Dark Winds Over Wellington

Welcome to Wellington, the Coolest Little Capital, where nothing is quite what it seems…

Strange creatures lurk in the shadows of the Beehive, while a Beast arises From The Deep determined to destroy us all. Being Neighbourly might just change your life, and if you listen closely you can hear demonic Whispers in the wind.

So sit back, take a sip of A Good Cup of Coffee and question all The Things You See. In the city there are no Second Chances and every chapter might be your last. Inspired by Wellington legends and folklore, these thirteen original short stories will drag you on a chilling journey through the eerie, the weird and the strange. 

Shortlisted for a Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work, 2020. 

Paperbacks are no longer on general sale. Contact me if you would like to buy one from me direct.
You can buy the eBook at Smashwords 

Dark Winds Over Wellington: Chilling Tales of the Weird & the Strange © Tabatha Wood, 2019. Published by Wild Wood Books.



Read the first story in the collection – Heat Pump – which received an Honourable Mention by the New Zealand Writers College – 2018 Short Story Award

This story is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair review, no part may be stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or storage in any information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. No reproduction may be made, by any means, unless a licence has been obtained from the author or publisher. ©️ Tabatha Wood 2019

heat-pump-tabatha-wood-2019-.pdf

 


Praise for “Dark Winds Over Wellington: Chilling Tales of the Weird & the Strange”

“The stories in Tabatha Wood’s collection are carefully and intelligently crafted. You may think they’re just a tasty creepy snack, but then you start to feel a bit queasy, the cordyceps pokes out through your forehead and you find your perspective eerily adjusted. Slyly subversive horror. Recommended.”

Jamie Delano – writer of Lepus: Dizzy, Hellblazer: Constantine, plus many others.


“Wood has a lovely physicality to her writing that further supports both the beautiful and that which is less so. She writes about the heat of coffee and weighty warmth of summers as well as the coppery tang-taste-of-blood and things seen and heard that characters wish they hadn’t been witness to.”

– Review by Stella Carruthers on her blog Geographic Hearts https://geographichearts.blog/2019/05/03/a-breath-of-fresh-air-a-book-review/


“In my favourite story in this collection – The Things You See – those threads of nature, otherness and displacement are exquisitely entwined. The story’s unreliable narrator who informs us that their “brain got broken”, and their attempts to understand the corruption that is at the heart of their country and at the heart of those who are supposed to protect it and its citizens, is horror at it’s best. … Dark Winds over Wellington is an ambitious debut collection and I look forward to reading more by Tabatha in the future.”

– 4 * Review by Penny Jones via Ginger Nuts of Horror http://gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/dark-winds-over-wellington-by-tabatha-wood-book-review


What a delightfully spooky collection of tales. These stories speak to universal human fears and anxieties, while simultaneously capturing the unique character of our beautiful Antipodean capital. The juxtaposition of mundane struggles of everyday life and the fantastical horrors lurking just out of sight makes for compelling reading. 

— Heather Christensen, Amazon review


As someone that has lived in Wellington most of her life, Tabatha Wood has brought it to life in a whole new way! I loved seeing my city come alive in her stories. I love the dark edge she travels in her writing, the slightly eerie, all-too-possibly-true feel they have. I find myself looking over my shoulder, or over the top of newspaper, in a way I never did before! 

— Mary Walker, Amazon review