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Raymond Nickford

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first registered 21.11.08

last online 5 days ago

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about me

Huge thanks to all who have given me encouragement and sometimes enabled me to further polish.
I'm now working on my 5th novel, 'PREY TO HER MADONNA', another psychological suspense.
So I shall not be commenting/backing further but will pop in to keep abreast of any good news for my fellow authors.
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A CHILD FROM THE WISHING WELL
Psychological suspense thriller

Some comments from authonomy authors:

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.

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

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.

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.


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I'm seeking AN AGENT AND/OR PUBLISHER interested in any [or all] of my 4 titles, including A Child from the Wishing Well and the 5th book I've started: Prey to Her Madonna
My email: enquiries@hauntedbooks.com

If it helps, I'll mention some of my stories 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.

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.hauntedbooks.com    

HarperCollins is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Self-publish with CreateSpace

my books

A Child from the Wishing Well

Raymond Nickford

Gerard's wish is to break out of paranoia, discover daughter Rosie's love.
Is music tutor Ruth's foul-smelling well a place wishes happen?
Psychological suspense thriller


Ashamed he cannot relate to his daughter, Rosie, Gerard accompanies and stays with her for violin lessons at the home of tutor, Ruth Stein.

Ruth, fascinating him for her musical sensitivity, becomes a confidante. Sometimes against his better judgement and his wife's reservations - the paranoid, Gerard, can only cling to believing the tutor can bring him closer to Rosie. Soon, he must wrestle with his suspicions again, for Ruth mothers Rosie, almost smothers...

Reaching out to a broken doll, propped in the darkness at the bottom of Ruth's garden well, Gerard wants to believe what he touches and smells is just the decay of sacks enfolding a doll; the closest to a child that the lonely old spinster could cling. Investigating, Gerard's fears for Rosie’s safety begin to mount.

Rosie draws closer to her father, notices his new concern but, if she is in real danger, can he save her?

If he needs to save her, can Gerard triumph over the emotional void of paranoia; feel, accept, he and Rosie could share the love of which others speak?

( Set in contemporary Malvern, its wells, Winter Gardens and hills. Also, German occupied Prague.)

MY OTHER BOOKS: www.hauntedbooks.com

 

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latest

bonalibro wrote 1 day ago

Have you had your review yet? They are showing up for the later books....

Benjamin Dancer wrote 4 days ago

You’re probably aware that I read and backed your book in July. I’d ....

carlashmore wrote 32 days ago

Thank you so much, Ray. Very kind. And cheers to you.xxx

snave wrote 63 days ago

Hi Raymond - we hope you do not mind us featuring your book on our si....

Richard Allen wrote 93 days ago

Congrats Ray! You represent a new standard for the idea hard work....

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my comments

latest

I wrote 25 days ago

My Friends and Me... Sammy and the Wise Willow Dear Dawn, Your brief opening chapter has a friendly and conversational ring to it which is disarming - I should say charming - for the wide-eyed children who will surely enjoy what follows as much as they did in your first book on authonomy. Thr... view book

I wrote 25 days ago

Dear Ron, Thank you for your kind comment. The inclusion of "Not Miss" in double inverted commas is correct and deliberate, as Ruth is, within her own speech, directly quoting what Rosie has just said; so that we have quotes within quotes... but thankyou for your observation. Best wishes R... view book

I wrote 90 days ago

Jann, I'm so grateful that you have taken the time to read 10 chapters and thrilled that you have understood, in depth, my intentions for character development, suspense and plot. Ray The meticulous, obsessive nature of paranoia is beautifully depicted here, Ray. Gerard's frantic inner ... view book

I wrote 93 days ago

The world you create and the strange, exotic creatures which populate it is vividly captured in the descriptive writing throughout Chapter 1. The creatures' guide of scent is itself a world which we nasally inferior humans would otherwise find it hard to contemplate but it is quite fascinating to se... view book

I wrote 93 days ago

As a former teacher of English and maths, Roosevelt struck a chord with me and I admired his honest passion for right and wrong answers when extended from maths to man. He is gradually built - both in the narrative observation of him and in the dialogue which mirrors his personality - as a likeable ... view book

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