Second Coming

 

The original title of Stephen King's second novel “Salem's Lot” was “Second Coming”. King was inspired to write the novel after brainstorming about what would happen if Dracula were to appear in modern-day small-town America.

“I decided I wanted to find out, so I wrote a novel,” said King in 1975.

Though he initially planned to title the novel “Second Coming, he changed it to “Jerusalem's Lot” on the advice of his wife, novelist Tabitha King, who thought the original title sounded too much like a "bad sex story." King's publishers then shortened it to “Salem’s Lot”, considering that “Jerusalem's Lot” sounded too religious.

The corruption in the government was a significant factor in the inspiration of the story, King recalls at that paranoiac time of Nixon, corruption and the Whitehouse tapes in 1973 –

“Every novel is to some extent an inadvertent psychological portrait of the novelist, and I think that the unspeakable obscenity in 'Salem's Lot has to do with my own disillusionment and consequent fear for the future. 

In a way, it is more closely related to Invasion of the Body Snatchers than it is to Dracula. The fear behind 'Salem's Lot seems to be that the Government has invaded everybody.”

The novel was first adapted into a highly successful CBS miniseries in 1979, directed by Tobe Hopper [renowned for his Texas Chainsaw Massacre] and now in 2024, a new film version directed by Gary Dauberman has been released. Dauberman is best known for writing horror films Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and The Nun, as well as co-writing the 2017 film adaptation of Stephan King’s “It”.

So it was excitement all the way when Shots Magazine Editors Mike Stotter and Ali Karim were invited by Stephen King’s UK publishers [Hodder and Stoughton] to a press screening of the new film version [and reworking] of Salem’s Lot ahead of its UK Cinema release.

It should be noted that Warner Brothers [Discovery] released Salem’s Lot in America to its streaming service MAX [much to Stephen King’s irritation] while in the UK Warner Brothers Pictures opted for a full nationwide cinema release. To celebrate this theatrical release Warner Bros UK hired out the prestigiously historic venue, London’s Regent Street Cinema for its launch on Tuesday 8^th of October.

The Regent Street Cinema was first opened in 1848 and is housed in the flagship building of the University of Westminster. When it was first opened, it was used as a theatre. In late February 1896, the cinema played a short movie by the Lumière Brothers. It was the first motion picture shown in the United Kingdom.

The cinema was decorated in spooky fashion, with actors mingling amongst the invited guests and assembled journalists – with bloody cocktails, wine and blood bags with a weird concoction.

The film though two hours long moved at a frantic pace, with plenty of jump scares bound to a rousing soundtrack which included the late Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown, as well as Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man.

We were talking to journalist and editor at The Express Jon Coates prior to the start of the film. It was no surprise that Salem’s Lot was his first Stephen King novel and how it deeply impacted his love of this author’s output. Coates was not alone.

Jeffery Deaver noted that “King Singlehandedly made popular fiction grow up. While there were many good best-selling writers before him, King, more than anybody since John D. MacDonald, brought reality to genre novels. He's often remarked that Salem's Lot was Peyton Place meets Dracula, and so it was. The rich characterization, the careful and caring social eye, the interplay of story line and character development announced that writers could take worn themes such as vampires and make them fresh again.”

Peter Straub recalls that "One day I wandered into a very good book store and saw Salem’s Lot on the main table. If I had known that the book was about vampires, I might not have bought it. But I did buy it, and when I learned that one of the main characters was a vampire, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought, 'Oh my God, this guy is working with a very tired, almost exhausted, trope and he’s making something really vibrant out of it.' So I became a huge Stephen King fan on the spot."

So as the curtain came down, and we mused over the new film, the consensus we agreed upon was -

It’s hard to pare down such a dense and thematically complex novel such as Salem’s Lot into a two hour movie, even Tobe Hooper struggled with a two part miniseries back in 1979/1980. In our opinion Gary Dauberman had crafted an elegant updating to this gothic tale – though as readers, we would always steer you to grabbing a copy of King’s novel from Hodder and Stoughton – click here

Or explore Stephen King’s more recent books – reviewed here at Shots Magazine via the links below.

HOLLY – now out in paperback

YOU LIKE IT DARKER – still out in Hardcover

And an article here WORKING WITH THE KING is worth perusing.

We present a few photos from the launch party for SALEM’S LOT 2024 in LONDON

Shots Magazine would like to thank Philippa Pride and Francesca Russell of Hodder and Stoughton as well as Warner Brothers Pictures UK for a wonderfully creepy evening.

2022 Shirley Jackson Awards

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

Nominees for the 2022 Shirley Jackson Awards

NOVEL

Beulah by Christi Nogle (Cemetery Gates Media)

The Dead Friends Society by Paul Gandersman and Peter Hall (Encyclopocalypse Publications)

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland Books)

Jackal by Erin E. Adams (Bantam)

Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai (Jaded Ibis Press)

Where I End by Sophie White (Tramp Press)

NOVELLA

The Bone Lantern by Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)

Bound Feet by Kelsea Yu (Cemetery Gates Media)

Catastrophe by Deirdre Danklin (Texas Review Press)

Lure by Tim McGregor (Tenebrous Press)

Pomegranates by Priya Sharma (PS Publishing)

The Wehrwolf by Alma Katsu (Amazon Original Stories)

NOVELETTE

Azeman or, the Testament of Quincey Morris by Lisa Moore (Black Shuck Books)

“Challawa” by Usman T. Malik (Dark Stars:  New Tales of Darkest Horror)

“Sweetbaby” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, October 2022)

“This Place is Best Shunned” by David Erik Nelson (Tor.com)

What the Dead Know by Nghi Vo (Amazon Original Stories)

SHORT FICTION

“Brother Maternitas” by Viktor Athelstan (Your Body is Not Your Body)

“The Church of Divine Electricity” by Emily Mitchell (The Southern Review)

“Dick Pig” by Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare Magazine, Issue 112)

“Halogen Sky” by Wendy N. Wagner (VASTARIEN:  A Literary Journal, vol. 5, issue 1)

“Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867” by Kim Fu (Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century)

 SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

And At My Back I Always Hear by Scott Nicolay (Word Horde)

Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw (Undertow Publications)

Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted by RJ Joseph (The Seventh Terrace)

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu (Tin House)

Splendid Anatomies by Allison Wyss (Veliz Books)

We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe (Nictitating Books)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

Chiral Mad 5, edited by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)

The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors, edited by Doug Murano (Bad Hand Books)

Other Terrors, edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason (William Morrow)

Screams From the Dark:  29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Nightfire)

Your Body is Not Your Body, edited by Alex Woodroe and Matt Blairstone (Tenebrous Press)

2022 SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARDS CEREMONY

The 2022 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 15 at 8pm at Readercon 32, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Quincy, Massachusetts. 

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen

I’m the friend who takes you to the horror movie you’re scared to see. It’s a role I first occupied reluctantly, after realizing that if I didn’t exert some peer pressure, I’d always be flying solo at the cinema. Such is the reputation surrounding the genre. Many people I know “don’t do horror.”

Sometimes that aversion stems from the misconception that every scary movie is filled with gore — just Saw-era torturefests all the way down. Other times, it’s about a stress response to watching other people in peril. And if someone has a clear bright line they don’t want to cross, I stop evangelising.

But if you tell me something like, “I wanted to watch Hereditary because I love Toni Colette, but it looks so scary,” I’m your wingwoman. I’m coming over. We’ll rent it tomorrow. One by one, my horror-averse friends are getting tempted by the genre’s expansive possibilities. Whether they get pulled in by an arthouse Ari Aster film or a comedic hybrid like M3GAN, they’re second-guessing “not doing horror.” They’re realizing that they’re missing out on dynamic, genre-bending stories about the things that make us tick and the thoughts that keep us up at night. Still, they need someone to push them over the edge. To give them permission to be scared.

When I wrote my novel Patricia Wants to Cuddle, I realised I was essentially replicating my movie going role in literary form. I always envisioned it as a horror story about a reality dating show gone terribly wrong. Death and violence were part of the equation from the start. But I knew that some in my target audience — fellow Bachelor and Love Island obsessives – might not be as into Stephen Graham Jones, Catriona Ward, and Paul Tremblay as I have been these last few years.

Of course, some readers were already on my wavelength. Mary Shelley basically invented modern horror fiction, after all — and thanks in large part to the explosion of weird women’s fiction, the appetite for unhinged female-focused novels is decidedly on the rise. But still, I knew I’d have to get some new noses buried in a horror book. If I billed Patricia as a novel full of blood and guts, some would be turned off from the jump.

But what if I wrote a book about four women trying to survive a manipulative TV production, navigating complicated relationships with each other and with the contemporary social media landscape? What if they each had different reasons for signing up to broadcast their lives on the airwaves? What if those women just so happened to be filming the show on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest? And what if that island had a secret — and very hairy — inhabitant lurking in the dark? Could I tempt some reluctant souls to give that story a chance?

That was how I approached unfolding the story of Patricia. The gore in the book — and it does, eventually, become a bit sanguineous — serves a metaphorical purpose, and by the time the reader arrives there, it hits like an exclamation point. To me, it’s an extension of the inherent violence of reality television, not just violence for the sake of it. And by adopting that slow-boil strategy, I’ve heard from many readers who “don’t do horror” that they can get down with Patricia. The book’s comedic bent helps them soften the horror’s hard edges, empowering them to tackle material that’s perhaps a little more grisly than what they’re used to reading. Before they know it, they’re savoring the kills.

If I have one hope for Patricia, it’s that people enjoy it. That it lives up to the reputation of being unlike anything you’ve ever read. That it’s “bonkers,” “bizarre,” or any other number of astonished adjectives I’ve seen thrown around. But if I can be permitted a second wish, it’s that the book serves as a sort of gateway drug for new horror readers. If a dash of terror can make a reality show into frightfully fun fodder for satire, imagine what it can do to so many other premises. Horror has a lot to say, and so much more to do. 

I’m the friend who takes you to the horror movie you’re scared to see. And now I want to be the author who wrote the first horror book you’ve ever read, but hopefully not the last.

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen (Faber) Out Now

Renee has made it: she's in the final four. But is she dying to win? Renee should be thrilled to have been chosen as one of the final four contestants in The Catch, the world's biggest reality show. But now she, the other contestants, and Jeremy 'the Catch' have arrived on the remote, wooded island for the final show, Renee begins to wonder if there's something wrong. Is she taking a bigger risk than she realised? And as she and the other contestants begin their final challenges, they slowly start to realise that the island they've been taken to is hiding a terrifying secret - one that could make the final Elimination Event all too real.

More information about Samantha Allen and her work can be found on her website. She can also be found on Twitter @slawrites and on Facebook.

Nominees Announced for the 2019 Shirley Jackson Awards

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.

The nominees for the 2019 Shirley Jackson Awards are:

NOVEL

The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter (Two Dollar Radio)

Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand (Little, Brown and Co)

Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault (Park Row Books)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Gollancz-UK/Flatiron Books-US)

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (Ecco)

Tinfoil Butterfly by Rachel Eve Moulton (MCD x FSG Originals)

NOVELLA

Into Bones Like Oil by Kaaron Warren (Meerkat Press)

Late Returns by Joe Hill (Full Throttle)

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht (Tor.com)

Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma (Tor.com)

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Gallery/Saga Press)

NOVELETTE

Black Bequeathments by Simon Strantzas (Dim Shores)

The Couvade by Joanna Koch (Demain Publishing)

“Deeper, Darker Things” by Steve Dillon (Deeper, Darker Things and Other Oddities)

Luminous Body by Brooke Warra (Dim Shores)

Pwdre Ser by Kurt Fawver (Dim Shores)

“Taproot” by M. R. Carey (Ten-Word Tragedies)

SHORT FICTION

“How to Become a Witch-Queen” by Theodora Goss (Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery)

“Kali_Na” by Indrapramit Das (The Mythic Dream)

“The Truth About Josh Enloe” by Nick Straatmann (Parhelion)

“The Well” by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell (issue 55.1 of The Southern Review)

“Whistle, My Lad, and I Will Come” by Gina Ochsner (The Pink Issue of Fairy Tale Review)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

Collision: Stories by J. S. Breukelaar (Meerkat Press, LLC)

Every Human Love: Stories by Joanna Pearson (Acre Books)

Homesick by Nino Cipri (Dzanc Books)

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Riverhead Books)

Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press)

Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud (Saga Press)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, edited by Ellen Datlow (Saga Press)

The Mythic Dream, edited by Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisien (Saga Press)

The Twisted Book of Shadows, edited by Christopher Golden & James A. Moore (Twisted Publishing)

The Unquiet Dreamer: A Tribute to Harlan Ellison, edited by Preston Grassmann (PS Publishing)

Wonderland: An Anthology of Works Inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (Titan Books)

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.

Details on the ceremony for the 2019 Shirley Jackson Awards will be forthcoming.

______________________________________________________________

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work. National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novelist Jonathan Lethem has called Jackson “one of this century’s most luminous and strange American writers,” and multiple generations of authors would agree.

Website: ShirleyJacksonAwards.org

Sarah Pinborough at the 2019 Celsius 232 Festival, Spain.

Another exclusive interview via Shots' Spanish office by John Parker the academic, writer, reviewer, teacher and citrus fruit enthusiast. John spoke with John Connolly earlier which is archived HERE.  

We now present an exchange with Sarah Pinborough, which includes some interesting insights regarding her Netflix excursion as well as her upcoming new work.

So over to John Parker -

Sarah Pinborough is a name that will be familiar to Shots readers. Her most recent novels include 13 Minutes, Cross Her Heart and the internationally acclaimed, NYT bestselling and Sunday Times #1 thriller, Behind Her Eyes.  Sarah visited Celsius 232 in Avilés for the first time after having to cancel her visit last year due to unforeseen circumstances last summer, but she promised to come over in 2019 and she was as good as her word. It was certainly worth the wait.

John Parker: Here I am in the NH Hotel in Avilés with Sarah Pinborough. How are you, Sarah?

Sarah Pinborough: I’m fine, thank you. Very happy to be here.

John: And how are they treating you here at Celsius 232?

Sarah: Good, yeah! All I’ve done is eat! And drink!

John: I guess the most interesting thing to talk about at the moment is, Detrás de Sus Ojos or Behind Her Eyes, your latest novel.

Sarah: No, that’s my one before last but it’s my latest in Spain.

John: Yeah, that’s what I meant, sorry. And it’s going to be adapted into…

Sarah:  A Netflix 6-part series which is filming as we speak.

John: Do you know anything about it?

Sarah: Yeah!  I’ve been very involved. I went to the read through and I know the producers quite well because we are going to work on some other stuff so, yeah, they’ve done a pretty good adaptation. A man called Steve Lightfoot has adapted it and he’s done Hannibal and The Punisher so he’s written quite a lot of stuff with some weird in it. He has written it with another female writer (Angela Lamanna) and they have kept it quite true to the book. 

John: Do you know when it’s coming out?

Sarah: I think about June next year, June or July next year.

John: So, everyone get your Netflix subscriptions!

Sarah: Please do. And watch it all at once cos’ I’ve learned that about Netflix…

John: Bingeing…

Sarah: Yeah, they renew things on the binge…

John: Really!?

Sarah: It’s all about how many people will watch it in the first two weeks.

John: Right, got you! Are you watching anything now?

Sarah: I have just what have I done………….? I’ve done loads of things recently. Obviously, all the Villanelle stuff (Killing Eve), um, Dead To Her?  No! Dead To Me!  I should say Dead to Her is the name of my next book.

John: OK! Is that an exclusive?

Sarah: (laughs) Yeah, it is actually. They’ve just getting some proofs at HarperCollins But, yeah, loads of stuff. I inhale Netflix. I inhale it.

John: And HBO as well, I suppose?

Sarah: Yeah, everything. I’ve got a Now TV stick now. The world is my oyster.

John: Yeah, I suppose there’s a lot of potential with all these new platforms that are coming up.

Sarah: Yeah, there is.

John: Disney taking over the world

Sarah: Yeah, but they kind of kill everything as they go.

(Laughter)

John: So, let’s talk about your influences. I mean, I’m sure this is old ground for you but for new readers, they’d like to know.

Sarah: I think early influences, obviously Stephen King, anyone of my age has that. Daphne de Maurier. You know, I loved Rebecca.  I think it’s the first example in modern times of a really good domestic thriller. You know? Like Girl on A Train, Gone Girl, that kind of book? Rebecca did it first. Um, John Connolly definitely showed me how you could mix genres, blend them, you know?    

More recently, I’ve loved Liz Nugent’s writing. She’s written a couple of really good books. I think she just won the Irish book of the year… Megan Abbott, you know, I like anything with a good thriller-y twist.  But it changes in that everything you read that is good, you think, oh, you know, I could do something with that or try something like that so it does all change. You know, now I’m kind of influenced book by book rather than by authors, you know what I mean?

John: Yeah. So, when you were younger, were you were a voracious reader?

Sarah: Yeah! And I was at boarding school so there was nothing else to do! (laughs) But I think when you’re young, you read much more widely than you do as an adult so I would read all kinds of rubbish! Well, I say rubbish but not … you know, Wilbur Smith, Dracula, through to all those Pan Books of Horror, you know? Like, all of those…

John: It’s amazing how many people have read the Herbert Van Thal horror books. John Connolly mentioned them yesterday in his interview.  I’ve read them…

Sarah: Yeah! And I used to think that I hadn’t .You know I sort of started in horror and there’s a real sort of bunch of people who are really proper fans of horror and I’d say, “ No, I’ve not read that, I’ve not read that.”  And then I’d pick up one of the Van Thal books and I’d go, “Oh, I read this when I was about 10 or something!”  But I just didn’t pay attention to who it was.

John: Some of them mark you as well and stay with you forever.

Sarah: Yeah. And some of those old Twilight Zones and stuff, those have stayed with me too. But yeah, I read historical fiction and all sorts of things. I remember going through all of Graham Greene when I was about 13. Now when I’m reading I think, “Oh! This is a bit wordy!”  But I think you just read better when you are younger.

John: You’ve written a lot of stuff!  You could be considered prolific!

Sarah: I’m less prolific than I used to be. I remember someone saying… I think it may have been Michael Marshall Smith who said to me, “Sarah, prolific is not the best.” Because I used to say that some people were so prolific and he’d say it’s not the best adjective to describe a writer, you know? It’s not always the best one. So now I’m about a book every year, year and a half. I went through a little phase of, like, two books a year but I was trying to make a living.  You know? And I’ve never bought into the starving artist thing so I worked as long as I needed to and then I took six months out to write a book. I saved some money. I thought, well, I’ll take six months out of teaching and then I’ll go back but I wanted to try and be more ambitious. Which was… it became A Matter of Blood which was the first of a trilogy. So once I had gone full-time, it took 2 books a year to make 35 grand a year. (Laughter). So that was what I did. 2 books a year.

John: So, before you were a writer, you were a teacher?

Sara: I was for about 6 years.

John: What did you teach?

Sarah: English. I was Head of English in secondary.

John: Did you enjoy it?

Sarah: mmm, enjoy is a strong word. I liked the kids but teaching is boring.

John: (Defensively) Well... [editors note, John Parker is a teacher, and runs a teaching academy in Spain]

(Laughter)

Sarah: It isn’t if you’re a natural born teacher, then it’s not boring. But when you are teaching the same thing, you know, I just found that I wanted to be writing. When I am in the right frame of mind, I’m a really good teacher, if I’m not in the right frame of mind, I’m not.  It’s not the best way to be.

John: Yeah, I can understand that. Ok. You wrote books under the pseudonym of Sarah Silverwood…

Sarah: They were fantasy for children and I would have done them under my own name but my editor at the time decided a different name would be better. I don’t really know why. I think because I was writing adult crime fiction at the same time, she thought people would pick them up and get confused but as it turned out, just no one bought them because they were out under a different name. So I’ve never done a different name since.

John: I saw an interview with you online recently and you spoke about Michael Marshall Smith and you mentioned you were a fan of his book Intruders.

Sarah: Oh, yeah. I loved the book.

John: I loved the book and I liked the TV series too.

Sarah: Oh, I loved the book so much that I couldn’t get into the TV series. I thought it was a bit slow. But I probably didn’t give it the full chance.

John: It was where Mille Bob Brown started out. Have you been watching Stranger Things?

Sarah: Yeah, I’ve started Season 3 but I think it’s …

John: It’s awesome

Sarah: Is it!? You see, I’m a bit like …it feels a bit tired now.

John: I liked it more than Season 2.

Sarah: Oh, really?  I’m only two episodes in so I might have to give it a chance.

John: I recommend it. I don’t want to go into it too much but there is one scene which you have to avoid spoilers of. It’s a marvellous moment towards the end of the series which will appeal to your generation especially.

Sarah: I’m a native. I’m recognising everything so far. I was 10 in 1982 so it’s made for me.

John: So, you mentioned a new book. When will that be coming out?

Sarah: In February. It’s called Dead To Her. It’s set in Savannah, Georgia and it’s rich people being awful to each othe , with some voodoo.  I’m calling it Midnight in The Garden of Evil meets Big Little Lies. There’s that kind of vibe. Everyone seems very happy with it. It’s coming out in America at the same time. We’ve already sold the television rights.

John: That sounds great. We look forward to it. Thank you so much for your time, Sarah.

Sarah: Not at all. It was a pleasure.

Shots Magazine pass thanks to Jorge Iván Argiz and the organisers of the 2019 Celsius 232 festival, and to Sarah Pinborough for their time, insight and the soft fruits provided.

More information on her work is available from > https://sarahpinborough.com/ if you’ve not read her work, we’d urge you grab her work at the first available opportunity.

And thanks to our Spanish representative, writer, reviewer and editor John Parker, who is a Graduate-qualified English/Spanish Teacher, owner and director of CHAT ENGLISH, an English Language Centre in Avilés on the north coast of Spain John is a voracious reader, and has loved horror fiction for many, many years.

Photos (c) 2010 - 2019 John Parker, Ali Karim, Sarah Pinborough, Quercus Publishing and HarperCollins UK

Ramsey Campbell in conversation with Stephen Jones

Last week I found myself in the Bloomsbury district of London, in a dark and creepy location that resembled a passageway that Eric Zahn may have traversed. It was the surreal London Horse Hospital that would host a conversation between two key figures in the British Horror World, namely the award-winning novelist, writer and film critic Ramsey Campbell in conversation with one of Britain’s greatest living literary editors Stephen Jones.

I heard about the event, sponsored and organised by the London Campus of New England’s Misaktonic University; who have kindly uploaded some photos of the event HERE

It was good also to see writers Kim Newman, Barry Forshaw, Sean Hogan and many others.

Listening to Ramsey Campbell & Stephen Jones talk about The Weird provoked much thought as it reminded me of the past, and of Liverpool.

As an undergraduate Industrial Chemist in the 1980s, and an avid reader, together with my dear friend John Parker we plucked up the courage to interview the award-winning novelist Ramsey Campbell, as we shared Ramsey's interest in Horror Fiction especially my fascination with HP Lovecraft.

This was the very first author interview I ever conducted [with help from Shots Magazine reviewer and writer John Parker]. The interview was published in 1985 in #22 of Comics Interview Magazine.

During our exchange, I put Ramsey on the spot, asking him for a reading list of great horror fiction which he kindly scribbled down for me, and is presented here.

Hat tip to Francis Parker for the photo of the three of us, and my Mom, who cooked an Indian Banquet for us, which we devoured after the interview.

One enduring memory is that when we drove Ramsey home, and saw all the books that filled his house, I realised I was not as odd as some of my friends thought I was, fascinated by the sheer exhilaration of reading, surrounded by the comfort of my books.

As Baltimore's Dr Hannibal Lecter wrote (as he stared at the glow of Orion in the night sky), in the letter to Clarice Starling, that closed The Silence of the Lambs.

“Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever be ... But I expect you can see it too. Some of our stars are the same.”

For those not familiar with the work of Ramsey Campbell, here’s some background from the Miskatonic Institute for Horror Studies –

The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes RAMSEY CAMPBELL as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. An author, editor and critic, he has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association and the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild, while in 2015 he was presented with an Honorary Fellowship by John Moore’s University, Liverpool, for “outstanding services to literature”.

Initially influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, he published his first short story in 1962 and his first collection two years later, both with August Derleth’s famed Arkham House imprint. Since then he has published literally hundreds of short stories and novellas, and more than thirty-five novels, from The Doll Who Ate His Mother, The Face That Must Die and The Hungry Moon, to more recent titles such as Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach, The Searching Dead and Born to the Dark. Campbell has also novelised such movies as Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula’s Daughter, The Wolf Man and Solomon Kane, and PS Publishing recently issued Ramsey Campbell’s Limericks of the Alarming and Phantasmal, which was illustrated by Pete Von Sholly and covered the entire history of horror fiction.

For this exclusive event, Ramsey Campbell will discuss his life, his career and his ideology with his friend and colleague, award-winning editor and writer STEPHEN JONES, as well as giving advice to would-be writers on the current state of horror publishing. The evening will end with a Q&A session with the audience. This is an opportunity no horror fan can afford to miss—an informal discussion with one of the giants of the genre, with more than half-a-century of writing experience to draw upon, about the state of modern fiction and film. Don’t miss it!

About the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies:
Named for the fictional university in H.P. Lovecraft’s literary mythos, the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is an international organization that offers university-level history, theory and production-based masterclasses for people of all ages, founded by film writer and programmer Kier-La Janisse in March 2010, with regular branches in London and New York as well as presenting special events worldwide. Miskatonic London is co-directed by Kier-La Janisse and Josh Saco.

Read More HERE

The event was most rewarding for the Horror Reader, especially as Ramsey Campbell had corresponded with August Derleth, knew many of the key players such as Kirby McCauley, Robert Bloch, Charles Grant, Stephen King, Dennis Etchison, ST Joshi and with Stephen Jones on-hand, there was much mention of Cthulhu, Howard Phillips Lovecraft and The Weird.

We have recorded a short clip [under 2 minutes] from the event, that proves Horror Writers do not take themselves too seriously when it comes to the un-nameable and the un-pronounceable.

We have provided our readers with some photographs of the event, and click HERE for more information about Ramsey Campbell, and click HERE for more information about London’s Miskatonic Institute for Horror Studies, and click HERE for more information about Stephen Jones.

And for those who are interested in the work of HP Lovecraft then this link to the film FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN is worth watching; and incidentally features Ramsey Campbell among many other Horror Luminaries.