Our old friends at Deadman's Tome decided to run a Creepypasta submission, limited to 1000 words.
Well, always one for a new challenge (some of my "short" stories average 6000), I submitted one.
Here, for your delectation is "Take the Next Turn": https://deadmanstome.net/2020/10/12/take-the-next-turn-by-trev-hill/?fbclid=IwAR05VNtE-9nvuBwRF46xwg9E5wcyOxCqlGonmoIio6z3Z-kYtF5yEhjgyLE
And while you're there, check out some of the other stories too.
I'm getting more and more into Slavic folklore, having recently started writing stories based on Central/East European supernatural beings.
I started last week by receiving this book in the post:
"The Witches of Kyiv" by Orest Somov: a collection of short stories from Ukraine.
Somov was a Ukrainian author writing in the 19thc. He had a strong interest in folklore and folk-tales. These are recent translations but of 19thc works, so they might come across as a bit stiff but they are actually very enchanting tales of witches, rusalki and other supernatural delights. The book is rather slim but well worth getting. Published by Sova Press, who specialise in translation of old Ukrainian works.
https://sovabooks.com.au/product/the-witches-of-kyiv-and-other-gothic-tales/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orest_Somov
My next adventure was the amazing film by Sergei Parajanov "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (1965) set in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The imagery is absolutely unreal and the eerie singing of the Hutsul people, masked carolling traditions and almost folk-horror aspect of the film have won me over big time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb6GMSG2cEY&t=117s
This is a fascinating article about the Polish "upior" (a kind of vampire) and its presence in some classic literature.
https://culture.pl/en/article/polish-vampires-bloody-truth-behind-dark-myth
