The Secrets of Brimstone Manor (Ravensmere Book 1)

The Ravensmere Trilogy is a Gothic Fantasy full of wonderful humour, yearning romance, spooky manor houses, bikers, secret societies, creepy churches, student high jinks, campervan travels, and ancient lurking evil.Step back in time to the early 1970s, a world very different from our own. There are no mobile phones, laptops, social media, or even a sniff of the internet. But what is there, and in spades, is mystery, magic, secret societies, witches, warlocks and the weirdest thing of all – a creature called Arddhu Og that invades the mind with her own fearful agenda. Ravensmere is a university town that seems like any ordinary place on arrival, but as you get to know it, you soon realise all is not what it seems …REVIEWS“I didn’t expect to laugh this much in a story about witches and electroshock treatments. There’s something really human about how messed up and confused everyone is. The 1970s setting feels authentic, no internet, just raw life and danger. By the time the magic kicks off, I was completely hooked. I’ll be following this trilogy.” Goodreads *****“The author’s descriptions are insane. I could see Brimstone Manor, smell the damp halls, hear the madness in every conversation. There’s a rhythm to the writing that feels almost musical. It’s both unsettling and beautiful. I read it over two nights and couldn’t stop thinking about that final twist.” Goodreads *****“This is exactly what I hoped for: old-school gothic vibes with modern pacing. The dialogue is witty, the mystery is layered, and the supernatural elements are handled so cleverly.” Goodreads *****The Secrets of Brimstone ManorBill Blackthorne is a shy and nerdy young man with some very serious problems. He has no recollection of his past and can see horns and yellow eyes on people who appear perfectly normal to others. Bill’s earliest memory is waking up in gloomily gothic Brimstone Manor, where a strangely deranged middle-aged woman called Beryl tells him she’s his mother. He’s enrolled into a secret society called the Apostles, who tell Bill he is vitally important. He knows a tremendous and profound secret, vital to their cause, which they intend to extract from his clouded memories with potent psychotropic drugs and ‘sixteen-volt electro-convulsive treatments’.Bill doesn’t like the sound of this at all and is desperate to escape the clutches of the smothering and subtly sinister Apostles. When he befriends Arthur Small from the nearby village of Underwood, he knows he has met someone who will help him. Arthur goes off to study at the ancient University of Ravensmere, and Bill is also taken there for his horrible treatments. They bump into each other and sneak off together. They meet two pretty, flirtatious, but disturbingly intense girls, Lilith and Ophelia, who are powerfully attracted to the dark side of life. Bill falls instantly in love with Ophelia, and Arthur thinks Lilith is fun and up for high jinks. When they invite the boys to a highly unusual party, promising a mind-blowing time, they jump at the chance ...But the boys don’t know that the girls are secretly witch-freaks and use the boys in a terrible way to dabble in powerful and ancient magic they couldn’t possibly understand. Their dabbling sets off a catastrophic chain of events that forces Bill to remember his bizarre past and realise his amazing destiny. In a climactic end threatening to destroy everything they hold dear, Bill, Arthur, and the girls are thrown into a desperate race to save those they love.The Ravensmere Trilogy consists of:The Secrets of Brimstone ManorThe Villainy of Victor TainnThe Fortunes of a Frightful DragonThere is also a superb anthology edition with exclusive bonus material: The Ravensmere TrilogyA must-read for all dark and spooky fiction fans who like liberal doses of fun.