This week, while off for Easter break, I had an opportunity to dress up as a medieval monk. Do I make a convincing medieval monk? Er, no. Apart from revealing my modern shoes under the monk robe (woops, anachronism!) only men were medieval monks, so that aspect is also inaccurate, but that didn’t stop me from having some fun. I’m a fan of all kinds of dress-up (look at all of my Halloween videos) but historical is particularly fun. To date, I have never had the chance to be in a historical reenactment, but if the opportunity was ever to arise, I’d jump at the chance.

Well, my historical acting leaves much room for improvement – I can’t help but be quite hammy and find it hard to be serious sometimes – but I assure you my historical horror novels are quite different. I try to be as accurate as I can with my research to give my books more authenticity. Even though I primarily write ghost stories, giving them a grounding with the archaeological details adds a level of realism that hopefully helps readers keep up the suspension of disbelief. Four of my books: Gods of Avalon Road, Diabolical Dreamscapes, Matthew’s Twin and Love you to Death, contain archaeological elements, if you’re interested.

Anyway, happy Easter weekend and if you’re in the UK or Ireland, hope you don’t get hit too hard by Storm Dave today.

Posted by on April 4, 2026 in Random stuff and tagged , , , .

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About Leilanie Stewart

Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry. In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.

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  1. lyndhurstlaura's avatar lyndhurstlaura says:
    April 4, 2026 at 11:46 PM

    Happy Easter to you too, and hope the storm didn’t hit too hard. 🙂

    Reply

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