Tell us a bit more about you and where you’re from.
Chris: Born in Bristol in the UK, I’ve lived in Brighton for the best part of thirty years. It’s a wonderful, rain-battered, coffee shop strewn seaside city steeped in culture and full of inspiring, friendly eccentrics. When I’m not writing, I do IT for the University, walk my dog and consume endless amounts of films, TV, books, podcasts and chocolate.
What inspired your winning story? Why did that particular theme resonate with you?
Chris: We have a great television tradition in the UK of the Christmas Ghost Story that started in the 1970s and was recently revived by Mark Gatiss. Many of these are adaptations of M.R James’ short stories, which I love. They usually involve well-to-do English gentlemen, clergymen or antiquarians who, through curiosity, greed or anger, end up profoundly regretting their unwise choices via an encounter with something supernaturally grisly. I wanted to write about how such decisions, made in haste, rage or arrogance, can end up haunting a person as effectively as any otherworldly spectre or ghoul might.
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