On The Banks Of the River Jordan by John Reppion

On The Banks Of The River Jordan

by John Reppion

Published by The Swan River Press, 2010.

I recently reviewed Ramsey Campbell’s Creatures of The Pool, a celebration of all things creepy about the city of Liverpool. It really brought home some of the strange history of that city. It’s a history that has also been researched by author John Reppion who’s recent 800 Years Of Haunted Liverpool (available here) explored all the dark corners of the city in detail, unearthing more than a few skeletons along the way.

Inspired by the tales he encountered but frustrated by the need for factual accuracy in that book, John has now published a short work of fiction that succesfully merges fact, myth and imagination to bring the history alive. Written in the form of email correspondence between the author and (real life publisher) Brian Showers the story develops from interesting fact to increasingly scary revelations. Its an excellent little tale made more powerful thanks to its foundations in fact. I’m a sucker for horror that blends the real and unreal, blurring the boundaries along the way and this story does it very well indeed.

Published by The Swan River Press as part of their Haunted History series, which includes other tales from the likes of Gary McMahon, Mark Valentine and Reggie Oliver, this is a fairly thin booklet which manages to cram a lot into its  20 pages. Anyone with an interest in the ghostly goings on in Liverpool or just an appreciation of a well written ghost story will enjoy this tale. I look forward to more fiction from John Reppion (website here), assuming the spooks didn’t get to him first.

Rating 4 out of 5