Where to find it: Available as part of Burrage story collections and on its own in Kindle format. (Contact me or check out my pinned 'Dear Writer' Letter for availability in audio format.)
What is it, in summary?: A 1924 ghost story. Burrage wrote ghost stories and boys' adventure stories; this is a classic mix of both. The Attic starts out with a portrait of two apparently similar, somewhat superficial acquaintances with a shared past. Then we join one of them, Stanley Forbes, as he visits the other, Raymond Telford, for a holiday in the country at the latter's newly acquired creepy "mansion" (a former school). There, we soon learn that Stanley thinks about things rather more deeply, and is a great deal more sensitive to people's needs and the house's decidedly bad vibes, than Telford and his wife Gladys. Soon after, Gladys' teenage brother arrives. Derek, despite being recently orphaned, is cheerful, well adjusted, intelligent and charming, and he and Stanley get along wonderfully. But, like Stanley, Derek is sensitive and soon feels that there's something very much amiss in the house and, after a frightening night time encounter, is driven to make his escape. He's made to return and, with emotional support from Stanley (who's meanwhile had a very similar encounter), manages to tell his tale and bring about a resolution to a crime in the house's past, but he's left shaken and, quite literally, haunted.
What do you love about it?: Many things, but most of all the bond formed between Stanley and Derek! Derek is made so vulnerable by his traumatic encounter, and no one but Stanley has the least idea how he feels or what he saw. Stanley is very protective of him. He gives him courage and takes him seriously, and Derek is so obviously strengthened by that loyalty. I'm just smitten with the idea of where they might go from there in future.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Stanley Forbes/Derek Wilson as a romantic pairing, ideally, or friendship fic at least
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, it's a self-contained short piece. In audio format, for example, it's less than 45 minutes long.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The 'haunting' part of the story involves the mistreatment and murder of a young boy but, as is usual for stories from this era, there are no gory details. Derek is 15 in the canon, but any request I'll make for a romantic pairing will ask for a post-canon setting if there's sexual content.
The Attic - A. M. Burrage
Media: Novella
Approx length: 38 print pages
Where to find it: Available as part of Burrage story collections and on its own in Kindle format.
(Contact me or check out my pinned 'Dear Writer' Letter for availability in audio format.)
What is it, in summary?: A 1924 ghost story. Burrage wrote ghost stories and boys' adventure stories; this is a classic mix of both.
The Attic starts out with a portrait of two apparently similar, somewhat superficial acquaintances with a shared past. Then we join one of them, Stanley Forbes, as he visits the other, Raymond Telford, for a holiday in the country at the latter's newly acquired creepy "mansion" (a former school). There, we soon learn that Stanley thinks about things rather more deeply, and is a great deal more sensitive to people's needs and the house's decidedly bad vibes, than Telford and his wife Gladys.
Soon after, Gladys' teenage brother arrives. Derek, despite being recently orphaned, is cheerful, well adjusted, intelligent and charming, and he and Stanley get along wonderfully. But, like Stanley, Derek is sensitive and soon feels that there's something very much amiss in the house and, after a frightening night time encounter, is driven to make his escape. He's made to return and, with emotional support from Stanley (who's meanwhile had a very similar encounter), manages to tell his tale and bring about a resolution to a crime in the house's past, but he's left shaken and, quite literally, haunted.
What do you love about it?: Many things, but most of all the bond formed between Stanley and Derek! Derek is made so vulnerable by his traumatic encounter, and no one but Stanley has the least idea how he feels or what he saw. Stanley is very protective of him. He gives him courage and takes him seriously, and Derek is so obviously strengthened by that loyalty. I'm just smitten with the idea of where they might go from there in future.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Stanley Forbes/Derek Wilson as a romantic pairing, ideally, or friendship fic at least
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, it's a self-contained short piece. In audio format, for example, it's less than 45 minutes long.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The 'haunting' part of the story involves the mistreatment and murder of a young boy but, as is usual for stories from this era, there are no gory details.
Derek is 15 in the canon, but any request I'll make for a romantic pairing will ask for a post-canon setting if there's sexual content.