As autumn colours glowed in the countryside of September, 2015, astronomers awaited a rare ‘blood moon’.
Its appearance was caused by a total lunar eclipse. Such phenomena have been regarded as ill-omens by the superstitious. At the time, the public was be bombarded with Gothic images all over the press, ingenuously hinting at all manner of sensationalist forebodings of doom, while pooh-poohing them at the same time.
Religious groups recall a sentence in Book of Joel, which is claimed to be portentous in a year when there has already been a total solar eclipse. ‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes.’ Ooh.
Actually, I thought the March eclipse of 2015 was even creepier as the sunlight dimmed on a bright spring morning. Anyway, that autumn astronomical event inspired a longish short supernatural thriller, Equinox, set in the Cold War, when weird things start happening in a secret Soviet lab one dark September night in 1951.
I had rather too much fun researching uranium mines, Enigma machines, the average temperatures in Omsk and how to create a makeshift explosion. I’m surprised security services haven’t been knocking on my door under cover of darkness.
This year, we are expecting the traditional ‘harvest moon’, the full moon that occurs nearest to the autumnal equinox. It is said that the light of a Harvest Moon helped farmers to work late, bringing in the crops. Or perhaps it’s just the colour of corn …
To mark the occasion, I’m re-releasing the title as the conclusion of a four-part series of paranormal tales set in different eras, all linked by the four seasons. The first three are all serialised and available free on my blog – A Walk in the Park, Last Spring and Midsummer Glen. The first chapter of Equinox will appear here on September 23, with the remaining two chapters over the next two days.
As with the others, I’ve redesigned the original cover, using a cyanotype print as inspiration. The Equinox cover features a full moon, created by using diluted vinegar and magnesium flakes on the treated paper, a modernised style of the Victorian cyanotype process.
Make a note – 23 September. 2:04am. And if there’s a light on in your basement, leave it well alone.
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