The Cursed Blog Tour: Day Seven
The Cursed Blog Tour: Day Seven avatar

By Ashley Lister

Firstly, I’d like to thank Simon for hosting me here on the final day of The Cursed Blog Tour. It’s been a frantic week and I’ve had so much fun sharing my work with writer friends from all over the internet. Tomorrow sees the launch of Cursed, the third book in my series of dark tales from Innsmouth and I’m here to let you know how you could win a free electronic copy of this title.

This is the blurb from the back of the book:

Innsmouth University’s Explorers Club meet once a month to share stories of the supernatural. They meet in empty houses, abandoned buildings and derelict churches. They meet in the dead of night. They tell stories of the impossible, the unbelievable and the most terrible. And now, it appears, their meetings have been cursed.

Cursed is a story about storytellers telling stories: stories of the supernatural. This all comes from my passion for hearing true ghost stories. I recently wrote an academic paper on the hedging strategies we typically use when relating such narratives and it’s always satisfying to combine two areas of interest (such as the supernatural AND academic writing) in one project. And it’s by telling stories of the supernatural that you could win a free copy of Cursed.

Have you had an encounter the unexplained? Have you got a scary story that’s worth sharing? Is there a reason why you believe in the supernatural?

I have. But this is one told to me by a close friend, a couple of years ago, before we lived our lives under the restrictions of quarantines and lockdowns.

Last night a friend rushed me out of the house to catch the opening act at a local bar’s music night. After a few drinks I realised my phone wasn’t in my pocket. I checked the table we were sitting at, the bar, the bathrooms, and after no luck I used my friend’s phone to call mine.

After two rings someone answered, gave out a low raspy giggle, and hung up.

They didn’t answer again.

I eventually gave it up as a lost cause and headed home. I found my phone sitting on the bedside cabinet, right where I had left it.

This story has nothing to do with my novella except, it’s one of those scary personal anecdotes that will make it difficult for me to sleep on an evening: and that’s what I’m hoping to get from you. I’m going to give away an electronic copy of Cursed to the best personal ghost story that someone shares in the comments section of this blog. If you have a scary true ghost story, I’d dearly love to hear it.

I should also add, on Monday March 1st, I’ll be hosting an online book launch/virtual event where I (and some friends and fellow writers) will be sharing our own personal ghost stories. If you fancy joining us, either to share a ghost story or simply to listen, please drop me an email at me@ashleylister.co.uk and I’ll happily send you an invite.

And, if you don’t fancy sharing a ghost story, but you’d still like to find out what happens in this book, you can pre-order a copy of Cursed on Amazon.