A.M.Heath is proud to be a member of the Association of Authors’ Agents and endorses the principles of best practice in the Association’s Code of Practice A story not just of the supernatural, but of raw human emotions as ordinary people struggled to cope in the face of madness. Of how lives can be unbalanced by the real world and those who claim to be spiritual saviours. And I was angered by how these two people could be treated by the arrogance of those who refused to believe – called liars or fools because they dared to talk about an experience at odds with the scientific rationale. Yet if only we could be sure it wasn’t our extremely powerful imagination playing with us. If only those scientists would tell us we were right all along and then we could stop doubting and questioning and feeling uncomfortable. If only we could be sure…

In these kinds of accounts, it’s easy to dismiss them if you’re of a sceptical nature and it’s just a couple talking about what they went through. They’re mistaken, deluded, deranged, lying. When you have so many who haven’t had the chance to talk to each other or who thought they were isolated victims, that becomes so much harder. With those kinds of numbers, rationally you have to accept that something out of the ordinary was taking place there… a b Roberts, Paul Dale (3 July 2006). "MARK CHADBOURN Writer of Book of Shadows & The Age of Misrule". www.jazmaonline.com . Retrieved 10 December 2007. As Bill Rich and I talked, I realised The Independent had only scratched the surface of what had happened in that house. There was an interesting story to tell on many levels, if I could cope with the chills that were crawling all over my skin.

Mark Chadbourn is an English fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and horror author with more than a dozen novels (and one non-fiction book) published around the world. I’ll be popping up on Channel 4 next week in the drama-documentary series True Horror. The first episode on April 19, 10 pm, is a chilling account of the Rich family’s terrifying experiences in an isolated farmhouse, which I wrote about in my non-fiction book Testimony. ( You can read about it here.)

All of it contributed to the art that he laboured over all his life, all of it, in some way, haunted. In the book I wrote about the works he completed during the frightening events that swirled around him in his home, Heol Fanog, and which were influenced by the horrors there. But Bill, who died two years ago, also left a body of work from the years before and after that troubled time. One of his surreal paintings heads this piece. An immense work of scope and majesty. What appeals about the book is the author’s ability to deal in myth and to apply it to a modern story. . . . The story is gripping, the characters involving, and the main villain is a nasty piece of work.” – The Specusphere I wrote my only non-fiction book Testimony about the most supernaturally-afflicted house in the UK after coming across a newspaper report where a home was experiencing massive energy bills as if the power was being drained away. The owner mentioned in passing some supernatural element which got me interested. All across the USA, people are showing up dead. The deaths don't appear to be connected in any way until one particular death occurs and gets the Secretary of Defense's attention. He arranges for a task force to investigate.

Occasionally, just to keep things interesting, I like to throw a bit of non-fiction into my reading mix. As far as horror fiction is concerned haunted house stories have always been a bit of a favourite of mine so the thought of reading non-fiction that details a genuine haunting seemed like a good fit. Of course, the church, all churches, has been telling us this for years. Every religion is based on the supernatural, some force inexplicable by science which shapes our lives. But as the philosophers repeatedly tell us, there is no proof of God. You either believe or you don’t. At its core, that is what this book is about: faith. Do you believe? Strange faces appear on the floor of a house in a remote village in southern Spain. A ghost plane rises from the depths of Ladybower Reservoir on the Derbyshire Moors. The mummified hand of an English martyr is used to raise a Benedictine monk from a coma on the edge of death. A film script is a palate-cleanser after a novel, and vice versa. Journalism and comics and TV all have their particular joys, and they all complement each other. In the multi-media, cross-platform, constantly mutating 21st century, why would any writer want to limit their storytelling to only one area?

As a contract writer for the BBC Drama Doctors, he has written over fifty episodes of the popular medical series, and he has also developed original series ideas with BBC Drama Development. What you are about to read is not fiction. It is fact. Then again, we are told there are no facts – just different perspectives of the same view, subjective, coloured by personal beliefs, doubts, fears. Yet when two of those perspectives are aligned, we start to get closer to the heart of the matter. When three, four or five are in tune we can be pretty sure we have got as close as we can to the truth of an event. The Witch Farm, an eight-part series by Danny Robins starring Joseph Fiennes and Alexandra Roach, launches on October 17, but there’s a trailer available now. Give it a listen. I’ve seen some of the art and it definitely deserves a public viewing. I’m sure Liz would be keen to hear from anyone with gallery space or the wherewithal to make it happen.One of the most striking things about reading Testimony is the moment you realise that the Riches are just normal people. They have their share of ups and downs in life, but then doesn’t everybody? They are just trying to live their lives the best way that they can, yet something is causing them constant grief. The effects of the events they experience build into quite a harrowing account. Reading about all the things that happened to them did make me wonder if I would have been able to cope in their place. I suspect the answer would have been a resounding no.