Phantastic Stories with Gav Cross

Gav Cross: Storyteller
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Supernatural Stories from a bygone time... Content warning. Contains Ghost. Ghouls. Monsters. Murderers and More... "Like Jackanory for Grown Ups." Live Show Audience member. Live on Substack. Mondays - 9pm gavcross.substack.com

  1. Phantastic Stories 12: The Pond by Nigel Keale

    May 6

    Phantastic Stories 12: The Pond by Nigel Keale

    A Phantastic horror story from the master, Nigel Kneale. The Pond! Join me next Tuesday at 9pm for anther Phantatstic Story. Come see the Haunted Book Club - Live! Details here. Gav Thank you eejits, Claire Pitt, Jude Wilde, Josie Ray, Rachael Prime, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Thanks for reading Gav Cross: Storyteller! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    19 min

  2. Feb 2

    Phantastic Stories 011: The Well by W.W. Jacobs Read by Gav Cross

    William Wymark Jacobs - W.W. himself, will pop up here a lot… He holds a facination for me. Short story writer. Playwright. Fan of the supernatural. Writer of humour. East Ender. And the author of my very favourite Phantastic Story… And I like this one too. It has that great visual quality that means you could imagine Mark Gatis getting his hands on it and making a superb Christmas TV version. I hope you enjoy it - let me know what you think. It’s from this collection. Haunting Ghost Stories. Plainly aimed at what I suppose is now named as the YA market. (Is that a useful term? I don’t know…) And contains some gentle and twee lovelies like Through the Door: And then switches to Tell Tale Heart and The Red Room. I’ll be doing those… I think I've been reading short classic stories online for about five years now and I'm enjoying the discovery. There are so many! But what I enjoy most about them is talking about them and that's what's going to happen with. https://gavcross.substack.com/s/haunted-book-club I will continue to pop up on a Monday and read a live story but I am also going to add recordings to the Haunted Book Club Feed. We will be starting on the 17th of Feb with The Signalman. A Dickens Classic for the get go? Why not? The Trailer for the Book Club is in all the places. John Reppion and I would love it if you joined us. We will dust off a seat in the circle. Light a candle. And listen intently to what you think. https://linktr.ee/haunted_bookclub This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    32 min

  3. Jan 27

    Phantastic Stories 010: The Birthright by Hilda Hughes Read by Gav Cross

    Do you know who Hilda Hughes is? Genuinely. There doesn’t seem to be much biographical info about them but they have two stories in the 1934 collection: “A Century of Creepy Stories” I love books like these. They smell right! They smell like a collection of supernatural stories should smell like. Slightly mouldering… I think I've been reading short classic stories online for about five years now and I'm enjoying the discovery. There are so many! But what I enjoy most about them is talking about them and that's what's going to happen with. https://gavcross.substack.com/s/haunted-book-club I will continue to pop up on a Monday and read a live story but I am also going to add recordings to the Haunted Book Club Feed. We will be starting on the 17th of Feb with The Signalman. A Dickens Classic for the get go? Why not? The Trailer for the Book Club is in all the places. John Reppion and I would love it if you joined us. We will dust off a seat in the circle. Light a candle. And listen intently to what you think. https://linktr.ee/haunted_bookclub This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    29 min

  4. 12/24/2025

    Phantastic Stories 009: The Abbot's Inkwell by Rob Sanderson-Thomas Read by Gav Cross

    There are 1000’s of places to read in great depth about the Christmas tradition of telling ghost stories. Luckily, this isn’t one of them. I’ll just tell you the story. Written for and performed live at “Ghost Stories for Christmas” at Norton Priory Museums and Gardens in Runcorn, Halton.. Rob Sanderson-Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer for Norton Priory and a writer. This short story was written, especially for the evening and set in the hugely atmospheric space itself. You really should visit. Either in the glory of sale with its spoiled gardens and exposed archaeology or perhaps on the 29th of December where I will be performing my adaptation of “Gawain and the Green Knight”. A Medieval text, probably written in a Cheshire monastery to be performed between Christmas and New Year. To be performed between Christmas and New Year in what once was a Cheshire monastery. Merry Christmas… Gav Phantastic Stories https://gavcross.substack.com/s/phantastic-stories-with-gav-cross & Tell Me Your Story https://gavcross.substack.com/s/tell-me-your-story Will continue in the New Year. You can’t stop me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    12 min

  5. 11/10/2025

    Phantastic Stories 008: Jerry Bundler by W.W. Jacob’s Read by Gav Cross

    Of course the most famous fantastic Story by WW Jacobs is “The Monkey’s Paw”. My love for that Story is inexhaustible but this story has a real charm. I was not surprised to hear it was converted into a play. It was like watching a black-and-white spooky film from the 1930s with those English character act faces across the cast. After this film there will be a Will Hay movie on BBC2. It is of course dramatic. It is of course melodramatic. I am of course both. What do you think? Gav November 2025 Thank you eejits, Kelly Williams, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    20 min

  6. 10/27/2025

    Phantastic Stories 007 The Walrus & The Carpenter By Lewis Carroll Read by Gav Cross

    As I typed this I realise I'm not going to be home to read a Story live. I am currently sat in a haunted Tudor Mansion, in Bolton. My job tonight is to tell ghost stories to teenagers who are going to sleep over… I love telling ghost stories. I'm telling ghost stories too the over sevens all week in my Show Ghastly Stories for Gruesome Gremlins. I'm telling Ghost stories to grown-ups in the evenings. I like saying horrible things to lovely people and for cash I am happy to say lovely things to horrible people. Gav Shows & Tours I recorded a number of stories for Stories for Schools: https://storiesforschools.com/ And as I was in such a brilliant recording space I asked if I could record one for me! I do love this poem. It’s a little bit nasty of course... Stories for Schools is a project headed up by the brilliant Settle Stories. https://settlestories.org/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    5 min

  7. 10/21/2025

    Phantastic Stories 006 The Sea Raiders by HG Wells - Read by Gav Cross

    Full disclosure. I am a HG Wells stan. I mean, I just sent out the first programmer requests to book my show: The War of the Worlds By H.G. Wells A New Abridged Performed Reading by Gav Cross But that is not what we are here for. I love this little short story. I think it is designed to do what a big book and film of the 70s did for the Sea but in the 1890s Wilfully! Let me know what you think of the story. Also, the more I read of Wells the more I am certain I know his favourite word. Do you it is used three times in this story and about 48,000 times in The War of the Worlds… Not long now until: The Monkey’s Paw… and More On 31 October 2025 7.30pm Norton Priory Museum and Gardens https://norton-priory-museum-and-gardens.arttickets.org.uk/norton-priory-museum-and-gardens/the-monkeys-paw-and-more-68bee8b44896e Thanks for listening. I'm always up for suggestions. What is your favourite Short supernatural story? Gav https://linktr.ee/gavcross This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    26 min

  8. 10/06/2025

    Phantastic Stories 005: Through the Door by Ruth Ainsworth Read by Gav Cross

    I wasn't really a Famous Five kind of guy and I was a kid. I don't recall ever reading the books. And I didn't really watch the famous 80s TV version It was on ITV I didn't watch much ITV then. Or now… I think my most endearing introduction to the world of the famous five was through the Comic Strip Presents version. Five Go Mad in Dorset. Anyway I am culturally aware enough to recognise that this story is perhaps in that realm. Maybe there are other stories featuring this gang? I don't know. I do know that I pick this because it is rather a sweet story. And as we discussed in the life version I think this is targeted at about 10 years old, and above. What do you think? What are you doing Tuesday at 8:30 pm? Would you like to join me for a conversation and then Q&A with poet, writer, broadcaster, comedian & more, Robin Ince? Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Very often found up and down the country at literary festivals, in libraries, supporting independent bookshops or hosting festival events, this time you can join in and take part whilst in your slippers. Every week I ask creative people that I admire to “Tell Me Your Story” Live on Substack. Last week was the fabulous Black Liver, previous to that Lamphouse Theatre. Two conversations with theatre making people that understand the value of a thoughtful and a purely silly, good night out. This week it is Robin Ince . Discussing his new poetry collection. Ice Cream for a Broken Tooth. Live Link: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/65019?r=gqsqk&utm_medium=ios Thank you eejits, Claire Faulkes, Josie Ray, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

    31 min
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Supernatural Stories from a bygone time... Content warning. Contains Ghost. Ghouls. Monsters. Murderers and More... "Like Jackanory for Grown Ups." Live Show Audience member. Live on Substack. Mondays - 9pm gavcross.substack.com

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