Spooky stories may have many people running behind their sofas but one Marsden author hopes that it will at least encourage them to reach into their purse for charity on the way.

The brainchild of Joanne Mitchinson, the Ten Deadly Tales anthology will not just send shivers down readers’ spines but act as a novel way to raise money for Lancashire-based Derian House Children’s Hospice.

Joanne, who works as an administrator for the University of Manchester and is studying for a PhD at the University of Birmingham, came up with the idea just before Halloween this year as a thank you after the organisation provided support for one of her friends who lost her own child.

Joanne, 34, who lives off Binn Road, said: “I wanted to do something to raise money for charity again and chose to do spooky horror stories because I really enjoy reading and writing them.

“It took a while to decide which I wanted to donate to, as there are a good few I support, but I ended up with Derian House as it’s a charity close to my heart due to how they helped my friend and also because I used to work for a special educational needs school, where some of the children would go to Derian House.”

However, although an avid story-writer, she was not sure she could find the time to complete a book all by herself.

Joanne, said: “I work long hours these days and I wasn’t sure when to fit it in.

“I’d already got a few short ghost stories that I’d never done anything with but they didn’t seem like enough so I decided to ask other people via Facebook if they wanted to donate a story.

“I got a decent response, with even some stories submitted from the USA and Europe and once I had all the submissions, I had to decide which were suitable for the anthology and edit them if necessary.”

She chose ten stories, including a woman who was murdered and doesn’t realise, a Confederate soldier being tormented by a monster and a young girl who plots to destroy a mutant race.

Joanne added: “After the stories were ready, I decided to get it published on Kindle for Amazon, something I’ve never done before but made easier by my lovely partner Mark who did the front cover-it’s quite an exciting moment to see your first book become available to buy.

“The whole thing has been great, if a bit stressful at times because I felt a great deal of pressure to do justice to the authors who gave their work for free, and due to responsibility to do well for the charity.

“I think it’s such a good way to do something good for charity, particularly if you aren’t the outgoing sort who feels they can go round getting sponsors for charity runs or sky-dives.”

Derian House will now receive 35% of all sales, the amount usually paid in royalties to the author. Meanwhile Joanne hopes that the anthology will be a good springboard for her new venture, which will see her publish her first own novel within the coming months.

Buy a copy: ttp://amzn.to/11jYOvW