about me

Huge thanks to all who have given me their encouragement and comment enabling me to reach that fatal terminus of 'selection'.

I cannot pretend to be more than a virtual friend to any, yet will not forget sharing the struggle and our work.

I'll always pop in to keep abreast of any good news for my fellow authors.

I can be contacted at :
enquiries@hauntedbooks.com
or via
http://www.facebook.com/raymond.nickford

Paperback titles; psychological suspense with underlying romance/relationship themes, are now also easily available as ebooks.

E-books are published in Kindle versions on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com. and as E-pub, Sony, etc, on other online bookshops.

Aristo's Family
Mister Kreasey's Demon
Twists in the Tale - collected ghost stories, the supernatural and a novella which is a romance.
A Child from the Wishing Well

I'm interested principally in theatre/film/DVD rights but also book/audio-book rights for any [or all] of my 4 published titles, including A Child from the Wishing Well and the 5th book I've started: Prey to Her Madonna
My email: enquiries@hauntedbooks.com

In addition to my novels I have stories published in USA anthologies including: Voices of a Hypnotist pub. in Gaslight, Family Tree in Haunts #32, Nanny’s Friends in Not One of Us, A Musical Calling in Heliocentric Net. Vol 5. or The Parchment Recipes in Chills #8 BFS Magazine[UK].

I've a degree in Philosophy and Psychology from
University College North Wales.

For my sins, I've taught English in colleges and as a tutor; the years visiting pupils in shacks to mansions, from the delightful to the vaguely Little Lord Fauntleroy, in part informed my fourth novel, a psychological suspense thriller - A Child from the Wishing Well.
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A CHILD FROM THE WISHING WELL
Psychological suspense thriller

Some comments from authonomy authors:

Candace Bowen Early - A Knight of Silence

Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, the first scary movie I remember seeing was the 1965 Bette Davis movie, The Nanny. To this day, that movie has always stuck with me as one of the great psychological thrillers of all time. For me, A Child from the Wishing Well, is reminiscent of that movie.

Ruth and Gerard strap you in, and take you on a psychological thrill-ride to the very end.

Raven Clark - The Shadowsword Saga

You have a writing voice that has to be one of the most unique and intriguing I have come across on this site. The story is both enjoyable and oddly chilling, all the more so for its apparent warmth. The pleasantness of Ruth and her liveliness should seem gentle, grandmotherly and appealing, a sweet old lady one could adore, but reading your pitch, what seems kindly suddenly turns sinister, her upbeat excitability oddly macabre.
Each time she says lines like "Our Rosie," and speaks so excitedly, rather than hearing a pleasant old lady, I think of a bird screeching. Fingers down a blackboard.
Will Gerard realize what he feels is not a symptom of his disease? And if not, will Heather uncover the truth and save Rosie before the hurricane that is Ruth sweeps her into oblivion?

Stephen Valentine - Nobody Rides for Free

You give great voice to your characters, describing well their idiosyncrasies. A good story must either go deep or wide, and with your background in psychology you go deep within the human condition. For some adults, the ability to relate to a child does not come naturally, and requires enormous if not awkward effort. This is an often overlooked subject worth exploring.

Tony Brady - Scenes from an Examined Life

I chose at random Chapter 37. More by luck than judgement and amazing coincidence, I came across a key part of your story. A beautifully constructed scenario emerged. The attic scene vividly describes the significance of the doll in the depth of the well. All the mystery and menace of the story coalesces here. I was taken back years to the 1960s when I read a story by Saki entitled The Lumber Room. Mystery and menace are purely distilled in a distinctive writing style and I was thrilled that that there was still another 10 Chapters in a book that engrosses the reader from the opening passage.
I would like to buy this book and hope that it attracts the widest readership not least for its genre but for its most readable style.

Burgio - A Grain of Salt

This is an intriguing story: is Gerald being overly possessive toward his daughter or is Miss Stein really a threat? Every parent is aware today that he or she needs to supervise their child's friends. But a violin teacher? I liked Gerald because of his predicament. This should have a wide appeal because it touches parents so personally. Good read.

A. R. Taylor - Sex, Rain, and Cold Fusion

Full of dark shadings and menace. I like the tenderness of the father's feelings.



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favourite books

Henry Farrell...................Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Ruth Rendell...................A Dark-Adapted Eye
...........................................A Judgement in Stone
...........................................The Lake of Darkness
Ian McEwan.....................The Cement Garden
...........................................Atonement
Vikram Seth.....................An Equal Music
Lars Von Trier..................Dancer in the Dark
Nicci French.....................Killing Me Softly
Patricia Highsmith..........The Talented Mr Ripley
Charles Barr................... .Vertigo
Daphne du Maurier.........Rebecca
Henry James....................The Turn of the Screw

my websites

     http://www.amazon.co.uk%2Fs%2Fref%3Dnb_sb_noss%3Fu