By the winner of the 2019 Go Gothic Short Fiction Prize …
“Utterly intriguing … it sucks you into a dark world … quality fiction with a gothic edge.”
Newcastle Magazine ★★★★★
“The literary quality is very high and the writing is sometimes so good it is jaw-dropping.”
Samantha Anne, amazon.co.uk ★★★★★
“Magical realism with a touch of Edgar Allan Poe.”
Tina, amazon.de ★★★★★
Seen through the dreamlike, surreal vision of a seven-year-old boy, here’s a tale filled with gritty struggle, haunted imaginations, looming violence, dark psychological complexity and the brooding presence of myth and folklore.
Growing up in remote Emberfield, Ryan suspects his headmaster may be responsible for the deaths of two pupils. Could he be? In Emberfield – a place where dead boys might haunt ponds, where eerie churches apparently house cursed artefacts, where the fog-shrouded landscape is rumoured to be littered with ghosts and curses – the borders between the imaginary and real, light and darkness, life and death can seem blurred.
Ryan struggles to cope with the volatile and inwardly tortured Mr Weirton and the sadistic punishments he hands out. He fears more pupils may soon fall victim to the headmaster. At first, Ryan retreats into his rich inner life, animating the rain-sodden flatlands around his 1980s northern English town with even more witches, ghosts and macabre legends.
But as Weirton becomes ever more erratic and his sanity seems to slip, as the violence around the teacher intensifies, as sinister secrets are unearthed, Ryan wonders whether only the most drastic action can stop further tragedies and ensure his own survival.
A gripping tale that unwinds in darkly poetic prose, The Standing Water invites you to enter a world in which TV sets, cartoons and cars exist alongside skeletons, knightly tombs, glimpses of angels and tales of ghostly drummer boys. Discover a world in which little is as it appears, where Old Testament myths have a habit of playing themselves out under heavy English skies and where death stalks even the young and innocent.
Though mainly narrated from a child’s point of view, The Standing Water (Steel String Books) is a work of quality literary fiction, which also borrows from the genres of gothic literature, magical realism and suspense. If you can picture Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Edgar Allan Poe shaking hands beneath dark northern clouds then perhaps you could imagine the style of The Standing Water.
If you’re fond of well-written, tension-filled gothic literature, immerse yourself in The Standing Water now.
Praise for The Standing Water
‘I found The Standing Water utterly intriguing … it sucks you into a dark world in which the boundaries between imagination and reality flicker and blur. The sense of place Castleton conjures up is eerie and all-enveloping. His use of language is superb and I occasionally felt I was reading poetry rather than prose. Despite its high literary standards, however, I found The Standing Water easy to read and – if it’s not too much of a cliché – quite a page-flipper.’ (Read the full review here.)
Newcastle Magazine ★★★★★
‘The Standing Water is a meaty, enthralling novel. Written in beautiful poetic language, it’s unashamedly literary, but I didn’t find it difficult to read. It certainly kept me turning the pages.
While the novel has a serious message, the book’s filled with a sly, lively humour that had me chuckling out loud a few times.
Imagine a strange post-modern love child of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, sprinkle that baby with the magical realism of a writer like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and you’re maybe getting close to describing The Standing Water.’ (Read the full review here.)
Sunderland Magazine ★★★★★
‘The descriptive writing, as other reviewers have noted, is brilliant and the author’s device of interspersing long, dreamlike passages with short, breathless episodes of unbearable tension kept me glued right to the end.’
Liz, amazon.com ★★★★★
‘Castleton skilfully weaves a complex, dreamlike world full of the strangest events, but it’s all somehow believable as taking place in the novel’s setting of 1980s northern England. This book takes you on a journey which is – by turns – scary, beautiful, brutal and comic.’
Samantha Anne, amazon.co.uk ★★★★★
‘I immensely enjoyed this gothic tale, which transported me to a dark mythical world and haunted me for several days while and after reading it. David Castleton is a masterful narrator who can blend myth, poetry, violence, suspense in a way that will make it hard for you to put the book down. I thoroughly recommend it to all lovers of magical realism with a touch of Edgar Allen Poe.’
Tina, amazon.de ★★★★★
‘A great piece of gothic-tinged literary fiction that envelopes your imagination. It’s a ‘can’t put down’ novel that leads the reader on a mysterious path, leading to many surprises and unexpected events.’
Janet, Goodreads ★★★★★
‘David Castleton manages to entwine all his rich knowledge of local and not-so-local folklore, which provides his reader with a varied source of legends and dark village beliefs.
The Standing Water keeps you on edge … the magic happens every time you think you are close to finding out the story’s dark secrets … The effects of The Standing Water will remain with you days and weeks after you have read the book.’
Alicia, Goodreads ★★★★★
‘I enjoyed this novel. The characters are deftly developed. The narrative is well-written. The storyline is creative and unique.’
Florence, amazon.com ★★★★
‘This book was great! Dark and mysterious … I just couldn’t stop reading till I’d got to the end.’
Nick, amazon.co.uk ★★★★★
‘What a book this is – engaging, poetic, otherworldly, deeply shocking at times, and very difficult to put down. For someone like me who loves language, it was a real treat, and Castleton’s mastery of English is often nothing short of stunning.’