Fictionally Factual – featuring authors who are letting you in on all the ‘facts’ that go into their fiction works
Why York is the Perfect City for Dark Fantasy By Alethea Lyons
‘York was famous for its ghosts…’
So begins my debut, The Hiding, a supernatural contemporary fantasy set in a dark alternate version of York. It’s true of real York as well. In less than fifty years, the city will 
be celebrating its 2000th birthday and it’s racked up huge numbers of ghosts in that time. Denizens of the past lurk on streets that have barely changed in a hundred or even five-hundred years. Every few blocks, you’ll find someone in period costume selling tickets for ghost tours. At night, they sweep folk up in tales of the macabre and bizarre. Even those who don’t believe in ghosts might find themselves doubting as they huddle under a streetlamp, hemmed in by Tudor-style buildings that loom like they’re about to pounce.
Despite visitations from myriad dead and undead, York is a beautiful, romantic city with
lovely walks around its ancient walls and along the sweeping River Ouse. It’s also a seat of religious and political power and has been throughout its illustrious history. That was one of the strong factors in its favour when I was deciding where to set my novel. I wanted a city that could be a character, not just a setting, and hold its own with those who could speak.
Another deciding factor was that it is in the North. There’s a strong North-South divide in England with grievances going back hundreds of years. Yorkshire has taken a leading role in championing the North, even revolting against King Henry VIII, albeit with catastrophic consequences for those involved (and probably a sudden influx of ghosts). I didn’t want to set my book in the South. They get 
enough of the limelight (sorry, southerners).
As well as political clout, York’s religious pre-eminence influenced my decision. The two leading spokespeople of the Church of England are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, so York also holds great religious sway. The Christianity of The Hiding isn’t a real-life denomination. Rather it’s a mix of Church of England, Catholicism, Methodism, and a bit that’s unique to their world – magic. In addition, to make my England a place of faith equality, I invented the Council of Faiths and put the seat of their power in York.
In both The Hiding and in our England, the towering York Minster cathedral is one of the
most well-known emblems of the city. Its gothic presence is in many ways the face of the city I seek to represent. It’s iconic to tourists, dominates many views of the city, and has the awe-inspiring visage that suits my atmospheric storytelling style. One can imagine York Minster going to war with the Royal Family (and their secret police) and winning. While that war hasn’t yet happened at the time of The Hiding, it’s brewing with the cathedral keeping many illegal secrets for the benefit of its people.
It is easy to believe that there are other supernatural creatures, not only ghosts, lurking in the streets of York. With winding ginnels (alleys) and shadowed snickelways (also alleys), York’s twisty streets can turn 
visitors about. There’s at least one café I have never been able to find again. Maybe it disappeared into the mists.
Equally crooked and quaint are the buildings. My favourite bookshop is a narrow premises with uneven stairs inside and out, thick glass, and a dozen rooms filled floor to ceiling with books, maps, and art. It’s only a few metres from York Minster, yet it would be easy to miss as the entrance is tucked back from the street due to the wibbly layout of the buildings. A sense of mystery pervades the city. I wanted a reader to be able to walk through it of an evening and see what Harper and my other characters see. I wanted them to feel the itch between their shoulder blades that something might be watching.
As well as its British/English history, York has been a melting pot of invading cultures which
each left their footprint. Most significantly, it was founded by the Romans and invaded by the Vikings. The city still has an annual Viking week, a Viking parade, and an excellent Viking museum, complete with animatronic village and smells. This multisensory aspect of the city is another reason it was a perfect fit for The Hiding. With the antagonist murdering people and stealing their senses, a stinky museum was an ideal setting from which to take someone’s nose.
Not every aspect of York in The Hiding is one hundred percent faithful to the real city. I’ve added a path along a section of the River Ouse that doesn’t exist in real life. The cathedral has gained an astronomy room in one tower and several square miles of secret archives underground. 
I’ve created fictional institutions but put them in real buildings like the ghostwalkers’ mansion in York Cemetery and the Queen’s Guard strongholds at real police and army bases. The paper shop I included on the Shambles was real, but sadly closed. The teashop is still there, although whether its proprietor is fae or not, I’ll leave up to you to decide.
At the heart of it, Harper’s York is real. You can
visit the places the characters go, shop and eat at the places they do, and go to the attractions where folk are murdered for arcane ritual. York is a city of unique character and I’ve been honoured to include it as a character in my books.
Here’s a quick look at Alethea’s latest release THE HIDING:
Arcane archivist Harper has always been plagued by dreams of grotesque creatures and bloody deaths. When she bumps into a ghostwalker in the Shambles and has a visceral experience of his execution, she knows it’s a foretelling. Yet fear of the Queen’s Guard stops her speaking out. When her vision indeed comes true, the unusual markings on the ghostwalker’s corpse, combined with his neatly excised vocal cords, send a ripple of terror through York.
The witch hunt is on. As the body count rises, Harper knows her magic is the only way to find the killer – if she can avoid being hanged as a witch. To protect both human and supernatural, Harper walks the thin line between their worlds. She and her demonhunter foster-sister form a multi-faith team with a forensic scientist, a spirit Harper accidentally summoned, and a techno-witch, to catch the killer before more people die.
