I’m no fan of the plastic Halloween skulls and rubber spiders the shops start displaying the day after Whit Monday.
However, I am an advocate for and promoter of Welsh talent!
So when a pal mentioned he’d put time and effort into writing a spooky children’s book (published in time for Halloween), I was only too pleased to bring it to your attention.
Aimed at readers aged from 9 to 15, “Joni Jones And The Ghost Train” was written by TV director and cameraman turned author Paul Leyshon and follows 11-year-old Joni Jones exactly a year after his older brother Cai (12) went missing on Halloween.
After discovering a ghost train, Joni believes it could be the key to the mystery of Cai’s disappearance and when Joni and his friends bravely board the spooky train it takes them to a parallel supernatural world haunted by plague ghosts from 1666 London, ghost pirates from 1780s Cornwall and World War Two fighter pilot ghosts battling over Swansea Bay.
The portal to them all is an old Welsh disused railway cutting, somewhere on the Aber to Carmarthen line.
Paul says, “Having spent decades wandering around fascinating historical sites for a living and bringing intriguing historical stories to life on the small screen, I had the idea of weaving that wealth of work into a fictional, paranormal, time-travelling story for kids.
“I remember the calendars of old Loughor and Gorseinon hanging in the house, and Gorseinon station always featured.
“As a boy I became obsessed with where the old station used to be, and how the old track ran up the Lliw river toward the direction of Gowerton, where it was replaced by a path in the woods.
“This stayed in my head, and a ghost train travelling down an old Beeching cutting became the inspiration for my book!”
It sounds like a cracker of a tale to me. Which makes it an ideal stocking filler for young readers with vivid imaginations this Christmas!
“Joni Jones And The Ghost Train” by PD Leyshon is published by PD Leyshon Publications and is available as an ebook.
You can find out more about Paul Leyshon on his website – https://www.paulleyshon.com