed is the second collection of classic supernatural stories selected by the artist Richard Wells. Each of the sixteen tales is accompanied by one of Richard’s striking lino-print illustrations. This anthology contains work from both the established masters of folk horror, and some more surprising from Shirley Jackson and M. R. James to E. F. Benson and William Croft Dickinson. Tales Accursed will raise the hairs on your neck and keep you alert to the slightest rustle in the through the chill splendour of moonlit nights come apparitions through the orchard; sea-witches perch on the sharp fangs of rocks as they weave their spells; fir-woods lie unnaturally still with no birdsong, no breeze, nor any undergrowth; and hooded creatures crouch on grey secluded beaches. This book combines ancient horrors from the wilderness with sinister shadows of the landscape to remind us of the settings of our ancestors. Tales Accursed is a gloriously creepy collection of chilling folk horror tales that is both thrilling and unnerving.