Tag Archives: ghost stories

Dickens: Things You Might Not Know

Did you know A Christmas Carol was just the first of many Christmas books by Dickens? And whilst their quality was not as good as A Christmas Carol, they all made more money for him. This was because his publishers chose not to invest as much in the quality and wrapping of the later books, which Dickens had insisted upon for the first.

Christmas Stories Dickens


I was surprised how little I knew about Dickens before I read the remarkable biography by Claire Tomalin recently. He was more complex than I’d realised. Here’s some highlights of things I found out about him.

Facts about Dickens

  • At the age of twelve, he was sent away by his wayward father and not-much-better mother to live alone and earn an income to support them by labelling pots of blacking for shoes in a factory on the Thames. In an untypical inversion of social mores, his sister Fanny was sent to the Royal Academy for Music because of her talent playing piano.
  • His father was hopeless with money and was imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt.
  • Dickens had irrepressible energy. He would write, set up magazines, host parties, meet dignitaries (including the Prime Minister, famous writers, and the Queen), and drink and dance the hornpipe until the early hours. He shared his time between dwellings in London and Kent.
  • He took long walks each night after working, frequently touring the less salubrious areas of London, where he found rich material and characters for his writing. He often clocked up 12 miles or more.
  • As his fame grew, and especially after he started doing paid readings, he toured relentlessly. He toured America twice.
Charles Dickens book cover
  • Initially he was excited to visit the States, where he was given an ecstatic reception upon arrival at Boston. But his relationship with the country soured because there was no copyright law so he didn’t get paid a penny for his works initially, which sold in their thousands. When he brought the issue up, the press turned against him accusing him of colonialism.
  • He had 10 children with his quiet but loyal wife Catherine, most of whom had ineffectual and hapless lives.
  • He was a big drinker and raised the spirits at his parties with his own gin punch.
  • He left Catherine in middle age when he fell in love with an 18-year-old girl, Nelly Ternan, with whom he had an enigmatic relationship for the rest of his life. He was heartlessly dismissive of his children who sided with their mother, especially his firstborn son, Charley. As his spirited daughter Katey said, ‘My father was like a madman when my mother left home. This affair brought out all that was worst—all that was weakest in him. He did not care a damn what happened to any of us. Nothing could surpass the misery and unhappiness of our home.’
Dickens's Christmas Stories content page
  • He was involved in a train crash on a viaduct at Stapleton, in which many died and he had to scramble out of the window of his teetering carriage. He helped others caught and injured in the train, then put Nelly and her mother on the next train to London to avoid scandal.
  • He supported the cause of the poor on a political and practical level, investing vast amounts of time and money in helping those in need. With the wealthy banker Ms Coutts, he established a home for prostitutes, helping them gain self-reliance and a range of skills and, if they wished, supporting them to emigrate to Australia.
Dickens's Christmas Stories spine

A Growing Interest

I’ve been increasingly interested in Dickens over the last few years. Some believe he’s a greater writer than Shakespeare. I’ve been reading more about him recently because I’m doing research for the latest Ghosts of Alice novel. His writing was often gothic and, alongside A Christmas Carol, he wrote several ghost stories, including the chilling The Signalman.

I’m lucky to have inherited a complete set of Odhams Press editions from 1934 from my great-grandmother, who was a passionate fan. My favourite Dickens novel is Little Dorrit. We struggled through it for English A level, but I’m glad we did as it’s seeped into me and I love it. (As an aside, the BBC TV series is fabulous and I urge you to watch it.)

Leave a comment if you’re a Dickens fan, and let me know which of his books is your favourite!

Charles Dickens biography Tomalin

Flattery, not force

I asked Copilot how my first ghost story, The Boy in the Burgundy Hood, compared to other ghost stories (it suggested I ask it that). Here’s what it said:

“The Boy in the Burgundy Hood by Steve Griffin stands out in the realm of ghost stories for a few reasons:

1. **Atmospheric Setting**: The ancient English manor house in the book is richly described, creating a haunting and immersive backdrop that is essential for a compelling ghost story.
2. **Character Development**: The protagonist, Alice Deaton, is well-developed and relatable, making readers more invested in her journey and the eerie experiences she encounters.
3. **Subtle Suspense**: The story builds suspense gradually, with mysterious occurrences that keep readers on edge without relying on overt scares or gore.
4. **Historical Elements**: The book weaves in historical elements that add depth and authenticity to the ghostly tale, enhancing the overall reading experience.

When compared to other ghost stories, such as Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black or Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Griffin’s work offers a unique blend of suspense, character development, and atmospheric detail. While it may not have the same level of psychological horror as Jackson’s work or the gothic intensity of Hill’s novel, it provides a satisfying and engaging ghost story experience that fans of the genre are likely to enjoy.

Have you read any of these other ghost stories? I’d love to hear how you think The Boy in the Burgundy Hood compares! 📖👻”

I was flattered by such comparisons, of course. And then I realised this is all part of the grand scheme, isn’t it? I don’t know whether it knew I was the author (I wasn’t logged in), but even so, I’ve always been impressed by how polite and friendly the responses from AI are, how they lead you into more questions from which they learn more. They won’t be taking over by force, but flattery…😱

Ten Years of Publishing!

10 years of publishing Steve Griffin

This has been an amazing year for me. I’ve been writing since I worked out which way up to hold a pencil but my publishing journey didn’t begin until 2014 – ten years ago. Since then I’ve published 10 novels, 2 novellas, and 2 books of poetry!

It’s been a blast. Whilst it’s not my main income source (I also work part-time for a neighbourhood charity in London), reading and writing have always been at the core of who I am. I wrote stories as a boy for my friends, published poetry in literary magazines in my twenties and thirties, and began writing full-length novels in my forties.

Traditional vs. Indie

The City of Light

Like most writers, I attempted the traditional route of publishing with my first book, The City of Light, via queries to agents and publishers. I had a good deal of encouragement – agents requesting full manuscripts, asking for edits, having a Children’s Rights manager at Random House championing the book through editorial teams – but ultimately, it didn’t come off. After all that emotional investment, I gave up thinking I’d ever be published. Then a family member suggested publishing independently. I looked into Amazon and, to be honest, never looked back. Amazon may have its faults, but without it I would never have published all these books.

Books for Young Adults

10 years of publishing The Secret of the Tirthas

The first novels I brought out were for young adults. The Secret of the Tirthas is a five-book adventure mystery series with a novella prequel, Swift: The Story of a Witch. It’s based on a magical ‘garden of rooms’ that my wife’s parents owned in Herefordshire, where I imagined each garden containing a portal to the place in the world it represented. When I’d finished that series, I collected the poems I’d had published in poetry magazines together with a few new ones into two poetry books, Up in the Air and The Things We Thought Were Beautiful.

The Things We Thought Were Beautiful Poetry Book

Ghost Stories for Adults

Encouraged by good reviews and reasonable sales, I decided to branch out into writing for adults. I’d always loved horror films and books and so began The Ghosts of Alice series, starting with The Boy in the Burgundy Hood (2019). The story was inspired by an interview my wife had with a heritage agency to be a property manager in an old house where the previous owners still lived in a private wing. I was initially uncertain about changing genre, but The Ghosts of Alice found a bigger market than my young adult series – The Boy in the Burgundy Hood even became an international bestseller in Ghost Stories on Amazon! So I wrote more books in the series, and published two standalone supernatural thrillers. The Man in the Woods and Black Beacon, a Christmas ghost story, both came out in 2023.

10 years of publishing Discover The Ghosts of Alice

Sales and Reviews

I’m now approaching 10,000 copies sold. I know it’s not a huge amount when compared to big name authors, but I keep motivated by considering the average independent novel sells 250 copies, and traditionally published one 3000. Most of mine have significantly exceeded the first, and The Boy in the Burgundy Hood has sold over 3600 copies. My books have gained over 900 reviews on Amazon, averaging around 4.5 stars – with only my Marmite book a bit lower!

Who is the Man in the Woods - the perfect book for Halloween

What’s next?

I’m working on the next Ghosts of Alice story – I have a story arc that will mean two or three more books in the series. I have a second standalone Christmas ghost story nearing completion of first draft – but I won’t be bringing that out until next Christmas. I also have an idea for a sequel to The Man in the Woods, but it’s not fully fleshed out. And then a germ of an idea for another series of supernatural thrillers. Watch this space!

So that’s the story of my ten years of publishing. Every bit of it has been exciting – with the exception of some hardcore editing and marketing (although signing up to Irish book marketer David Gaughran‘s mail list has removed some of the latter’s pain)! There’s never a day when I don’t appreciate that people I’ve never met, from all over the world, are buying, reading and (mostly!) enjoying my books. And it’s not just the sales. As a writer, I’ve got to know some fantastic readers and writers on social media, and I’ve done talks in schools and libraries, signings in bookshops, and read and talked at festivals. Meeting readers is always a real privilege.

So thank you to all of you who have made – and continue to make – my dream a reality. Thank you, really.

Alice in India

My latest novel, Alice and the Broken Dead, finds Alice Deaton travelling to India to help a family beset by a poltergeist-style haunting.

Alice in India - Pushkar

For those of you who have read my young adult series, The Secret of the Tirthas, you’ll know how prominently India features in the first of those (and occasionally throughout the remainder). My inspiration came from an extended trip I made when I was 25, which incorporated a month in Nepal and 3 in India – followed by a month in Burma and 2 in Thailand.

Alice in India - Pushkar hills

I’ve shared some pics of me in Nepal earlier this month, and now here’s a few from India, including the holy town of Pushkar, on which the fictional town of Pashar is based in Alice and the Broken Dead. Plus bonus content of the mischievous monkeys that hung around the town, and a shot of me when I had a beard!

Monkeys in Pushkar
Monkeys grooming
Cheeky monkey!

Find out what happens to Alice in India in Alice and the Broken Dead on Amazon now!

Alice and the Broken Dead: A Reading

Today, a short reading from my new ghost story, Alice and the Broken Dead, perfect to get you in the mood for Halloween!

It’s the latest in my bestselling series The Ghosts of Alice, about a young woman who discovers she has a strange ability to connect with the dead.

Each book is a standalone ghost story, but connections run between them. So you can read them in any order, although it’s probably best to start with the first, The Boy in the Burgundy Hood.

Check out Alice and the Broken Dead on Amazon here.

Alice and the Broken Dead – out now!

It’s release day!!

Alice and the Broken Dead out now

The latest Ghosts of Alice novel, Alice and the Broken Dead, is out now!

I’d been planning to get it out at the start of October, well in time for Halloween – and thankfully, despite a few set backs, I’ve made it!

So what’s in store for our intrepid ghost-whisperer Alice next?

Well, it starts with Alice happy – very happy – standing in the Himalayas watching the sunrise over the mountains. Of course, as you’d expect, things can only go downhill – literally 😊 – from there, but at least she gets her moment of perfection. (I sometimes wonder about writers, locking themselves away all day, dreaming up torturous scenarios for their characters…)

Here’s the full blurb to whet your appetite:

She realised the emotion on his face was something else altogether…Fear.
Nicholas lifted his arm and pointed at her.
‘What?’ said his mother. ‘What is it, Nicholas?’
‘Her,’ he said. ‘It was her.’

Having lost her job at the Trust for England, Alice heads to India via Nepal to help a wealthy family beset by disturbing paranormal phenomena. She is soon embroiled in a strange and terrifying mystery. Who – or rather what – is bringing the family to breaking point, smashing things in their state-of-the-art house and threatening the couple and their two children?

Increasingly thwarted in her attempts to understand the destructive entity, Alice resorts to a wild scheme – one that threatens to bring more tragedy in its wake.

Has she made a terrible mistake?

Perfect to get you in the mood for Spooky Season!

Click here to view it on Amazon – and if you do read it please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews make a huge difference in getting the books you love in front of other readers – which helps me to keep writing books. 😉

Thanks – and happy (?!) reading! 😱

The Ghosts of Alice – Book 4

A few people have been asking whether there’s going to be another Ghosts of Alice book – so I’ll start by saying… yes there is!

Machapuchare - The Ghosts of Alice


Having written two standalone horror stories last year – The Man in the Woods and Black Beacon – I’ve returned to the fourth instalment of Alice’s story. I recently finished the first draft and am now going through, marking up changes. I’d give you the title but unfortunately I haven’t settled on it yet – which is unusual for me, because I usually know the title early on.


Here’s a little of what to expect:


Having lost her job at the Trust for England, Alice heads out to India via Nepal to help a wealthy family experiencing disturbing paranormal phenomena. She is soon embroiled in a strange and terrifying mystery. Who – or rather what – is bringing the family to breaking point, smashing things up in their state-of-the-art house and frightening the couple and their two children? Increasingly thwarted in her attempts to understand the entity, Alice resorts to a wild scheme – one that threatens to bring more tragedy in its wake. Has she made a terrible mistake?

Machapuchare - The Ghosts of Alice


Book 4 in The Ghosts of Alice will be out later this summer – if I can just work out that title… 😉


If you’re wondering about the pics BTW, they’re of beautiful Machapuchare, which I took when I was a young man trekking through Nepal. I thought Alice deserved at least a little reward for all she’s been through, so the book starts with her enjoying this stunning view.

Favourite books – a little self indulgence…

OK, this post is a bit indulgent, but have any of you writers out there ever thought about which of your own books you like most? I spent half an hour the other night thinking about just that. I ended up rating them for ‘Best Beginning’, ‘Best Ending’ and ‘Overall Favourite’. And here’s what came out tops:

Best books: The Girl in the Ivory Dress

Best Beginning: The Girl in the Ivory Dress – after the relatively slow build of the mystery in The Boy in the Burgundy Hood, I wanted to hit the ground running in the second book. In the opening scenes, Alice finds herself having to deal with a woman on fire, rescue a priceless heritage collection, and handle not one but two ghosts!

Best books: The Unknown Realms

Best Ending: The Unknown Realms – the conclusion to my 5-book Secret of the Tirthas series gets pretty high stakes at the end, with a final battle involving demons, Lizzie and her friends and – yep, an elephant! If it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye – well, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to.

Best books: Black Beacon

Overall Favourite: Black Beacon – close to my heart because of its inspiration from my family history – but still I reckon a neat plotline and taut supernatural thriller.

This was a difficult selection and even now I find I’m changing my mind – but you have to stop somewhere!

If you’ve read my books, do you agree with my selection? And if you’re a writer, which of your own books do you like most and why?

Click here to find out more about these books on Amazon.

The Ghosts of Alice series sells 5000 copies!

The Ghosts of Alice series – three of my books starting with The Boy in the Burgundy Hood – chalked up 5000 sales this week!

The Ghosts of Alice 5000 copies sold

I never thought when I began indie publishing my stories that I’d sell anything like that number. I was always happy just to know people were able to find and read (and hopefully enjoy!) what I’d written. So this has been the icing on the cake, especially during the couple of periods when The Boy in the Burgundy Hood hit bestseller status on Amazon.

If you like ghost stories, and want to read about an unusual hero with a mysterious connection to the dead, why not give the series a go?

What readers say about The Boy in the Burgundy Hood:

***** ‘The perfect modern day ghost story with a grisly twist’
***** ‘Impossible to put down’
***** ‘Creepy and satisfying’
***** ‘A compelling and spinetingling read’
***** ‘Too scared to sleep… extremely good book, I read it in one day!’
***** ‘Turn the screw it does, right up to its terrifyingly dark finale.’

Check out the books on Amazon here.

2023 – A Year in Writing

As it’s that time for reflection, I thought I’d give an overview of my year from a writing perspective. First of all, the good. As most of you will know, I’ve been concentrating on my supernatural thrillers for the past five years. I’ve written three books in The Ghosts of Alice series, but this year I wanted to publish two standalone horror books that I’ve had in the pipeline for a while  and which I’m glad to say I managed to do.

The first, The Man in the Woods, I started several years ago but was interrupted by life and never finished. I realised when I re-read it earlier this year that I really liked it, it felt very different to my other writing and I loved the final twist.

Thanks to reader Linda Oliphant for this great photo!


Why was it so different to my other supernatural books? Well, several reasons.

  1. it’s the only one told in the first person
  2. it’s a novella
  3. it’s the only one of my supernatural thrillers not to feature ghosts (hope that’s not a spoiler… 😉)
  4. it’s about a teenage boy
  5. some people would even argue it’s not a supernatural thriller at all but… you’ll have to read it to decide whether it is or isn’t yourself!

I love this story. I thought it might well get mixed reviews – and possibly some negative reviews – but they’ve been (almost all!) positive so far.

The second book I published this year I actually finished as a first draft last Christmas – but decided to leave until November before I brought it out, for obvious reasons. It’s Black Beacon, a festive ghost story set on the snow-swept South Downs. I’ve loved writing this book as it’s by far the most personal of my stories, inspired by my grandparents, who met when my grandad was a German Prisoner of War and my grandma a young woman in Eastbourne. All my books tend to have a significant element or two inspired by real life incidents – but this is by far the most personal.

Black Beacon ghost story

What about the bad? Well, whilst life outside of writing has had its ups and downs this year (with a few more downs than usual, including my mum breaking her hip in the summer) the writing has been pretty steady. I miss the excellent independent bookshop we had near us in Leatherhead: Barton’s Bookshop, where I used to go for signing sessions at least once a year, usually during the festive season. I miss the owner, Peter Snell, with his penchant for dressing up as Santa Claus, and I miss the staff – I’ve done signings at other events over the years, but nothing is as satisfying as going to a local bookstore, where everyone has a passion for books and reading.

Barton's Bookshop

That’s it for me – next up for my writing is the fourth Ghosts of Alice story, which has a completely different feel and setting – but more of that later in the year!

I wish you a Happy New Year, and hope it brings you what you want – or at least what you need!

Steve