This story had an interesting genesis. I was talking with my friend Chloe about the games we used to play as children, and she told me the story of how a friend’s father erected a door for them in the back garden. The door served no practical purpose, it was just there, a door in a doorframe, smack bang in the middle of the lawn. Chloe and her sisters and friends invested this door with magical properties. For them it was a door to anywhere, and they took turns in choosing what they would find on the other side when they went through it.
I found this story wonderful. I asked Chloe if I could use it, and she said yes. It was some months before I found a story of my own that would fit with Chloe’s memory, and as so often it turned out rather differently from what I’d envisaged. I only hope Chloe wasn’t too disappointed…..
When I was ready to write the story I took the train down to Deal so I could walk Terri’s route along the beach there. A story’s sense of place is very important to me, and I felt I couldn’t begin work until I had the geography of Bellony clear in my mind. It was a Saturday, and the weather was changing rapidly back and forth between bright sunshine and heavy showers. I took pictures from the pier looking back at the town, the beach, the old Art Deco cinema. I went south along the promenade and ended up walking all the way to Dover.
Once I’m walking I often find it hard to stop.
Bellony has recently been nominated for a British Fantasy Award in the novella category. You can now read it at the Featured Story page on this website.
Bellony features in the anthology Blind Swimmer, published by Eibonvale Press. Read more about the book at the Eibonvale site.