Subscribe to Charlotte to support her work and read subscriber-only content.
Based in the (very) far north of Scotland I write horror and speculative fiction at the top of the map. I enjoy reading a wide variety of work with a particular soft spot for William Gibson, Neil Gaiman and Pablo Neruda. I plan to be posting speculative or horror stories every fortnight, with occasional literary stories sprinkled in. My interests outside of writing are music, walking by the sea and river, dark comedy and pugs.
Free
Fiction
Published Oct 9, 2019 · 2,020 words (8 minutes) · 85 views
Fantasy Love Strange supernatural spooky soft
Lenny Graham has come back to Heartbreak Hotel (now The Deluxe) for his last intended trip. A chance conversation over tea and grief brings him new friends and surprising revelations.
Free
Fiction
Published Oct 2, 2019 · 1,323 words (5 minutes) · 87 views
Fantasy Historical Strange folklore spooky stranger danger be polite
A companion piece to some of my other Scottish folklore tales, A Braiding Friendship is a story of one unlucky Viking traveler and his unusual evening. This story is based off a mix of Orcadian folklore and locations with as much history as I could reasonably bring in a short word count.
Free
Fiction
Published Sep 25, 2019 · 4,081 words (15 minutes) · 1 like · 116 views
Fantasy Horror Humor bittersweet revenge cats djinn violence
A familiar mourns his witch and seeks out revenge on the people responsible for her death.
Free
Fiction
Published Sep 18, 2019 · 2,940 words (11 minutes) · 89 views
Fantasy Humor Historical fae animals fantasy-light happy
A young woman meets some very nice people on her way home through the woods. Will she be able to leave the woods after?
Free
Fiction
Published Sep 11, 2019 · 1,817 words (7 minutes) · 1 like · 116 views
Fantasy Strange folklore Forests weird not quite a happy ending but almost
What do you do when the wheels of power ignore your plight? Find a way around the wheels, or break them. This story takes inspiration from a few different folklore areas and was originally written as an experiment in side kick stories, which I am not too well versed in.
Free
Fiction
Published Sep 4, 2019 · 3,099 words (12 minutes) · 115 views
Horror Literary Fiction Strange crime spooky sort of drugs
Originally featured in the marvelous Darkhouse Books "Sanctuary" anthology, this is the tale of some cathedral based breaking and entering and strange friends. Based in Orkney's beautiful St Magnus Cathedral, an earlier version of this short story placed second in the Marjory Linklater Award 2006.
Free
Fiction
Published Aug 28, 2019 · 3,996 words (15 minutes) · 1 like · 114 views
Fantasy Humor fae Magical Realism historical fiction witch
A new witch registers her complaints with her village, and gets a surprise visit in the night. This story is part of a larger collection based in the fictional Scottish village of Inverover, which has all sorts of things going on in it.
Free
Fiction
Published Aug 21, 2019 · 4,346 words (16 minutes) · 1 like · 129 views
Fantasy Humor folklore Scottish writing LBGTQ horses lakes
A volunteer at an animal shelter gets more than she bargained for when she's called to collect a horse abandoned at the side of a lake. Who is the mysterious woman who comes to collect him? And why is the horse adorned in silver jewellery? Originally published in Trouble Among the Stars #3, link https://troubleamongthestars.com/2019/08/02/issue-3-is-here/
Free
Fiction
Published Aug 14, 2019 · 1,000 words (4 minutes) · 129 views
Humor Literary Fiction crime lgbtq sort of peaceful crime
Shortlisted for the WRITE festival's short story competition (https://theworduk.org/write-festival/) and included in this year's anthology, Grandma Jam is a story about a young man working night shift and making a new friend, of sorts.
Free
Fiction
Published Aug 7, 2019 · 2,089 words (8 minutes) · 153 views
Fantasy Humor Strange magic islands Orkney WW2
In this slightly 'punk, slightly magical tale, a squadron of WW2 female pilots are on a mission to cause nuisance. Inspired by an open call by the wonderful Gallery of Curiosities, this story is a mixture of real WW2 information and magical re-imagination. Extra points for those who can spot the real life parts.