Raymond Walker is well known for his very unusual, almost homely, romantic fantasy tales such as "The River Girls Torment" and "A Shiver" as well as the award winning "Moonchild and Other Tales". In 2005 he published his first Ghost Story "A Pale Shadow Creeps" which has an adult theme and he followed it up with the horror novel; "The Secret Inside" to great critical acclaim. Mr Walker's restlessly original and imaginative stories may be unusual and darkly romantic but he considers himself very ordinary. He loves the countryside, the forests and the relics of his native Scotland. He loves that he was birthed in a land steeped in history, myth and fantasy. It can be seen in almost every tale that he has ever told or written.
A writer travels down the Ayrshire coast into the depths of Galloway in the worst weather that Scotland can bring to do a book signing that he had promised a year ago.
The bookshop is barely visible in the driving rain but the promise made must be re-payed and so he attends the signing. Setting up in the ancient shop to sell his new book and back catalog. This bookshop has a history and is known to be haunted. And the Ghost likes the author. The ghost loves the author and she will have him.
She Wept Black Tears.
War is coming, visceral, bloody and damaging. The Morrigan sits upon crumbling stone and knows that more blood will be spilled here. A man goes hill walking just to enjoy the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and happens upon a ruined hill fort that no one has seen in an age. The fort, once the scene of an ancient battle, one that still rages, unseen, between Celtic and demonic forces, magical and mystical, will soon reach its end. Rob, the aesthete, the fool, the romantic dreamer, is about to get drawn into the strangest of worlds.
What else can I say but "Wow". I thought that I was reading a guide book to the Scottish Highland's and then it hit. Weird and wonderful, I could not stop this mad travelogue until I was in tears.
Margarite Fanning. The book review.
I have often given Raymond Walker great book reviews and I do not regret a single one but this is stranger, still, than many of his other books. A walk into the Scot's Highlands, a lost civilization. Eagle feathers and demonic personages take centre stage.
A true fantasy coupled with a beautiful sadness infuses all the characters,
Marsha main. Poetry monthly.