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Georgia Summers’ Trollheim: Nordic Folk Horror Done Right

Georgia Summers’ Trollheim: Nordic Folk Horror Done Right

Georgia Summers’ Trollheim: Tale of Sýstir announces itself in its opening pages as something different from the usual Nordic-flavoured fantasy. This is folk horror rooted in genuine Huldra mythology, the figure from Scandinavian folklore whose name derives from the Old Norse huldr, meaning “covered” or “secret.” When Sýstir’s mother is accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake, Summers is not using the witch trial as backdrop decoration. She is placing her story inside a specific, historical horror that resonates because it never entirely stopped being present. Sýstir, half-human and half-Huldra, escapes into the Dark Forest known as Trollheim, taken in by the rogue troll Agagkantor and accompanied by a wildcat companion named Fulgir, building a found family from the materials of loss and displacement.

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Aaron Norton, A Horror Author’s Journey from Submarine Isolation to the Shortbox

No monsters under the bed. Just bad decisions and the walls closing in. The silence inside a submarine runs deeper than most people imagine. Aaron Norton spent years in that silence as a U.S. Navy veteran. He also survived a childhood of homelessness. Now he writes gothic horror blended with … Aaron Norton, A Horror Author’s Journey from Submarine Isolation to the ShortboxRead more

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Jasper Bark Interview Part 2: Harmed and Dangerous, Bark Bites Horror, and the Stories That Can Kill

Jasper Bark Interview Part 2: Harmed and Dangerous, Bark Bites Horror, and the Stories That Can Kill

After a career that includes on-air banana incidents, Bonfire Night riots, and a near shooting by Rupert Murdoch’s bodyguard, Jasper Bark has learned to push boundaries. The first half of our conversation covered his river gypsy upbringing, his theatre bans, and the moment his wife nearly grabbed a kitchen knife. Now we move to the work itself. His fiction.