Strange Tales In Fiction And Fact [Paperback]

Richard Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2006

Ghosts, vampires and the afterlife merge with the forces of nature and symbolic archetypes in these twelve highly original short stories that run the gamut from darkness and death to innocence and hope. While rooted in this world, they reach into the beyond with the mystical insight of parable and myth that touches something deep within the unconscious.

The eminent composer, Alan Hovhaness, writes: “I greatly admire Richard Howard as a very fine and original writer. I cannot praise highly enough Tower Song. This I think is one of the great stories of all time and certainly should be published throughout the world. The Messenger has a quiet mysterious power and great depth. I know the difficulty to arrive at the spiritual and mental harmony which allows such poetry to flower in naturalness and spontaneous singing quality. The Temple of Lior held my attention from beginning to end. It is compelling and its symbols are of profound wisdom. Moon Prophecy is wonderful. The forces of terror and beauty are controlled. This story with its message haunts me. Mass consciousness dangers are warnings from ancient times into modern times.”

And the celebrated English artist, Coral Guest, writes: “Strange Tales is a portal into another reality. Each of these stories offers us an entry point into something ‘other’ and mirrors a particular awareness that we all possess in the depth of our psyche. Richard Howard is a unique talent who has the power to invoke this particular frequency. He is a spiritual writer, one of rare integrity, and each story is a testimony to his own insight. A book of rare truth and all-encompassing mystery.”

This volume also contains an autobiographical essay in which the author recounts a lifetime of strange experiences that very early on aroused his curiosity about the paranormal.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Howard was born in April 1943 in Twickenham, in the county of Middlesex, England. Among the strongest influences in his life has been symphonic music, which he discovered at the age of 11, especially the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Gustav Mahler, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Allan Pettersson, and Alan Hovhaness, whose several hundred works he has catalogued. [A complete transcript of his 1983 interview with Hovhaness can be found at www.hovhaness.com where there is also a link to the catalogue of works.] His earliest literary interest was a fascination with the world conjured by Lewis Carroll, an interest that grew to include Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, M.R.James, A.N.L.Munby, Arthur Machen, Sarban, William Samson, the shorter prose works of Oscar Wilde, and Henry James’ novel, The Turn of the Screw. He is the first to admit that his education and lifestyle have been unorthodox, which has given him an “outsider’s” view of the world from which he feels he has greatly benefited. He worked at Pinewood Film Studios as a sound technician in the 1960s and then at Twickenham Studios before leaving for Cornwall to write his first novel in 1970. This he later destroyed along with several short stories and a second novel, a remaining fragment of which appears in the present book as the short story The Prisoner. In 1992 he joined The Actors’ Institute in London where he completed The Mastery and a considerable number of intensive acting workshops. He continued this interest with Tom Radcliffe’s London Group Theatre, culminating in a performance of Harold Pinter’s One for the Road, in which he played the part of Nicholas. Subsequently he completed a three year diploma course in counselling and has done further training in hypnotherapy. From an early age he has been interested in anything to do with the paranormal and has participated in several nocturnal investigations into ghostly phenomena. He is married, lives in Surrey and is currently working on his first screenplay.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (November 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412093392
• ISBN-13: 978-1412093392
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,116,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly conceived, enchanting stories, March 28, 2007

By 

Ear for Talent "All Ears" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange Tales In Fiction And Fact (Paperback)

Enjoyable and diverse short stories, merging everyday reality with a foot in another dimension. There are some truly chilling moments throughout - the author masterfully builds pace and expectation. Whether the magical atmosphere of `Stars and Crystals', the superbly conceived `Elegy in Red', or the dark currents underpinning `Last Rites', each story is beautifully written, some packing quite an emotional punch with their deeper message.

Howard's style of writing is free of waffle. From a mere couple of pages to 30-odd pages, no story outstays its welcome. One has the sense that the author is a perfectionist in his craft.

A welcome coda (which I've not seen elsewhere) is that the book concludes with the author's own intriguing reminiscences of unusual experiences from childhood up to the present.

A fine addtion to any book collection.