Southwales Stories

There's one thing in Skye Lovelace's life that keeps her going and that's swimming. Skye has been swimming ever since she could remember, she's even managed to make a successful career out of it. When a car comes out of no where and slams into Skye's car, her life changes forever and is forced to put her dreams on hold. With a huge hole in her life, Skye has to find a way to fill it. With a big injury, Skye decides to use her spare time to try and track down the person who ran her off the road. Was it really a stranger or is it somebody closer to home? Meanwhile, navigating tricky friendships and a growing romantic interest in friend, Craig Norton. Follow Skye as she navigates life without her career, following her through messy friendships and relationships. Will she ever be able to get herself back on track? Will she find who put her in this situation? And will she ever get her career back? Cover by @runblindfolded

Little Ralph, was a small boy with a big personality, always in the middle of chaos or causing it. Born healthy 3 years before WW2 started, he picks up several diseases/viruses and becomes a sickly child with a weak body but the spirit of a Lion, a cheeky grin & a devil may care attitude, affectionately known to those close to him as "the boy with nine lives".

Based on a bus company based in Caerphilly (South Wales) at their Mill Road depot

From Cork, Ireland, to the darkest corners of the world, paranormal investigator Benedict Black specializes in cases the police won't touch-places where the veil between the living and the dead grows thin, and ancient evils lurk just below the surface. After facing horrors on the Appalachian Trail and in the abandoned streets of Dudley Town, he thinks he's seen it all. Then he gets an email from a terrified couple in Newport, South Wales. Megan and David Pritchard's children are gone. The police say they ran away, but the parents know better: strange marks cover their kids' skin, taps run with thick black liquid, and a voice in the walls-The Man with the Coal-Dust Eyes-sings in Welsh of "bringing back the ones who belong to the dark." The old stone cottage they bought cheap sits on land tied to the disused Rhymney Deep Colliery, where twelve miners vanished forty-five years ago, never to be found. As Benedict digs into the town's past, he uncovers a web of darkness stretching across South Wales-from abandoned mines to old hospitals, all connected by hidden tunnels and carved spiral symbols. What began as a search for two missing children leads him to face Yr Hen Dŵr-the Old Water-a being that has slept beneath the land for millennia, woken by greed and forgotten bargains. With the help of a local historian and a brave night nurse, Benedict must strike a new deal with the deep before all of South Wales is claimed by the shadows. A chilling tale of ancient magic, industrial horror, and the power of respect for the earth we call home-perfect for fans of Stephen King and atmospheric paranormal thrillers.

[Includes strong language] I've seen many days like this, children running on the hard cobblestone shouting, "I need a doctor! My mother has not but two more days to breathe!" As their hot tears streamed down their porcelein, thin faces. Humanity was dying, the world seemed as if it was reaching the end. My parent yet, had not fallen ill, but they did not have anything to support me. Right as the sun rose from it's hiding, a knock arose, pounding on our oak wood door, "You lads cannot supply this scag of food any longer." The tall, broad, Scottish guard took ahold of my thin arm. A dirk was visually attached to his vest of armor, "But she's too old to be taken to the orphanage, 18 in December she'll be!" My mother tried to reason with him, "We know of her age, lassie. We taken her to the castle that holds Prince Calum, sure she'll find plenty of work there." Before my mother could say another word, I was torn from her touch. The guards held tightly to my forearms, I was too weak to fight. Every breathe of air felt compressed, they weren't wrong in a way, my family had not but scraps to feed me every day. They shut the large iron door, attached to the large crate I was placed in, "I reckon Prince Calum will have fun with her." The same Guard chuckled devilishly.

Benedict Black is a man who knows that "evil" isn't a shadow; it's a weight. Like a King protagonist, he is flawed, perhaps a bit too fond of the bottle, and haunted by the very things he hunts.