A romantic ghost story set in and around Sledmere’s iconic monument has just been published in a new book of short stories.
The Ballerina’s Last Wish features in Mark Stillman’s Wartworld And Other Quirky Short Stories, which has gone on general release this week.
The Sledmere story tells of an ageing, dying Russian ballerina crippled with multiple sclerosis who is granted one final request.
She wants to be young and able to dance once more.
A genie who lives in Sykes Memorial agrees… but on one condition.
Mr Stillman’s magical realism has earned him comparisons with top author Terry Pratchett.
Mr Stillman, who now lives at Paull, said: “The moment I first saw this skyscraper (Sledmere’s Sykes Memorial) in the middle of nowhere, I thought ‘What a wonderful setting for a ghost story’.
“The tale is a metaphor about the benefits of staying in the now.”
He describes Wartworld And Other Quirky Short Stories as a highly original collection of 15 short stories that are deliciously dark and horribly humorous.
Some of the stories are set in the author’s adopted Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, including Paull, Brantingham, Hessle, the Humber Bridge and Sledmere.
Characters include a sham psychic; a half-boy, half-owl; a superhero fighting low self-esteem issues as well as supervillains; a ventriloquist battling to keep a hold on reality; plus a naughty parrot with Tourette’s Syndrome and a runaway tongue.
Other stories include The Ghost of Rumpelstiltskin, Alky Eda And The Man With Two Livers, The Call Of The Spasm – How Panic Attacks Can Ruin Your Life, Bob Bird and Beaver, and Zena: Worrier Princess.
You’ll also find out what saved the life of football legend Graeme Souness.
Stillman said: “These are a mixture of parables and magical realism, adult fairytales and ghost stories with a twist.
“Hopefully, all are fizzing with pzazz and perception, absurdism and boundless imagination. Oh, and after reading this book you’ll never look at a bus journey in the same way again.”
Subject matters include racial prejudice, greed, depression, jealousy, bullying in the workplace, madness, resentment between the sexes, and the causes of alcoholism.
People who read the book will get the chance to vote for their personal favourite on the publishing website’s new interactive feature.
You can get a sneak YouTube preview of a scene from The Ballerina’s Last Wish outside Sledmere’s Sykes Memorial by visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqzzYWHSjjE.
Wartworld And Other Quirky Short Stories is exclusively available through Keep Human Books www.keephumanbooks.co.uk and Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993223419, priced on both sites at £6.50.