I gave a talk at the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven last night -- on the subject of "Echoes and Shadows". It was a part of the theatre's programme of spooky things in the runup to Halloween. The other part of the evening was a theatrical performance of "The Turn of the Screw" -- an adaptation of the famous Henry James short storyv of the same name. It's a ghost story involving a group of very disturbed -- even perverted -- individuals inhabiting a Gothic mansion.......
Anyway, my own talk was well received. I concentrated on the shadowy and echoing components of he Angel Mountain stories, almost seen and almost heard. So ghosts and the supernatural figured prominently as I explored Martha's special powers, and those of Joseph Harries the Wizard and others such as the child called Merlin in the pages of "Guardian Angel". I explained that the supernatural components of the story are absolutely essential, and that I had to develop them as instructed by Mistress Martha during my night of delirium on Gran Canaria all those years ago........
I also tried to explain that in spite of the traumatic incidents and the sense of prevailing gloom in some of the novels (such as Dark Angel and Sacrifice) my purpose in writing the stories was not to glorify wickedness and evil but to demonstrate that virtue always wins in the end. That's why Martha's mistakes and misjudgments are always sorted out by her unlikely guardian angels -- her family, servants and friends, and of course her guardian raven which lives up on the mountain.
============
This is the Torch Theatre's PR material: