The undead, ghosts, zombies, a serial killer or two, and a wolf who cried boy were out in full force on Friday night to entertain visitors at Bloody Parchment, a literary precursor to the HorrorFest film festival, which starts tomorrow, the 29th of October, at the Labia. Bloody Parchment was hosted by the Book Lounge in Cape Town.
A selection of writers, some established, others up and coming, presented original short stories, poems, or excerpts from upcoming novels, surrounded by macabre decorations and dressed in appropriate Halloween attire. Joe Vaz, the editor of Something Wicked magazine, acted as MC for the night.
First up was Nerine Dorman, who helped to organise the event, with “Trying Times For South Africa’s Wickedest Man”, a dream-sequence excerpt from her forthcoming novel Khepera Rising (Lyrical Press). Next was Sam Wilson with an original work, The Wolf Who Cried “Boy”: A Cautionary Tale, a humorous reworking of the classic fairy tale complete with props (illustrated cards) and assistant (Lauren Beukes). Watch:
Video: Sam Wilson reads “The Wolf Who Cried Boy”
Danielle Eriksen then read “Mary, Mary, Down In The Dungeon”, an excerpt from a short story to be published next year by Intimate Free Press; she was followed by Diane Awerbuck, who told a spine-chilling tale of a presence in a lake that had the audience questioning their trust in water and its contents. Carine Engelbrecht offered “A Curious Case For The Pizza Guy”, a cautionary tale regarding the rarely reported on horrors of a respectable occupation featuring a highly entertaining delivery:
Video: Carine Engelbrecht reads “A Curious Case for the Pizza Guy
Next, SA Partridge entranced with a ghostly piece that will be included in the Home Away collection, edited by Louis Greenberg, to be published next year.
Henrietta Rose-Innes read an excerpt, full of robust creepy crawlies (literally), from a novel in progress and Kate O’Brian read “Don’t You Know You Should Never Leave The Path?”, in which a young boy on an errand to the shops for his mother has to try to save his sister, who was following behind, from a monstrous serpent, with an unexpected conclusion. Werner Pretorius then read “Night Time Is A-Coming”, which was first published in an issue of Something Wicked in 2007 (visit the link to find a podcast of Joe Vaz reading this story).
Sarah Lotz’s “Till Death Do Us Part (An Anti-Twilight Love Poem To A Zombie)” was one of the highlights of the event, proving yet again that dark horror with a little humour is always a hit (click the link for the full text) . This poem, complete with Sarah’s self-proclaimed “drunken” delivery, wowed the crowd and, I’m sure, had a lot of the authors and aspiring writers in the audience resolving to go home and write their own humorous horror poems.
Hennie Lombard then read “Underground, No One Can Hear You Scream”, in which a group of spelunkers crawling in a tunnel meet an underground horror in a lake. This story was presented very atmospherically, to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia, as the lights were switched off, bar one faint light emanating from Hennie’s headlamp. Finally, Lauren Beukes took to the podium, dressed as an Angry Robot, and explained how the Book Lounge’s horror section actually encompasses most of the store… with a twist, of course.
Bloody Parchment was a huge success and I suspect that in future it will be a permanent feature of the annual HorrorFest festivities.
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