Post by petrolino on Sept 9, 2018 11:51:44 GMT
What are your favourite stories written by James Herbert?
I wish Paul Verhoeven could film his version of Herbert's horror novel 'Moon' (published in 1985). Herbert's treasure trove of horror fiction is ripe for the picking but past attempts to film his books have generally fallen flat. It's one of my favourite Herbert novels.
"Jim (Herbert) I've known since I was asked onto a TV programme. Ken Russell was on the same show. After the show we had lunch in the BBC canteen and all got on famously. It was in October, as far as I can remember, so I asked Ken and James to my birthday party. Ken couldn't come but Jim turned up with his wife, Eileen. He was a great favourite amongst the diners so ever since then he has turned out on a foggy November night to enjoy the fun.
One of the first questions I asked Jim when I got to know him was why he had turned down a script I had written based on one of his most thrilling novels, The Dark. I had been approached by Johnny Hough, (Twins Of Evil (1971), The Watcher In The Woods (1980 ), The Howling (1988), to write the script and I was more than thrilled to get the opportunity of collaborating with the maestro of horror, Herbert.
What struck me was the way Jim built up the hero and then wasted him. Some writers could not have handled the sudden change of protagonists. When the man you have been following for about a third of the book disappears in a welter of gore, it is hard to sustain interest but the loss of the hero makes the reader even more tense. If the hero can be done away with, who else is for the chop?"
One of the first questions I asked Jim when I got to know him was why he had turned down a script I had written based on one of his most thrilling novels, The Dark. I had been approached by Johnny Hough, (Twins Of Evil (1971), The Watcher In The Woods (1980 ), The Howling (1988), to write the script and I was more than thrilled to get the opportunity of collaborating with the maestro of horror, Herbert.
What struck me was the way Jim built up the hero and then wasted him. Some writers could not have handled the sudden change of protagonists. When the man you have been following for about a third of the book disappears in a welter of gore, it is hard to sustain interest but the loss of the hero makes the reader even more tense. If the hero can be done away with, who else is for the chop?"
- Ingrid Pitt writing on March 10, 2009 for Den Of Geek
'After a college course in graphic design, he went on to work at an advertising agency. He started his first novel, The Rats, at the age of 28 and completed it within 10 months. He submitted the manuscript to six publishers, three of whom replied. Of those, two rejected the novel and one accepted it. The Rats was one of four Herbert novels made into films, along with The Survivor, Fluke and Haunted. His novel The Secret Of Crickley Hall was adapted for television and broadcast on BBC One in December, while The Magic Cottage was dramatised for BBC Radio 4.'
- James Herbert remembered at the British Broadcasting Corporation
