Tales Accursed - by Richard Wells

Book Synopsis

Tales Accursed is the second collection of classic supernatural stories selected by the artist Richard Wells. Each of the sixteen tales is accompanied by one of Richard's striking lino-print illustrations.

This anthology contains work from both the established masters of folk horror, and some more surprising contributors: from Shirley Jackson and M. R. James to E. F. Benson and William Croft Dickinson. Tales Accursed will raise the hairs on your neck and keep you alert to the slightest rustle in the trees: through the chill splendour of moonlit nights come apparitions through the orchard; sea-witches perch on the sharp fangs of rocks as they weave their spells; fir-woods lie unnaturally still with no birdsong, no breeze, nor any undergrowth; and hooded creatures crouch on grey secluded beaches. This book combines ancient horrors from the wilderness with sinister shadows of the landscape to remind us of the settings of our ancestors.

Tales Accursed is a gloriously creepy collection of chilling folk horror tales that is both thrilling and unnerving.

Review Quotes

"With folk horror, we tread uncertainly, for fear of whispering forests or liminal spaces that could wash the reader away with other ghosts of the sea. We can't turn away, but can find a delicious crackle of fear in turning these pages, in engaging with old fears anew." -- Sinéad Gleeson, author of Hagstone and Constellations

"A new volume of delightfully unsettling tales by some of the masters of the genre. Richard Wells' woodcut-style illustrations playfully conjure the ancient terrors depicted in dusty seventeenth-century tomes, and their apparent simplicity allows the reader to fill the dark spaces with their own fears." -- Maria J. Pérez Cuervo, founder and editor of Hellebore

About the Author

Richard Wells is an illustrator and graphic designer. Primarily working in the television industry, he has provided graphic props for the likes of Sherlock, Doctor Who, and the 2020 BBC adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. He also created the titular haunted print in Mark Gatiss' 2021 'Ghost Story for Christmas' adaptation of M.R. James's The Mezzotint. Outside of his television work, he makes and sells his own darkly folkloric artwork, often lino cut and hand-printed. He is the curator and illustrator of Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology. He lives in the West Midlands.