“Why don’t you write about vampires, zombies and other monsters?” That is a question I have been asked numerous times. Usually three questions after somebody I have just met found out I have a few books out there. And I most preface this by saying I have absolutely nothing against those tropes, on the contrary I rather enjoy them, and have dear friends making a comfortable living with excellent variations and interpretations on these themes. And, in fact, I have tried my hand at writing vampire fiction, but it always ended on the slightly camp side of things. I have also made fun of sparkly vampires and the genre, well, because they are sparkly vampires for crying out loud. I feel obliged to add here that Ann Rice is one of my all-time favorite authors and I simply adore her books. But aside from the fact that I feel I should still have an ‘L’ plate on my keyboard I would never attempt to write anything like that. But apart from the greatest monster of all-humans- I realize I have been writing ghost stories since I was about eleven. To my mind a well-crafted ghost stories (and mine are far from that…) are amongst some of the most eerie and unsettling stories you can read. My favorites hail from the Victorians.. M.R. James has to be my favorite but, such literary luminaries as Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling have penned tales to make your very toes curls with a sense of impending fear, and question even a suggestion of a shadow. For me it is because there is an element of believability embedded in such tales. A recent survey suggests that over sixty-five percent of British people believe in ghosts and many have claimed to have experienced one first hand. Take even the most rational and educated of men and place him in almost forgotten cemetery in the heart of Yorkshire, after midnight, on an overcast, damp and foggy night and let us just see what his imagination and hidden fears might conjure. So now my beloved and faithful Sir Winston is overdue his afternoon walk. And afterwards I shall once more return to my keyboard and continue tap-tap-tapping out my first bonafide novel. And guesses as to what it is about?
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 01:43:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015