I’m putting all the links to my series here because Cruel and Unusual is approaching the end – the final instalment is this evening.
I’m most proud of that novel, I think. It was entered and accepted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (Yes, I know I keep mentioning that, but it really IS a big deal) and it took a lot of time to research properly.
A novel taking a long time to research? Why?
That’s easy to answer.
Jack the Ripper, as he was named back in the Victorian times, is still an enigma. 130 years after his murderous spree. He is still being discussed, theorised about and speculated upon.
There are books still being written and talks given about him, guided tours around the areas where he preyed upon ‘women of the night’, ‘seamstresses’ – prostitutes and desperate women - are held almost every night. He’s still ‘newsworthy’ I suppose.
That’s why I had to get as much of the facts about him absolutely dead-on. Everything, from the atmosphere – there really WAS a massive warehouse fire the night of the first canonical murder and so that really did have to go into my book.
My stories in this series are woven around Werewolves. They are mythical, legendary creatures and are influenced by the full moon. Think about my dismay when I realised NOT ONE of Jack’s murders were committed during a full moon. I had to write a ‘get-around’ for that little gem.
I like to write around facts as much as I possibly can because if you decide to look-up any of those facts, you’ll find a nugget of truth and that is what adds authenticity and realism. And if you have realism in your book, you’re another step up the ladder of having a good story.
That’s why you’re advised to ‘Write what you know.”
I studied the moon’s phases, I studied the weather reports from then and I looked into the heart-wrenching details of life as it would have been in Whitechapel in Victorian times.
I read one report from a group who had set themselves up to help people in need in the area. They found one particular family of lots of children, a destitute mother trying to keep everything together, all living in one disgusting room. A dead dog was found at one end of the room and a dead child close by.
I can’t even comprehend that.
The phrase, ‘I could sleep on a clothesline,’ comes from that time. Rooms were so scarce (or unaffordable) that one room could be rented out to some enterprising person who would stretch lengths of clothesline across the room and rent space enough to lean on and catch a few winks.
Can you imagine? So desperate for sleep that you’d pay to be able to lean on a length of rope.
The streets were rat-infested quagmires of slurry and offal. Abattoirs would fling the wastes out through their gates, onto the street and if you happened to be passing and got covered, then tough luck.
Back to my writing then…
I promised, back when I started serialising Cruel and Unusual that I would divulge the ‘extra’ murder that I discovered when I was conducting my research. I also promised to let you know of the fictional murder I added.
Here we go then.
Annie Millwood was often speculated on as being one of the first victims.
(Fairy Fay - or Fae - was also cause for speculation too, in the December before Annie's attack.)
The details I wrote in the novel correspond with facts I’ve found detailing her injuries. She was attacked and injured, needing to be hospitalised for quite a while and then, when she left the hospital, it would appear she died.
Because the death of Annie Millwood was not the same as the other murders, because it occurred earlier in the year than the spree and because her death was finally from ‘natural causes’, she has been omitted from the list of ‘Canonical Murders’.
Report of Annie Millwood’s attack and death
The canonical five Ripper victims are Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
The one I made up entirely was the old woman Jack encountered while trying to lure a Wolf close enough to be able to study.
It was a bright full moon, the most likely time to find a Werewolf and he knew that there was at least one in the vicinity, he had seen it and sensed it. Now he had to try to make one come to him. Yet he knew that this was a dangerous experiment that he was planning to undertake, not only was his personal safety at stake, but also the reputation that he had built up over many years of hard work and hard study. His reputation as an eminent surgeon would not be given up easily. If he were discovered, all would be up with him. Still, the stakes may be high, but the rewards were even higher.
Though he loathed rushing an experiment, he knew that tonight was the optimum time. The full May moon was beginning to wane; it was the last night that he would be able to conduct this experiment for twenty-six days.
Thinking quickly as he spied a lone woman, he had to make his move. She seemed to be very drunk and she staggered along holding onto her shawl with one hand and the wall with her other. Her gait was unsteady and her clothes were dirty, shabby and dishevelled – even more than what seemed to be the norm. He took one swift look about him to assure himself that there were not many others close by and none that were within a number of yards of her. Steeling himself now that he had made his decision, he stepped out of the shadows. He approached the woman with confidence and took her arm. He led her, unresisting, out of the alley and through another.
“Are you available dear?” he asked her as soon as he was certain that he had not been noticed.
“Eh? Yeah, yes sir, I am at that,” she said as she grinned up at him and he realised that she was older than he had imagined and by God, she smelled rank.
Excerpt from Cruel and Unusual
This was the only murder committed on or close to the full moon – and it never happened.
As you can see, no expense spared in the photography department
As I said, I love this platform, Steemit, and I want to help it grow – that’s why I cajole, beg and persuade people to join. 
I would also like to help people with their writing, but I have little or no idea where to begin – yet. I have no doubts it WILL come to me… be patient.
Ideas, comments, criticism – anything, as long as it’s not spammy or abusive - feel free to post in the comments. I do read all the comments, but I’ve stopped replying to the spam and the seemingly auto-generated comments.
As ever, Google Images, Pixabay and Getty are the sources for my pictures - except the one of my books...
Links from the three series running on my Blog at the moment. These are:
Ash and the Favour-Man
List
And then: 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Cruel and Unusual
Episode List From 1 – 52
Then: 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
81 82 83 84
Memories from my Childhood
Most of the links are in this post