MJ Mallon’s “The Seagull Man” in Midnight Garden

I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with a Hallowe’en-themed introduction to the anthology as a whole:

And now, MJ Mallon’s The Seagull Man:

The inhabitants of Cave Birdie called him the Seagull Man, because of his inclination to always wear grey and white clothes, with tiny, imperceptible black flecks, a form of camouflaging so he could blend into his cavernous stone rich environment. When he left his cave home, he went to the seashore. Tourists watched him, intrigued, as the seagulls flocked around, crowding in upon him, surrounding him as he fed them. Whereupon it was only possible to see and hear their beating outstretched wings. In this huddle of man and bird, he appeared to vanish until he jumped on his bike with the seagulls following close behind him.

How the story came about:
The inspiration for the story was a momentary sighting of a man by the seaside surrounded by seagulls. One moment he was there with his feathered friends flocking all around him and seconds later they followed him as he rode away on his bike! It was such a striking, surreal moment. Not one I would forget in a hurry. So… the idea developed from there for the dark fiction tale, The Seagull Man.
I love writing dark short fiction and am often inspired by visual cues, so imagine my delight to have won first prize with this story.
There were notable aspects: the man wore ‘seagull camouflaging colours,’ of white and grey. The number of adoring seagulls surrounding him, as if they were worshipping him, and the suddenness of his and their departure as if this strange relationship was something to hide away or keep secret. Those aspects gave me the idea of creepy rumours circulating about a seagull man and locating the story in an ominous cave. From there, the idea developed to include an intriguing and beautiful female character… read the story and the other brilliant tales in this wonderful dark fiction anthology to find out more!

About MJ Mallon:
MJ loves to write magical, unusual and poetic stories sprinkling them with a liberal dollop of extraordinarily imaginative magic!
MJ’s writing credits include young adult fantasy, (Bloodstone – The Curse of Time Book 1 and the 2nd in the series, Golden Healer – The Curse of Time Book 2,) paranormal, best-selling horror: anthology contributions: Nightmareland, Wings & Fire, supernatural/ghost short stories, and flash fiction.
Her Poetry/flash collections/memoir include This Is Lockdown, (anthology edited and devised by M J,) and Lockdown Innit, Mr. Sagittarius Poetry & Prose, The Hedge Witch And The Musical Poet, Do What You Love, Shh, Purely Poetry and publication in various poetry anthologies including Poetry Treasures 2 Relationships and The Endeavor Maiden Voyage Compendium, Volumes 1,2 and 3.
MJ’s dark fiction story The Seagull Man won 1st place in Wordcrafter’s anthology prize – Midnight Garden. This is her second contribution to The Midnight anthology, the first – The Cull, was published in Midnight Roost.
Her eclectic blog shares her love of reading, reviewing, writing, poetry, photography and travel.
You can find her socials on linktr.

See all Midnight Garden stories here.