NEW SHORT STORY COLLECTION OUT SEPT 30

NORFOLK TALES

A collection of enthralling Norfolk tales by thirteen new Norfolk writers, edited by crime writer Kelvin I. Jones, will be published by OAKMAGIC PUBLICATIONS. Many of the tales here are mystery stories, although they are not necessarily limited to a specific genre. However, they all share a commonobjective. They provide us with an often alarming and disturbing insight into the human condition.

Kelvin I Jones is an authority on Cornish witchcraft. He is the author of six books about Sherlock Holmes and a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His work has been compared by both Francis King, the critic and novelist and Ramsey Campbell, the British fantasy and horror writer, to the work of the English ghost story writer, M.R. James. The book will be available on Amazon from 30 Sept. 2011 or direct from http://www.oakmagicpublications.co.uk/.

ISBN: 978 1904330 73 8

PRICE: £7.99

THE AUTHOR, Kelvin I Jones

Kelvin I. Jones has been a prolific writer for a quarter of a century. Born in Kent in 1948, he is one of that rare breed who is equally at home writing poetry, plays and, above all, novels. He has published six books about Sherlock Holmes and the only study on Conan Doyle’s interest in spiritualism, as well as numerous articles about the Victorian detective (see R De Waal's Universal Sherlock Holmes, online edition, 2000). Ed Hoch, the renowned American crime writer, has said of his Sherlockian work: “Kelvin I Jones reveals a sensibility and knowledge of 19^th Century literature that extends far beyond the world of Sherlock Holmes.” (Introduction to Sherlock and Porlock, Magico, 1984). He is also the author of many supernatural stories, among them Carter's Occult Casebook, about a psychic Edwardian detective. Of his gothic tales, Francis King, the novelist and critic, has written, “(Kelvin's work) piquantly suggest the work of a modern M.R. James.” (Introduction to Twenty Stories.) His work is also cited in Ramsey Campbell's Meddling With Ghosts (2002) where he is described as one of the 'James gang.'

Kelvin has written three books on folklore, including Occult Cornwall, as well as two fiction books for children – Odin’s Eye and The Dark Entry (the latter co-authored with wife Debbie). He is the proprietor of Oakmagic Publications, a British folklore publisher (www.oakmagicpublications.co.uk).

He has also published four occult crime novels featuring a melancholic, ex-Met detective, John Bottrell.
(see below).
In addition to novels, he wrote The Field, a play for BBC Radio in 1995, and has had plays performed at The Barbican Theatre Plymouth and The Birmingham Arts Centre, as well as his own one man show Mr Bottrell’s Amazing Tales at the Acorn Theatre Penzance. His poetry includes the moving Omega, (reprited 2011), which is a collection of poems about the survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Of his poetry, Bruce Kent, the peace activist, has written, “Kelvin has the gift of the extra eye. He can tell us what we need to see and never forget.” (Introduction to Omega).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Horror/Supernatural:

Numerous anthologised short supernatural stories: (William Kimber & other publishers) 1986 – 1989 and in “Twenty Stories”, Secker & Warburg 1989, ed. Francis King.

“Carter's Occult Casebook,”tales of an Edwardian psychic investigator, Oakmagic Pubns, 2008

Biography:

“Conan Doyle & The Spirits”: The Spiritualist Career of Arthur Conan Doyle (Thorsons),1989

Crime:

“Sherlock Holmes Murder File” (Magico, NY) 1987

“The Making of Sherlock Holmes” (Magico, NY) 1986

“Sherlock & Porlock: The Literary Antecedents of Sherlock Holmes” (Magico) 1986

“A Sherlock Holmes Dictionary” (Magico) 1987

Sherlock Holmes & The Kent Railways – Mereseborough Books, 1987

“Stone Dead” – crime novel featuring Cornish detective John Bottrell (Hale, 2006)

“The Phantom Hound” – critical essays on Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles. (Oakmagic 2006).

“The Flowers Of Evil” – 2^nd John Bottrell crime novel, set in Bristol – Pegasus, Spring 2008. Kindle 2011

“Witch Jar” – 3^rd Bottrell crime novel, set in Cornwall, Pegasus, 2008. Kindle 2011

Twelve After Midnight. Horror stories. Kindle 2011.

Janus. Crime/Horror novel, Kindle 2011

“A Cromer Corpse” 4^th Bottrell novel - ebook, http://www.contact-pubishing.com/, 2010.

“The Meeting House” – (edited by Kelvin I. Jones), an anthology of Norfolk short stories. Oakmagic Pubns., 2006

Folklore:

“An Joan The Crone: The History & Craft of The Cornish Witch” (Oakmagic Books, 1999)

“The Wise Woman: Her Lives, Spells, Divinatory Practices etc.” (Oakmagic Books, 2004)

Occult Cornwall – Oakmagic Pubns, 2001

CHILDREN’S FICTION

“Odin’s Eye” – Fantasy novel for teenagers, Pegasus Books, Cambridge, March 2007

“The Dark Entry” -Fantasy/supernatural novel with Debbie Jones, Oakmagic Pubns., 2009.

Radio:

“The Field” – 30 min. radio play for BBC, 1995

Poetry:

Omega: Poems about the survivors of the nuclear holocaust, Weavers Press, 1989. Reprinted 2011.

“Lyonesse”. 1995.

Theatre:

“Charlie” – The Barbican, Plymouth, 1994

“The Great Beast” – Birmingham Arts Centre, 1971

“Mr Bottrell’s Amazing Tales” – One Man Show, Acorn Theatre Penzance 1999

NEW KINDLE CRIME THRILLER: FLOWERS OF EVIL...

SYNOPSIS: The Flowers Of Evil.

It is the long hot summer of 1976.

Young D.C. John Bottrell arrives in Bristol to begin work on the Somerset and Avon's Special Investigations Unit under the watchful eye of his former colleague, DCI Ian Glenister. Bottrell is soon

introduced to the unit's first case. The remains of a woman have been found in a disused ice

house in the garden of a Redland mansion, the only clue to her identity being the expensive

French mackintosh which she was wearing.

Bottrell, a young detective with a passion for criminology who also possesses psychic abilities,

has inherited his mother's flat in the city. On arriving, he soon makes the acquaintance of two

women: Anne- Marie Fleur, a French teacher at the university and a local language school who

is now Bottrell's new neighbour. The other is Dr Frances Leadbetter, a psychological profiler

with whom Bottrell soon establishes a romantic bond.

The following day, Glenister and his team attend the murder scene of two West Indians whose

bodies have been discovered behind a wall in a derelict house in the Bedminster district but the

team are interrupted by a summons to Brandon Hill where the body of a young woman has

been found, dumped in a garden refuse compound. Glenister suspects that this murder may

share features with that of the cold case murder, a suspicion which is confirmed when a

second victim is found dead on the Bristol Downs.

Further investigation reveals that the murdered girl was a French student who had been attending

an English language school not far from Bottrell's residence. Meanwhile, both Bottrell and

Anne- Marie independently experience disturbing dreams and psychic phenomena. They

discuss their findings and when Bottrell investigates the history of the area he discovers that

the underlying cause may well be a gruesome murder which occurred in the house in Victorian

times.

Suspicion for the student murder now centres upon Norman Stanton, an EFL teacher at the

language school who has made advances to one of the young women there and who, it now

transpires, has been accused of being a collector of pornography. Under duress at the

hands of Glenister's tough interviewing technique, Stanton makes a confession. Bottrell is deeply

disturbed at this outcome and, believing him to be innocent, persuades Glenister to free him, although under surveillance.

The following day another girl dies as the victim of a frenzied knife attack and Stanton is suspected of her murder. However, he is subsequently found to have committed suicide.

Meanwhile, investigations in France reveal that Isabelle, the French cold case victim, was previously married to a Frenchman called Henri Fleur and when Bottrell’s colleague, Thomas, travels to Normandy to interview him, he finds that she had an affair with a Bristol painter called Jack Slade. Suspecting Slade may provide a clue to her murder, he returns to England to interview him.

In a final dramatic twist, Bottrell realises the true identity of the serial killer.

A crime novel, comprising a fast- paced narrative, "Flowers of Evil" features the

Cornish detective, John Bottrell.

NEW KINDLE THRILLER!!

NEW CRIME NOVEL now on KINDLE!!:

Witch Jar

Following the death of his wife, John Bottrell, ex met detective, was ready for a quiet retirement in Cornwall when he moved into derelict Yew Tree Cottage. Little did he know what secrets of the occult world would be uncovered from the legacy left to him.
He wa determined to find out what was going on in Hob's Wood and unravell the psychic disturbances and tales of witchcraft plaguing the village. But when four locals died in very suspicious circumstances, it brought him into contact with colleagues from his past and helped him finally lay to rest the ghost of Mother Lakeland. A fast paced, occult thriller from the author  of STONE DEAD (Kindle)

Also in the same series: FLOWERS OF EVIL...now out!