“Leytonstone” ©Stephen Volk/Spectral Press 2014. Artwork ©Ben Baldwin 2014
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One evening in 1906 a chubby little boy of seven, son of a London greengrocer, is taken by his father to visit the local police station.
There he suddenly finds himself, inexplicably, locked up for a crime he hasn’t committed – or has he? Blinking into sunlight, traumatised by his overnight stay, he is told by his father the next morning: “Now you know what happens to naughty little boys!” But the incident is the catalyst for a series of events that will scar, and create, the world’s leading Master of Terror in the century to come…
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The boy is Alfred Hitchcock.
The story is the gripping and evocative new novella by Stephen Volk, writer of the highly-acclaimed novella Whitstable – which featured Peter Cushing as its central character and was published in 2013 (also by Spectral Press) to coincide with the centenary of the great actor’s death.
Leytonstone – like Whitstable – elevates fact (in this case an anecdote the famous director told repeatedly throughout his life) into resonant and poignant fiction, lifting the veil on not only the innocent and troubled young “Fred” but his emotionally needy mother and a father constantly struggling to do the right thing. But what none of them knows is that, after that fateful night and its consequences, their lives will be changed forever…
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STEPHEN VOLK is best known as the writer of BBC TV’s notorious Halloween “hoax” Ghostwatch, starring Michael Parkinson, which caused outraged viewers to jam the switchboards, and even raised questions in Parliament. He also created the award-winning drama series Afterlife and the recent supernatural mystery film The Awakening starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West. His play, The Chapel of Unrest, was presented exclusively for one night only at London’s Bush Theatre starring Jim Broadbent and Reece Shearsmith. His short stories have earned selection in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Best British Mysteries, and Best British Horror, and he has been a Bram Stoker, British Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award finalist. He is the author of two short story collections: Dark Corners and Monsters in the Heart – the latter of which won a British Fantasy Award for “Best Collection” in 2014. He has also won a BAFTA.
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Cover image by Ben Baldwin
Publication date: March 2015
Available in limited signed and numbered hardback (125 copies), unlimited paperback, and eBook.
Retail: £21UK/£24EU/$50US & RoW
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Available from the publishers: Spectral Press, 13 Montgomery Crescent, Bolbeck Park, Milton Keynes, MK15 8PP
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