It’s a very sad day here at The Horror Section. Yesterday,
British author James Herbert died at his home in Sussex. He was 69.
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| Horror novelist James Herbert. |
The importance of this man’s work to me in my formative
years is immeasurable. He and Stephen King blasted my imagination to pieces with their dark and descriptive tales.
Herbert’s The Fog was one of the first horror novels
I ever read, and my ratty, ear-marked paperback of Creed was perpetually on my
bedside table. I even used to re-enact scenes from The Rat Trilogy with my G.I. Joes as a kid.
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| Good times. |
Being from overseas, several of his works never got released domestically, so that meant I either had to stock up when I was over there, or have my relatives bring his latest offering whenever
they visited. Each new tale was devoured in an instant.
Long time readers of this blog know I lamented how untapped
his works were in terms of adaptation. His catalogue contains countless dark
wonders, yet only five – the most recent being the BBC mini The Secret of Crickley Hall last year – out of twenty-three of his works have been brought to
the screen. You may say that is a good thing, but now that the man has left us,
we will no longer be graced with new material.
On the bright side, Herbert was able to complete his Daniel
Ash trilogy, as the last chapter, simply entitled Ash, was released last year.
A great talent, and an even greater storyteller, Herbert
will be greatly missed.
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