Cursed artefacts, or just bad luck? Five gripping Gothic Horror stories, one serious case of Egyptomania.
'The Shade in The Sands' is a delightful, unsettling short story collection of new Egyptian Gothic horror tales inspired by the mysticism of ancient Egypt and the European phenomenon of Egyptomania.
Each tale unravels the eerie allure of haunted artefacts and age-old curses, transporting you into a realm of supernatural horror and historical fantasy.
Hanna Delaney offers a fresh take on the classics that are still steeped in the sepia-toned aesthetic of vintage Gothic horror.
Experience the chills of every haunted tale, each a testament to the undying fascination and dread that ancient Egypt still inspires today.
- 'The Shade In the Sands': Tom Parker, a young English photographer based in Giza, hasn't taken a photograph in over six months. When the wife of his missing friend arrives in Giza on the anniversary of her husband's death, Tom must face the horrors of what happened a year before, and prevent anything from happening to her, too.
- 'The Shabti': In the midst of the Blitz of 1941, precious Egyptian artefacts are transported from The World Museum in Liverpool to nearby country houses for safe keeping. The Ecklands receive a Sarcophagus and some smaller treasures in their country home in Frodsham. All seems fine until Mr Eckland takes a mysterious woman as his lover... a woman who he'd do anything for, whatever the cost.
- 'The Maiden's Hand': Peter's cousin Wilfred has brought his university friends to their country home for the weekend. Peter's uncle, a successful explorer, has many Egyptian artefacts around the house, including one he calls 'The Maiden's Hand'. Peter finds himself inexplicably attached to the mummified hand, and when his cousin's guests awaken something as old as it is sinister, Peter must break the curse before the world as they know it is over.
- 'Six Geese a-Laying': Young Timothy Wicklow arrives at Harewood Court for a Christmas party in December, 1920. He doesn't know the host, but as he has no friends or living relatives to spend Christmas with, he accepts. Around a blazing hearth, Mrs Virginia Dawson-Langley will tell him a Christmas story that will change his life forever.
- 'The Woman With The Emerald Eye'- Colonel Lindsay and his wife host their friends for Christmas and New Year. At an unwrapping in the colonel's study, his elderly mother takes a macabre interest in the body of the woman on the table.
