AN AWARD-winning journalist who used real-life ghost stories that he collected from newsrooms around the Midlands to create a chilling horror novel is to appear at Rugby Literary Festival – and he wants to hear residents’ spooky experiences.
Novelist G J Phelps – a.k.a. Gary Phelps – worked as a news journalist for more than 30 years, eventually editing nine newspapers across the West Midlands.
But Gary has always been fascinated by the ‘real’ ghost stories that journalists sometimes uncover – and has used them to create his debut novel, supernatural thriller 13 Doors.
Now he is set to appear at the Halloween-themed Rugby Literary Festival this weekend to talk about the stories that inspired 13 Doors, and to ask Rugby residents to share their own supernatural experiences.
Gary said: “All newsrooms have odd, unexplainable stories, where a member of the public has brought in a tale which the journalists just couldn’t explain.
“After working in news for years, I’ve collected them – particularly from around the West Midlands – and when I came to write 13 Doors, I thought it would be interesting to weave them into the story.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting people at Rugby Literary Festival, to share some of those real stories and explain how they shaped 13 Doors into such an unusual book, which looks at ghosts in a different way.
“I would also be interested in hearing their real ghost stories too – which I could use in my next book!”
Horror novel 13 Doors tells the story of a reporter who sets out to spend the night in 13 haunted locations, with terrifying consequences.
The story is also largely set in the region, with locations like the Victorian cemeteries in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter playing a key part in the tale.
Gary added: “I wanted to write a horror novel that was rooted in my journalistic background – that featured the kind of weird, real-life stories that occasionally come into all newsrooms.
“So, while 13 Doors is fictional, there are stories and anecdotes in it that are based on real incidents.
“For example, a mining disaster in north Warwickshire inspired one of the chapters in the book, and there is an amazing story about a workman who ran over a ghost in his van.”
Gary will be talking about 13 Doors at Rugby Library on Friday (October 18) at 2-3pm as part of the Rugby Literary Festival.
