Press reviews of STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES, as well as details of his other writing and publications such as DESTINATION TIME TRAVEL, THE SWIDGERS, and his contributions to CLASSIC MONSTERTS OF THE MOVIES.

STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES is a darkly humorous collection of twelve ghost stories offering modern takes on the classic British supernatural tradition. Stories include a Halloween homage to M.R. James, an avenging theatre ghost, a haunted house murder mystery, a ghost-on-the-road tale, a supernatural satire set in Downing Street, a redemptive Christmas story, a 1970s beach party horror, a spooky graveyard startler, an after-dinner armchair chiller, and a laugh-out-loud farce involving the spirit of Hattie Jacques taking up residence in a portrait of herself in the downstairs toilet of two gay bears.

STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES, published in October 2024 by Scratching Shed Publishing, received rave reviews and gained many fans both in the world of supernatural fiction and in horror filmmaking.

"Don't be fooled by the cover of STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES – beneath that surface, as you’ll find out in this collection of tales, is a mind that inhabits the catacombs of hell." Nigel Watson, STARBURST magazine ***** (FIVE Star Review)

"Christmas angels, mysterious shadows and a theatre ghost... what's not to love in this madcap, spooktastic collection of tales." Sally McDonald, THE SUNDAY POST

"Now here’s something no horror fan, lover of ghost stories, film buff, or slasher aficionado, should miss. STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES is a remarkable beast indeed, a collection of chilling, witty tales presented in a breathtaking variety of formats... with a rich vein of dark humour and mischief running throughout." Nige Burton, editor of CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES magazine

"Nallon is a multifaceted writer with great powers of invention and almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of his favourite genre. I loved reading this book. If you enjoy curling up in front of the fire in the evening with a book of ghostly tales, I’d strongly encourage you to track this collection down." Patrick Mahon, SF-CROWSNEST

PRESS REVIEWS OF 'STEVE NALLON'S GHOST STORIES' IN FULL

THE SUNDAY POST

Christmas angels, mysterious shadows and a theatre ghost... what’s not to love in this madcap, spooktastic collection of tales from the founding member of TV’s SPITTING IMAGE, the iconoclastic satire of 1980s political and popular culture. Nallon, an actor, comedy writer and playwright for more than a decade hilariously voiced some of the programme’s most memorable characters including Margaret Thatcher (former UK Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990). In this offering he joins forces with the programme’s artist and puppet maker, Scott Brooker, who after “growing up in a haunted house” has come up with lavish, full colour digital paintings for all 12 stories. They include Lady Thatcher haunting Downing Street and freaking out recent prime ministers, including the incumbent, Sir Keir Starmer, and in good old ‘Carry On’ film fashion, a tale about Hattie Jacques haunting the loo of two gay bears, narrated by the spirit of Kenneth Williams. Carry On Screaming folks.

Sally McDonald, book reviewer for THE SUNDAY POST

CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES magazine

Now here’s something no horror fan, lover of ghost stories, film buff, or slasher aficionado, should miss. STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES is a remarkable beast indeed, a collection of chilling, witty tales presented in a breathtaking variety of formats. From conventional narrative through to a screenplay and a diary of a decidedly concerned mother, the range of styles and characters here is just what you’d hope for from one of the UK’s most acclaimed voice artists, with a rich vein of dark humour and mischief running throughout. TV viewers will remember Steve as the voice of Margaret Thatcher among other politicians on satirical show SPITTING IMAGE, as well as for his in-person portrayals of the Iron Lady, and she’s in here too, haunting Downing Street. With gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Scott Brooker, it’s not to be missed.

Nige Burton, editor of THE CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES magazine

SFCROWSNEST

I have been a fan of ghost stories for many years. Something else that I was a fan of in my youth was the satirical UK TV puppet show SPITTING IMAGE which, between 1984 and 1996, took the mickey out of the rich and famous and, most importantly, politicians. The author of this collection, Steve Nallon, was a founding member of the SPITTING IMAGE cast, so when I heard that he had published a book of ghost stories, I jumped at the chance to review it.

Before talking about the stories, I should first mention that the book itself is a work of art. It has a wonderfully effective painting on the front cover, while inside it includes sixteen full-colour illustrations by Scott Brooker, another SPITTING IMAGE luminary. There is a digital painting to illustrate each of the twelve stories, plus a few extra on top. Each picture is beautifully rendered, and they provide a wonderful counterpoint to the text of each story.

I’ve not got room to talk about every piece in the collection below, so instead, I’ve highlighted a cross-section of them.

The collection starts with ‘The Oath Of Aesculapius.’ This is a morality tale, told as a story within a story. The story introduces us to a group of middle-aged men who met each other at Oxford University. Since graduating, they have held three reunions a year, at which they eat expensive food, drink fine wines, congratulate themselves on their worldly success, and then share a ghost story. On this occasion, the narrator’s ghostly tale turns out to be a fitting precursor to the dramatic events that bring their evening to an abrupt close. I thought this was an excellent start to the collection and particularly enjoyed the several ways in which the ghost story at its heart was tied into a satisfying conclusion to the main narrative.

‘The Portrait Of A Looking-Glass’ pays homage to Montague Rhodes (M.R.) James, a master of the British ghost story genre. With elements that reference several of James’ own stories, the narrator of this story tells us about an academic called Rhodes, who visits the Suffolk coast in late October 1894 to do some research into local Anglo-Saxon history. He stays at a slightly dilapidated inn, where his room features a striking mirror, whose frame displays the phases of the Moon, and an equally striking oil painting of a local dandy, who appears to be standing next to the self-same mirror! He is told that these items, along with a mezzotint engraving hung in the corridor outside his bedroom, are the only items to have survived a fire that destroyed the Great House nearby some 19 years earlier, on All Hallows Eve. When Rhodes decides to walk to the ruins of this building later that evening, his troubles are only just beginning. This is a wonderful homage to the works of MR James. If you’ve read his ghost stories, you can have fun finding all the Jamesian references here. If you haven’t, I hope this story will encourage you to seek out the tales that inspired this excellent piece. ‘Visiting Hattie’ is a loving tribute to that staple of British seaside postcard humour, the ‘Carry On’ film franchise. Narrated by the ghost of Kenneth Williams, the story tells what happens when newlyweds Adam and Calvin, both superfans of the aforementioned films, are given a spookily lifelike pastel drawing of the ‘Carry On’ stalwart Hattie Jacques as a wedding present. Readers under thirty might question the significance of this story, but for me, it evoked nostalgic memories of spending Saturday afternoons in front of the TV during the 1970s and 1980s.

‘The Strange Case Of The Unaccountable Shadow’ is a short but highly effective psychological horror piece told through a series of diary entries. Thirteen-year-old Nathan is studying Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novella, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, at school. Not liking books herself but wanting her son to do well, Nathan’s mother decides to employ a private tutor to help him understand the book. While the tutoring goes well, Nathan’s mother becomes increasingly fixated on knowing exactly what Mrs. Higgins, the tutor, is teaching her son, with ultimately tragic results. The epistolary nature of this story works very well, ramping the tension up continuously from the first page to the last.

‘Who Fed The Cat?’, the penultimate story in the collection, is also the shortest. It’s a noir story set in Los Angeles in 1946 at the funeral of a beautiful young woman. Despite being shot dead, she refuses to pass away without revealing her killer to everyone. Nallon has chosen to write this piece from the second person (‘you’) point of view, which I often find challenging to read. That’s the case here. I very much enjoyed the scene setting and the reveal of the murderer but must admit that I found the chosen point of view a little distracting.

While most of the pieces in this collection are short stories, the longest item in the book is a screenplay. The screenplay is also a successful one, having garnered several awards from various film festivals. ‘For The Hell Of It’ opens on a beach somewhere in the UK, at dawn on the Summer Solstice. A party of four men and three women, all in their early thirties, wakes up from what looks like a boozy all-night beach party. They are clearly old friends who know each other well. Almost immediately, tensions arise, but they quickly diffuse when they discover a severed head washed up by the tide! Their grisly find doesn’t bother them, so they wrap the head in a blanket and take it to the local police station. However, as soon as they leave the beach, odd things start to happen to them one by one. This is a surreal but fascinating story. I must admit that I found the pace of the first half pretty slow. However, the second half amply compensates for this, culminating in a deeply satisfying, albeit somewhat tragic, conclusion. Nallon uses the screenplay format to excellent effect here, and it would be wonderful to see this piece turned into a film or, failing that, a graphic novel. The other six stories are just as varied and enjoyable as the ones I’ve highlighted above. In addition to the twelve pieces of fiction, the book also includes three appendices. While two of these are short, expanding on specific issues raised in a couple of the stories, the first appendix is both long and extremely interesting. It contains a substantial essay outlining Nallon’s thoughts on ghost stories as a genre of fiction. I found this a fascinating and insightful read and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the genre.

STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES is a highly enjoyable collection of tales, spanning many different approaches to the concept of the ghost story. Some are horrific, others humorous, while pathos can often be found just below the surface. Nallon is a multifaceted writer with great powers of invention and almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of his favourite genre. I loved reading this book. If you enjoy curling up in front of the fire in the evening with a book of ghostly tales, I’d strongly encourage you to track this collection down.

Patrick Mahon for SFCROWSNEST, the oldest online magazine dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, horror, and futurism

STARBURST Magazine

Don’t be fooled by the cover of STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES, which illustrates the actor, impressionist and now author sitting in front of a roaring fire, with a cat on his lap and a big smile on his face. Beneath that surface, as you’ll find out in this collection of tales, is a mind that inhabits the catacombs of hell.

The stories in this book vary from the traditional to the outright weird. We get the ghost of Kenneth Williams talking about Hattie Jacques, and along the way, we learn much more about such ‘Carry On’ films. In The Return of the Handbag, we get Margaret Thatcher telling us about her life as a ghost inside No. 10.

More disturbing is the revenge story ‘It’s What She Would Have Wanted’; through a series of emails, this shows how the interfering mother-in-law is finally bested. Other stories feature haunted objects like a theatre’s ghost light, where ghostly powers are observed to serve up poetic justice.

‘For the Hell of It’ is a gorier story that starts with a group of young people waking up on a beach. Everything seems normal until they find a human head and hand it over to a couple of police officers. Nothing is what it seems, and slowly it is revealed that this is a form of living hell. Nallon uses a variety of different styles to narrate his stories, and for the Visiting Hattie story in the appendix, he provides a glossary of Polari words and expressions. In another appendix, he provides a guide to ghost tales in literature and a long list of films and television shows mentioned in the main text.

At the end of the book is a ghostly gallery of full-colour illustrations by Scott Brooker, one for each of the twelve stories. Our favourite is the illustration of the laughing policeman; it’s no laughing matter. As you open these pages, enjoy Nallon’s talent for mixing humour and horror to titillate your senses.

Nigel Watson for STARBURST magazine

DESTINATION TIME TRAVEL

DESTINATION TIME TRAVEL, co-written by Dick Fiddy, archivist at the British Film Institute, is a non-fiction exploration of the time travel genre across film, television, and literature. The book serves as a guide to the mechanics, tropes, and enduring appeal of time-based stories. In the book you’ll find chapters on Time Portals, Time Vortexes, Time Windows, Time Beings, Time Villains, Time Guardians, Time Loops, Causal Loops, Time Paradoxes, Time Sleep Tales, Time Stopped Tales, Counterfactuals, and Genre Crossovers, plus Dreams, Foretellings, Memory, Premonitions, and Immortals. “A joyful and knowledgeable dive into the world of time travel with two storytellers who know how to weave a great yarn.” – Samira Ahmed, presenter of BBC Radio Four’s FRONT ROW.

THE SWIDGERS

THE SWIDGERS is a Young Adult fantasy and time-travel adventure book series that follows the story of William Arthur, an orphan who discovers he is a ‘Swidger’, a cosmic being who lives in the real world, but has the unique instinct and power to save lives by making tiny, seemingly insignificant decisions that alter timelines. William is mentored by Granny, an eccentric and indomitable figure who serves as his funny yet wise companion as they navigate the mysteries of time and space. “Grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. Steve is a master mimic and uses all his skills to create a powerful and dramatic tale of mystery!” – Rory Bremner, BAFTA winning-writer and performer. “A rambunctious riot of a book with a totally unpredictable plot – I never knew where I was going to be taken next! Granny is a joy of a character; delightfully irreverent with wicked one-liners.” – Joseph Elliott, YA author of THE GOOD HAWK, THE BROKEN RAVEN and THE BURNING SWIFT.

"I loved it. As a former teacher, the parent teacher meetings struck a particular chord." Geoff Northcott, radio presenter, comedian and author of WHERE DID I GO RIGHT?

More reviews of THE SWIDGERS book series:

“Grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. Steve is a master mimic and uses all his skills to create a powerful and dramatic tale of mystery.” – Rory Bremner, BAFTA winning writer and performer.

“A rambunctious riot of a book with a totally unpredictable plot – I never knew where I was going to be taken next! Granny is a joy of a character; delightfully irreverent with wicked one-liners.” Joseph Elliott, author of THE GOOD HAWK, THE BROKEN RAVEN and THE BURNING SWIFT

“Exciting, often very funny and always gripping, this is a book about adventures in time – Past, Present and Future. And in the future? Well, the good news is that there is already a sequel on the way.” William Palmer, author of THE INDIA HOUSE and THE GOOD REPUBLIC

“Steve Nallon is an experienced and formidable talent and this departure into YA fantasy may win him a whole new generation of fans.” Jenny Lecoat, screenwriter, novelist and author of HEDY’S GIRL and the movie ANOTHER MOTHER’S SON

“Granny is a great creation and a magnificent character in every sense: engaging, shocking, loveable, embarrassing, bright and very, very funny! It’s all very impressive!” Alistair McGowan, BAFTA winning writer and performer

CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES magazine

Since its launch in 2015, CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES magazine has built up a highly passionate, global following among ‘monster kids’ and cinema historians. The magazine is known for its high-end production values, its elegant layout, its rare publicity stills painstakingly cleaned up and digitally restored, and its exceptional cover art. In fact, each edition is produced as a luxury collectors’ item. Steve Nallon joined the team of regular contributors to CLASSIC MONSTERS in 2025. Editor Nige Burton said of Steve’s series of four articles on The Haunted House Movie, “As absorbing as it is authoritative ... trust me, you’ve never seen this particular subgenre explored to this level.”

PLAYWRIGHT, PERIODICALS AND OTHER WRITING

Steve Nallon is an established author with a wide range of credits, including plays and comedy series, as well as articles for magazines and periodicals. As a playwright, Steve has created four one-man theatre shows: THE BIG ODYSSEY (Edinurgh Fringe Festival and national tour), A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Birmingham Repertbory Theatre), ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (Winner Best Comedy at the Buxton Fringe Festival), and I’M NO ANGEL (The Jermyn Street Theatre). With Turan Ali, he co-wrote THE GHOST OF NUMBER TEN and THE NALLON TAPES, two comedy series for BBC radio. He also penned, with Mark Eden, the highly acclaimed BBC Saturday Playhouse PROPS. In non-fiction, Steve has written articles for THE NEW STATESMAN, MUSICAL STAGES, and Julian Friedmann’s SCRIPTWRITER.