'The first time you are scared - truly terrified – it leaves a mark on you. It haunts you. It is the foundation for the many blocks for the terror to come.  From our childhoods, we can all recall hearing tales of witches, goblins, ghosts, devils and monsters. From the predatorily Little Red Riding Hood, the darkly menacing and tempting Hansel and Gretel, to the fateful Three Billy Goats Gruff – these are but a few of my early favorite fairytales that conjured a world of terror and menace. As with these three mentioned stories, the near majority of fairytales have the same warning to children: ‘beware the stranger and the unknown’ – a trait that is carried on and can be seen in many a modern day tales of horror, for both the teenager and adult generation. The stranger is often the enemy…and to be feared...'

 

Paul Alabaster is a new British Horror writer - originally born in Ammanford, South Wales. Paul now lives in Berkshire with his partner and faithful Chocolate Lab, Hudson. To date, his debut short story 'Acid Test' has received rave critical reviews.