pixie-led | Chris Elphick

As regular readers of my Pixie-Led blog will already know, I am working on a series of ghost stories for my next fiction book. The stories will all feature Welsh settings, and a few of them (including the Snowdodian tale I started today) will be based on Celtic folktales that have sprung up in the countryside here...

Author's Copy

My 2nd edition update to Explore Gower's Beaches, Coves and Bays arrived today, and I am very happy. Next year is a fallow year for Explore Gower books, as I will be concentrating on selling/advertising the x4 books that are already available. What I do know, however, is that there will be a 5th book in the series, which will probably be available sometime in 2027...

Explore Gower's Beaches, Coves & Bays

Finally completed my 4th Explore Gower Guidebook. It has taken me longer than anticipated but has been published within its target date and is available now via Amazon. published! It makes for a great Christmas present for anyone wishing to explore the incredible variety of beaches available in Gower to visitors and residents alike :)

Elizabeth by Jessica Hamilton

I am finally happy to conclude my Elizabeth by Jessica Hamilton collection with the arrival, from Australia of all places, of the edition that lured me into its world as a teenager. It hsd been a gift from my best friend in school, who is sadly no longer with us. I will, hopefully, find time to speak more of him when I get stuck into my media-basefd autobiography sometime next year... 🤞

£13, which included the cost of postage from the other side of the world, is a real rare bargain in a world where the cost of old books is reaching crazy heights.

Spirits

A Gin-fuelled view of Daisy May and Charlie's Nightwstch:

Saturday Story Building

Continuing work on my Large Circus of Horrors diorama...

Goblin Society

I have been wanting to create this movie scene for ages now. And whilst it is not perfect, I am happy with it and consider it finished.

Can you guess the movie?

Low

Off work as I struggle with the latest flare-up. Everything work-wise is an intermittable struggle these days and I need to take my mind, as well as my body, away from the place for a while to heal.

As usual at such times, the cosy gaming offered by Animal Crossing has proved successful in taking my my mind off my troubles, ans I even did a bit of writing in the evening for next year's Guy N Smith zine, GNS3..

The Mysterious Eric Ericson

Eric Ericson is the mysterious author of 3 occult horror novels. The Sorceror, my favourite of his tales, was published in 1978 and concerns a scientist who joins a sex-magick coven.

The startlingly titled The Woman Who slept with Demons followed 2 years later. This is a tale of a veterinarian who witness a woman out in the wilds having sex with a powerful demon to increase her magickal powers.

Master of the Temple followed in 1983. This last novel by Ericson is a more serious, in-depth novel, and a meatier beast altogether than his earlier occult fiction. This story (bizarrely) features biscuit salesperson, who just also happens to be a sex magician. Spot the connecting theme is these books?

A fourth work by Ericson, written and published between the release of The Woman who Slept with Demons and Master of the Temple, is a non-fiction Who's Who of Occult practitioners. The World, the Flesh, the Devil: A Biographical Dictionary evidences the profound interest and understanding of the Dark Arts possessed by the author. Not that such proof of Ericson's intense inside-knowledge of occultism and sex-magick is necessary, as all three of his fictional works literally oozes the fact from their pages.

After the publication of these astounding works, all published between 1978 -1983, Ericson stopped writing books and seemingly disappeared from the literary scene. Had he been scolded by occult leaders for divulging too many of their secrets? Such was the content and power of his books, that questions such as this easily arose in the mind of those fans of his fiction hungry for further books by the man.

Like others intrigued by the author, one of my first dial-up internet searches when I first got a computer (yes, I am that old) was to try and learn more about the man, in the primary hope of finding more of his novels. But I also wanted those bubbling questions raised by the mystique of the author answered.

Imagine my surprise then, when I recently refreshed my search for Eric Ericson, and, hey presto, I finally discovered the answers I was looking for! And so, over 40 after my first desire to demystify the enigmatic author was born, I can finally relay some information dredged

Harping back to a recent post, where I chastised the use of author pseudonyms, much of this lack of clarity concerning Ericson is due to his use of a literary nom-de-plume. In fact, Eric Priestley Towers (the author's real name) used several different author names, including Roderick Milton and Tony Caxton. Out of the books published under his other disguises, none really appeal to my genre appetites so I won't go down that avenue of exploring his other works here.

Anyhow, for anyone else wanting to secure this info, here it is, along with a colour photograph of Eric Priestley Towers, a.k.a. Eric Ericson:

Personal Background

Full name: Eric Priestley Towers
Birth: 23 June 1925, Blaby, Leicestershire, England
Death: Between October–December 2006, North Surrey
Parents: Sidney Towers and Winnifred May Priestley
Education: Newton’s Grammar School | Jesus College, Cambridge
Military Service (WWII): Served in Italy and Austria | Supported the Allied Military Government in Vienna post-war
Residences: Grew up in Wigston Magna | Lived in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey (by 1981)

Professional Career

Occupation: Corporate and public relations specialist | Novelist (under multiple pseudonyms)
Reason for pseudonyms: Maintained discretion due to professional career, particularly for works involving sex magick and occult themes

Main Pseudonyms Used

Roderick Milton – early fiction and stories
Eric Ericson – occult and pulp fiction
Tony Caxton – late-career detective fiction

Literary Works

As Roderick Milton (1950s–1960s):

Magic City: Three Stories of Vienna under Allied Occupation (1950)
The Lightning That Struck Me (1951)
Tell Them in Sparta (1962)
Regular contributor to Lilliput magazine (short fiction and articles)

As Eric Ericson (1978–1983):

The Sorcerer (Feb 1978)
The Woman Who Slept with Demons (Jan 1980)
The World, the Flesh, the Devil: A Biographical Dictionary (1981)
Master of the Temple (Mar 1983

As Eric Towers (1986):

Dashwood: The Man and the Myth (1986) – Biography of Sir Francis Dashwood

As Tony Caxton (1994–1996):

Murder in a Quiet Place (July 1994)
Bowker’s Bonfire (March 1996)

Occult Connections

Involvement in London’s occult scene: Early participant in “The Society” – an esoteric discussion group held upstairs at The Plough, near the British Museum, in the 1980s. Known for involvement in practical and theoretical occult studies. Ericson's novels contain real occult references and practices

Halloween Lego Diorama 2025

Despite the odds, I managed to complete my, very cramped Guy N Smith Lego Diorama, which reference over 20 GNS novels: Can you name them all?

And here is the final Lego Guy N Smith Diorama. I hope you like it:

Halloween at the Hospital

Hospital day, where covering dermatologist said department is too busy to provide bespoke letters for employers. "That's was Occ Health Employee Services are for," were her exact words. She did say they would post me copies of my consultant letters to hand in though, but god knows when I can expect to see them. Unfortunately, the weather was harsh and took its toll on my face, which triggered more pain for me. I was too self conconscious to take public transport though. Grrr. Here are some Swansea scenes I pictured on the walk though:

Flare

Been a rough final week of October. The end of summer has now really hit home and I have been off work for the past week with the worst skin flare up I've had since starting on my biologic injections.

I have fallen way behind on my projects, what with the Sept/Oct walking challenge, and then my flare, but I am hoping that I still have time to pull everything together in the last 2 months of 2025

Work-wise, I am probably going to trigger an attendance warning, but it is what it is. I started 40/60 hybrid working at the start of the month, where I work from home every Tuesday and Thursday. I have applied to flip that to a 60/40 working pattern, where I work 3 days from home and 2 days in the office to help me better manage my various health conditions. This went down like a lead balloon in some quarters. I have been told I need to get both a GP and Consultant's letter to back up my application for a Reasonable Adjustment in my working pattern, but I still haven't heard back from my medical team since I emailed them. I had my Occupational Health interview with a doctor today though, and he told me he was going to back my application, and I am seeing my dermatologist tomorrow, so I can ask them face-to-face for a letter the morning. The only trouble with that is that she is not going to be my regular consultant , but I can't see why it will be too much of a problem. I will just have to see tomorrow. Again, it is what it is.

Lying awake at the moment, waiting to sleep, so I'll end this entry here, and get on with making a plan of action to get back on target with my New Year's target resolutions.

Before I go though, whilst I have been too unwell to do much this past week, I have produced made an illustration for the Guy N Smith inspired ghost story, which is currently waiting for a second draft overhaul. It probably gives too much of the story away, but hey ho: