Hey everyone! I’m Gavin Hetherington, a horror and
dark fantasy writer on Wattpad (check out my profile @GavinHetherington). I am
currently writing the award-winning horror series, Abyssal Sanctuary – the first book is a Featured story on Wattpad,
and it won a couple of awards at the Global eBook Awards and Readers’ Favorite
Book Awards in 2014 for Best Horror. The sequel has recently won the Gold Award
for Best Horror Fiction at the Global eBook Awards, and the third book is
currently being updated regularly on Wattpad – be sure to check them out!
This is my first involvement in Apryl Baker’s epic
annual YA/NA Blogfest, and I couldn’t be more excited. A huge thank you to
Apryl for including me in this special occasion. With the Halloween season upon
us, I thought it would be awesome to promote the epic Shock-tober Fright Fest that will be happening from October 3rd to
the big day itself: Halloween.
Shock-tober Fright Fest is something that myself and
fellow award-winning author, Finn H. Arlett (check out his profile on Wattpad
at @Finnyh), are hoping will connect together the passion for Horror with a
couple of original tales of terror in the form of exclusive novellas to
Wattpad. By cross-promoting each other’s work, we hope to inspire other writers
to help each other out. Writing can be a bit of a competitive market, when
really we should be encouraging each other to harness our gifts of writing to
lighten up the world a little. I know I wouldn’t be where I am without the
amazing support of others.
We will both be taking a step back in time to the
nineteenth century with our spooky stories, and we encourage everybody to take
part – it’s not just about us as writers, but we want to celebrate how amazing
readers can be with a few prizes. We want to show them that they mean the world
to us with special shout-outs to our followers on Wattpad and Twitter,
dedications on the chapters of our stories, and for their own works to be
forever immortalised in a special reading list exclusively for the Fright Fest
event. There may be more prizes along the way!
So, without further ado, dive into these exclusive
previews for mine and Finn’s stories.
FEN OF
STAGNANT WATERS: A GHOST STORY
BY GAVIN
HETHERINGTON
(EXCERPT)
CHAPTER I:
SOLITARY
REAPER
‘My daughter won’t stop crying,’ I told the Priest.
‘Have you asked her to stop?’
I nod, though he cannot see me. ‘Yes. I visit
her grave every day. She never listens to me.’
There was a momentary silence before the
startled voice of the man on the other side of the confessional wall could be
heard.
‘My dear child! I don’t quite understand.
What do you mean, you visit her grave?’
‘Why, my daughter is dead, Father,’ I said
with a heavy heart. The tears I kept barricaded seeped through my eyelashes and
ran down my cheeks. ‘Oh dear, I feel as though I must start from the beginning.
But my tale is rather long, and I’m afraid the story begins with my daughter’s
death.’
The room I sat in felt as though it would
suffocate me. It was enclosed, filled with sin and secrets. In my bosom, my
sacred heart beat with the cravings of absolution. Perhaps this was not where I
was going to find it, but either way, my story had to be told.
‘My name is…’
The Priest interrupted. ‘You do not need to
speak your name, child. I respect the anonymity of those who confess.’
‘I feel like my name is important, Father. It
may help you understand, for you may have heard of me. My name is Rowena
Holloway…’
‘My God!’ I heard the Priest cry.
I shut my eyes tight, but a noise from the
Priest’s room causes me to open them again. I thought he was leaving. ‘You have
heard of me! But fear not, I only wish to tell my story in the hopes of finding
meaning. I wish to be forgiven, for I cannot move on until I do. Please, please
let me continue.’
The Priest did not respond. I took his
shocked silence as an invitation to continue, and so I began my tale…
Intrigued by Rowena’s tale? It’s
only just beginning, so be sure to check out the premiere of Fen of Stagnant Waters: A Ghost Story
when it premieres on Wattpad, Monday
October 3rd 2016.
But that isn’t the only preview
for the event – following is a teaser to Finn’s extremely creepy (and entirely
amazing) novella, premiering the same day:
THE SINISTER FATE OF JOSEPH REDDING
BY FINN H. ARLETT
"The locket I keep on my desk chokes me with dread whenever
my gaze falls upon it.
I concede it is not without its charms as a piece of exotic
jewellery, though I can hardly dare inspect the cursed object at great length,
much less discover the source of the hollow thrumming that echoes from within.
It leaves a strong odour of import tobacco on the rare occasion that I turn it
over in my palm, leading me to suspect that the person who forced it into my
possession was not its original owner. And yet, it is not the unfamiliarity of
this foreign trinket that stirs within me such terror; it is the story of how I
acquired such a ghastly thing that haunts me and seduces me in equal magnitude.
A Man of a Thousand Pieces is but one of my many ordeals with a
peculiar man of science by the name of Dr Jonathan Corgaine. Not the first, and
certainly not the last, but it is here that I wish to begin my harrowing
account, as it is the October of 1888 that I regard as the birth of my undoing.
Even now I shudder beneath the locket's ominous presence as it
lies so innocuously beside me on the desk; locked in gazes with the contorted
deity etched into its brass casing amongst lettering I cannot begin to
understand. My tale is such that I can scarce believe it to be the truth, though
by the end you will come to learn why the locket in my possession is both the
most cherished of my trophies and the greatest burden of them all."
Add both books to your reading
lists and check out the premieres of both novellas on October 3rd 2016. We will be updating our stories every 2-4 days
until they conclude on October 31st. You won’t be disappointed – all lost souls
welcome!
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