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Guest author - Jess Faraday
Mar. 12th, 2020 08:46 amJess Faraday writes a right good story, she does. Delighted to host her today.
Interviewers often ask, “where do you get your ideas?” It’s kind of a silly question. Ideas are all around us! But some places seem to be more full of ideas than others.
My family moved to Scotland almost three years ago. There’s a lot of history here — layers and layers of it, chipping off of sandstone building facades, gathering in the corners of mullioned windows and between the stones of dry-stacked walls, peeking out from the hillsides where grass has grown over it...
It makes for a very inspiring place to write. And sometimes little bits of this history inspires entire stories. This was definitely the case for my new short story anthology, Shadow of Justice. SOJ is a collection of novelettes set in 19th century London, Cornwall and Edinburgh. But it’s the Edinburgh stories I want to talk about now.
One of the things that happened when I moved to Edinburgh was that I took up running. It’s a great way to explore your surroundings, especially when, as is the case here, there’s a fantastic bus system that can take you home from pretty much wherever you are when your feet have had enough.
I live in the ‘burbs, halfway between the Castle and the countryside, which means that there are a lot of places within exploring distance. During various jaunts, I’ve come across a handful of Historic Stately Houses. Some have been preserved as tourist attractions, while others are still residences.
One of my favorites is Comiston House, which is the setting for the third story in SOJ, The Haunting of Comiston House.
Comiston House is the halfway point of one of my 5K routes. It’s fairly new, as far as Edinburgh buildings go. It was built in 1815 for James Forrest, a lawyer who would become the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Today, it has been converted into flats.
In The Haunting of Comiston House, intrepid copper Simon Pearce attends a seance at Comiston House during the course of an investigation. The seance turns into a crime scene -- just not the crime Pearce was investigating. And the haunting? Well, you’ll have to read the story for yourself.
Not too far from Comiston House is Old Comiston House, which dates to 1337. The only remaining part of this structure, though, is this tower, which dates to the 16th century, and was part of the stables.
The tower and part of the original wall have been incorporated into a newly constructed house. I took this picture while walking my dog along a wooded path called “White Lady Walk.” The walk is supposedly haunted, and my dog would agree. We’ve walked to exactly this point several times, and he refuses to take one step further.
White Lady Walk, by the way, branches off from CockMyLane, which is the path that Robert Louis Stevenson used to travel between Edinburgh and Swanston Village, where his aunt lived.
Another haunted place that shows up in The Haunting of Comiston House is Yester Castle in Gifford. And that place really is haunted. I can tell you from personal experience!
Yester Castle dates from the 13th century. The land, the Barony of Yester, was granted to Sir Hugo de Giffard by William I, King of Scots, in the first part of that century. Sir Hugo started building around 1267.
Sir Hugo was reputed to be a sorcerer and a necromancer. It was rumored that he conjured a goblin army to help him build the castle, though historians think it was more likely Portuguese slave labor. Predictably, tragedy and calamity followed the building of the castle for centuries after, and today it’s still a haunted place.
I don’t believe in ghosts, but my family did have an Encounter there, which you can read about here.
This is the keep, by the way, which was said to be the site of Dark Rituals and Terrible Goings-On. It’s inaccessible -- I took this photo through the bars blocking it off. Vandals somehow found their way in, though, and on the left wall, spray-painted the words “Nobody Leaves” in black paint.
The words were very clear and easy to make out, but somehow they didn’t show up in either my photo or my daughter’s.
Spooky.
How do these, and other Edinburgh landmarks fit into Simon Pearce’s investigations? You’ll have to see for yourself!
Shadow of Justice is available in print and all e-book formats from Blind Eye Books, or from all of your favorite e-tailers.
And if you want to see more of gorgeous (and spooky!) Scotland, you can visit me at my website or Instagram.
Behind the Haunting of Comiston House
Interviewers often ask, “where do you get your ideas?” It’s kind of a silly question. Ideas are all around us! But some places seem to be more full of ideas than others.
My family moved to Scotland almost three years ago. There’s a lot of history here — layers and layers of it, chipping off of sandstone building facades, gathering in the corners of mullioned windows and between the stones of dry-stacked walls, peeking out from the hillsides where grass has grown over it...
It makes for a very inspiring place to write. And sometimes little bits of this history inspires entire stories. This was definitely the case for my new short story anthology, Shadow of Justice. SOJ is a collection of novelettes set in 19th century London, Cornwall and Edinburgh. But it’s the Edinburgh stories I want to talk about now.
One of the things that happened when I moved to Edinburgh was that I took up running. It’s a great way to explore your surroundings, especially when, as is the case here, there’s a fantastic bus system that can take you home from pretty much wherever you are when your feet have had enough.
I live in the ‘burbs, halfway between the Castle and the countryside, which means that there are a lot of places within exploring distance. During various jaunts, I’ve come across a handful of Historic Stately Houses. Some have been preserved as tourist attractions, while others are still residences.
One of my favorites is Comiston House, which is the setting for the third story in SOJ, The Haunting of Comiston House.
Comiston House is the halfway point of one of my 5K routes. It’s fairly new, as far as Edinburgh buildings go. It was built in 1815 for James Forrest, a lawyer who would become the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Today, it has been converted into flats.
In The Haunting of Comiston House, intrepid copper Simon Pearce attends a seance at Comiston House during the course of an investigation. The seance turns into a crime scene -- just not the crime Pearce was investigating. And the haunting? Well, you’ll have to read the story for yourself.
Not too far from Comiston House is Old Comiston House, which dates to 1337. The only remaining part of this structure, though, is this tower, which dates to the 16th century, and was part of the stables.
The tower and part of the original wall have been incorporated into a newly constructed house. I took this picture while walking my dog along a wooded path called “White Lady Walk.” The walk is supposedly haunted, and my dog would agree. We’ve walked to exactly this point several times, and he refuses to take one step further.
White Lady Walk, by the way, branches off from CockMyLane, which is the path that Robert Louis Stevenson used to travel between Edinburgh and Swanston Village, where his aunt lived.
Another haunted place that shows up in The Haunting of Comiston House is Yester Castle in Gifford. And that place really is haunted. I can tell you from personal experience!
Yester Castle dates from the 13th century. The land, the Barony of Yester, was granted to Sir Hugo de Giffard by William I, King of Scots, in the first part of that century. Sir Hugo started building around 1267.
Sir Hugo was reputed to be a sorcerer and a necromancer. It was rumored that he conjured a goblin army to help him build the castle, though historians think it was more likely Portuguese slave labor. Predictably, tragedy and calamity followed the building of the castle for centuries after, and today it’s still a haunted place.
I don’t believe in ghosts, but my family did have an Encounter there, which you can read about here.
This is the keep, by the way, which was said to be the site of Dark Rituals and Terrible Goings-On. It’s inaccessible -- I took this photo through the bars blocking it off. Vandals somehow found their way in, though, and on the left wall, spray-painted the words “Nobody Leaves” in black paint.
The words were very clear and easy to make out, but somehow they didn’t show up in either my photo or my daughter’s.
Spooky.
How do these, and other Edinburgh landmarks fit into Simon Pearce’s investigations? You’ll have to see for yourself!
Shadow of Justice is available in print and all e-book formats from Blind Eye Books, or from all of your favorite e-tailers.
And if you want to see more of gorgeous (and spooky!) Scotland, you can visit me at my website or Instagram.
