P M Morgan
Welcome to a Tale of Strange & Wonder
Coming 2nd February 2026
Don't look for saviours in the dark...
Black Shuck 1577: A Tale of Strange and Wonder is a novel that treats English folklore as lived history rather than fantasy. It presents Black Shuck not as a mere creature of convenience but as a powerful and terrifying force that is genuinely old and unpredictable.
The antagonists in the story weaponize the legend, transforming it into something that is controlled and used, cultivating themes of power, belief, and the risks of manipulating the ancient world for human ambition. The narrative revolves around four fully human characters - a Watcher with a broken oath, a scholar haunted by memory, a solitary healer, and a spy who is distrustful of everything - but their paths dangerously intersect.
Set in 1577 Suffolk, the novel maintains historical authenticity while weaving in supernatural elements that have devastating consequences. It offers a unique twist on the traditional monster story by exploring the complexities of human emotion against a backdrop of quiet, atmospheric horror and danger.
“I don’t believe in monsters. But I believe in men who’d use them.” ~ Edward Tanner
Pre order now on Amazon Kindle
About Black Shuck 1577
Black Shuck: 1577 was inspired by the real-life story of Abraham Fleming*, a sixteenth-century scholar and translator whose life intersected with the folklore of Black Shuck.
Fleming was a marginal figure of his time: a Cambridge-educated scholar with unconventional interests, drawn to subjects many of his contemporaries dismissed as superstition or heresy. In 1577, he recorded and translated accounts of a terrifying event in Bungay, where a great black hound was said to have appeared during a violent storm, killing parishioners and leaving lasting fear in its wake.
That combination - scholarship brushing against folklore, reason colliding with belief - became the foundation of the novel. The story imagines what it might have meant to take such accounts seriously in an age when curiosity could be dangerous and knowledge was tightly controlled.
From there, the novel expands beyond the historical record, weaving espionage, religious tension, and ancient myth into a fictional narrative rooted in a real moment of fear and uncertainty. The result is not a retelling of history, but a response to it - asking why such stories were recorded, what they threatened, and what it cost to believe them.
*Abraham Fleming (c.1552–1607) was a Cambridge-educated scholar who recorded and translated contemporary accounts of the Black Shuck’s appearance in Bungay in 1577.
Arc Readers
If you would like to receive an Advanced Reader Copy and leave a review on release day. Please fill out the below.
