James Herbert (8th April 1943 – 20th March 2013) was an English horror writer with book sales totalling more than 54 million books, translated into 34 languages.
Born in London, Herbert released his first novel, The Rats in 1974. This and many of his other works would go on to become major adaptations in their own right. He wrote and released work right up to w2012, just a year before his death and is said to be an inspiration to many other horror authors, including Stephen King, who described his writing as “like Mike Tyson in the ring, all brute force”.
Today we’re honouring the author with some facts you may not know!
Today we’re honouring the author with some facts you may not know!
As a child, Herbert was afraid of the dark. While he overcame this fear, he never overcame his fear of spiders.
Herbert owned two chairs, previously owned by Satanist Aleister Crowley. When he hosted parties at home he would challenge guests to sit in them.
Every evening at 6pm sharp Herbert would finish writing and leave his desk. He would then proceed to pour himself a large vodka and watch The Simpsons.
His childhood neighbours were the Krays. Herbert’s mother used to worry there would be retribution for him describing the brothers as ‘animals’ in his fiction, fearing they may read the books in prison.
In 2010 Herbert was made the Grand Master of Horror by the World Horror Convention, he was presented the award by his long term friend Stephen King.
His first novel, The Rats was inspired by the rats who used to attack his father’s fruit and vegetables on his Brick Lane Market Stall.
The Rats was rejected by five publishers before being accepted by a sixth. It went on to sell 100,000 copies in the first three weeks after its publication.
After school, Herbert worked as an art director in an advertising company. Salman Rushdie was a colleague.
He designed most of his own book covers.
Herbert hated violence and never planned to write horror, he just found it poured right out of him.
And so now you know a little more about James Herbert, and if you’re a fan of horror then below are what we think are three of his most enjoyable books.
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There’s a factual error here: Aleister Crowley was NOT a Satanist; he called himself ‘The Beast 666’ as a way of giving the middle finger to the Christian religion he hated, but he followed his own belief system, Thelema, which had nothing to do with Satanism.