National Geographic has released a pic and story on a discovery from a plague burial on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo near Venice, which suggests that one of the plague victims was considered to be a vampire / undead and was neutralised by a large brick in the mouth (very much in the same way that Jack Straw could be neutralised by a large brick in the mouth I guess)… apparently an age-old exorcism technique aimed at preventing the undead from ‘shroud-chewing’ which was how they were perceived to spread pestilence.
Fascinating stuff and a striking photo. Full info here…
Photograph: © Matthew Sowerby
I’ve finally put RIVERCITY online.
It’s a dark novel – basically a smart read involving some grim murders, conspiracies, the supernatural, a bunch of history and philosophy and a film-noir styling.
I actually wrote it years ago – 1997 – which feels like another life now! But it’s had a number of drafts and I also reworked it into a film treatment.
Having said that I’ve not really done enough with it and it’s spent the last few years languishing on the Mac and remaining unread.
I figured that, in the absence of any deal for it, I might as well just put it out there in its entirety and for free.
If you want to go and read it then click here…
It’ll be interesting to see if revisiting it and tidying it up for putting online will re-ignite work on some other unfinished writing projects…
