Writer of the Horrific and Surreal

When was your fist taste of reading horror? Not seeing Dr Who or The Omen on TV. Do you remember the first story to read? You know the story you finished and said, “wow”, ’cause you weren’t allowed to say ‘shit’?

Mine was (surprisingly) while reading Science Fiction Stories for Boys. I was about 8 or 9. I was into reading from a very young age (picked up my first Stephen King when I was eleven, and my first Dean Koontz when I was fifteen), having been raised in a house full of Readers Digest condensed novels and having reles that read as well.

This book was a collection of short stories and there was a story called, Blue, about a robot called Blue. It was high adventure and got the heart pumping. There were many tense and scary moments. And another story was ‘Pot of Gold’ about a man finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And a third story was, ‘A twist in the tale’. Yes, that was the title (I think), and I recall that story blowing my young mind.

So that book was my first ‘read’ of horror, not pure horror as it was mixed with Syfy, but I think that explains a lot of my stories and tales. Very little of what I write is pure horror, especially with long fiction. Seeing The Omen at the age of eight (and reading the 5 books in the series) explains the (often) religious overtones.

So, how about you?