#BlogTour-‘Changeling’ by Matt Wesolowski

On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the dark Wentshire Forest Pass, when his father, Sorrel, stopped the car to investigate a mysterious knocking sound. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.
Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel and his ex-partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. Journeying through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there, he talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know what happened to the little boy…

Welcome, to the latest episode of ‘Six Stories’- ‘Changeling’ by Matt Wesolowski.

Published by the publishing game changers, Orenda Books, ‘Changeling’ is available now as an eBook and on the 24th January in paperback, as well as a newly released audiobook.

The ‘Six Stories’ series by Matt Wesolowski , has a formula but is never formulaic-each tale in the 3 volumes he has written (so far, there are more to come!) is based around a deceptively simple premise yet at the same time, entirely genre bending.

They are constructed around the titular podcast, narrated by Scott King, who has created a platform for 6 perspectives of a crime which has remained unsolved, and lingers, just under the surface of the nation’s consciousness.

By bringing them into the light, the hope is to possibly uncover a different viewpoint rather than to solve them, and create a sense of closure by giving a voice to those who may not have been able to use such a platform before.

In this one, the story of a missing boy, it is a haunting tale of a parent’s momentary lapse , a checking of a noise from a car engine, and ensuing tragedies. The woods where he goes missing were meant to be a holiday village but this is abandoned after a series of inexplicable accidents and Alfie’s disappearance . Through the narratives of people who worked with Alfie’s father, Alfie’s teacher, a building worker, a blind psychic who tried to aid the police and Alfie’s parents themselves, Scott aims to present an unbiased podcast within which these voices can be heard.

However, in the act of being observed, Scott, as well as the reader, becomes changed. We, as readers (or listeners, the audio book is also available) become immersed in the story. It is as though Scott is directly talking to us and an alchemical reaction happens where we are reading and listening, both confidante of Scott, as well as being his radio audience.

It is a small book, with not a spare word or trope to be found; Matt creates a hypnotic and immersive atmosphere of creeping dread wherein you are genuinely concerned for the narrator’s safety as he deftly peels back layers of mystery at the same time as putting you front and centre in the middle of the most terrifying woods imaginable.

Part folk tale , part investigative reporting, all terrifyingly ordinary yet totally supernatural, he has created a story which, when you reach the last page, has your hands trembling, your mind blown and turning back to page 1.And possibly teary eyed because it just catches you right there in the heart.

If you are anything like me, you will be frantically googling Wentshire Woods to make sure they are not real, not looking too deeply into the dark shadows of the woods you commute past in the early hours of the morning and also bleeding your radiators, because is that noise you hear in the middle of the night  just the pipes, is it ?

*tap tap *

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- an US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror story set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WH Smith Fresh Talent pick, and TV rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller.