‘Is Writing a Spiritual Experience?’

by Harry Riley of Nottingham England.

First of all let me say that I am Church of England and have no great religious leanings or spiritual convictions.

My mother was of Irish Catholic extraction and eloped from a nunnery to marry my father, the son of a Methodist Lay Preacher in a small Derbyshire village.

Apart from the fact that my mother was very superstitious I think I may have had a reasonably normal childhood.

During the summer of 1982 I was recruited as a salesman for a large Engineering Company making Printing Presses. Then supplied with a new company car and a set of maps I was told to go to it and bring in the customers whilst working from home.

One day I was in Stoke on Trent and decided to hunt around for printing works in the backstreets of the town. I had never been to ‘Stoke’ before and had no relatives living there. As I parked up and walked further from the town centre the streets were lined with rows of neat terraced houses. Turning a corner I became rooted to the spot. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt a cold sweat running down my back.

I gazed at a small house and instinctively knew I had been there before. The feeling was so intense. Yet in truth I also knew I had never been to this town before. The house was so familiar that I wanted to open the plain front door and walk right in. I had to literally drag myself away. This false memory, weird experience, hallucination, call it what you will, has lived with me since then, getting stronger as the years have gone by.

We try and find our answers through science but science cannot explain everything. We know that gas and electricity exist but we cannot see them.

I couldn’t bring myself to write this down at the time as non-fiction, as it was a very personal experience so in order to try and exorcise the demon I eventually decided to write a novel called ‘Sins of the Father’ whilst building this experience into the plot.

The main character is James Parker, a young doctor who feels very close and protective towards Rosie, his young crippled sister. When she becomes hooked to a man the doctor believes to be a psychopathic killer he is terrified for her safety and yet nobody else believes him. He is very intense and there are times when he hallucinates; as a doctor he tries to find his answers through science but science cannot tell us everything and so he questions if ghosts exist. Rosie is eventually killed and Brother James takes his own form of retribution that lands him in the death cell awaiting the hangman’s rope. It is then that he seriously considers spiritualism as a Psychic Medium smuggles a note into the prison stating he will not hang. His dead sister is watching over him.

I have just finished an anthology of short mystery and ghost stories, ‘Captain Damnation’ and other strange tales, exploring this theme in many different ways and questioning if ghosts really do exist, if only in our minds. This book will be released on 28^th. May 2010

A reader’s review of Harry Riley’s ‘Sins of the Father’

A brilliantly executed murder mystery novel which is ideally suited to reading whilst either lounging under the hot summer sun or curled up in front of a fire on a dark winters evening. A book that is riveting and kept me engrossed with its sinister plot and many twists and turns. Set in the beautiful countryside of Northumberland, in a typical village close to the River Tweed the story sets a fast pace from the outset. The leading characters are believable and the author manages to draw the reader into the dark depths of the psychotic and terrifying mind of Billy Turpin. A strong and at times, enigmatic character, evoking varied emotions from sympathy to outright disgust. The other main man, Doctor James Parker is a complete opposite and one with which the reader can probably identify and sympathize. To begin with he comes across as an unassuming and timid character but his strength and tenacity shine through as the novel takes the reader first to the Congo and eventually to New York. There are numerous murders some of which are surprising and the plot keeps the reader on tenterhooks right up to the last page. I now await with eager anticipation a sequel featuring some of the other minor characters from the village of Norbridge. Review by Heather l. Webster. Nottingham.