WHEN YOU BECOME A PARENT, THE idea of your children being in danger engenders a particular dread. And if you’re a horror writer, that can change your attitude to your work. This, says Ramsey Campbell, is what happened with his friend James Herbert.
“[He told me] if he wrote about children in peril, he wouldn’t really be able to go the whole way in the way that he had with The Rats, where there’s a baby being eaten by rats,” he says. “He said he’d never do that sort of thing again now he had children. But the odd thing is, with Steve King and me the opposite seems to have happened. We seem driven to imagine the absolute worst that could happen.”
In Campbell’s case, the latest manifestation of this is The Wise Friend, the story of a father, Patrick Torrington, whose Aunt Thelma “was a painter with a distinct tendency towards the occult, who died in mysterious circumstances” and who left behind “an account of places she visited for inspiration”. Visiting these spots, Torrington comes to believe, is dangerous because of the risk of “rousing what lies beneath”. But Torrington’s teenage son Roy is now fascinated by Thelma’s work.
“It’s partly about parental fear – your children growing up and becoming independent,” says Campbell, “and you’re attempting to guide them, but obviously you can only do that so far. There’s a point at which you and your offspring deviate, they become absolutely separate people.”
COLD PRINT
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Denne historien er fra May 2020-utgaven av SFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Making Alien - Jaws in Space - Forty-five years on from its original release, Alien continues to terrify. We dissect what arguably remains the most chilling instalment in the saga
The seven-strong crew of the commercial mining spacecraft the Nostromo seal their fate after reluctantly responding to a mysterious distress signal on a hostile planet. Here, a face-hugging alien from a derelict ship impregnates and later kills executive officer Kane (John Hurt) after its offspring is birthed onboard. After being unleashed, the fearsome newborn with acid for blood proceeds to dispatch the remainder of the crew.Ridley Scott's much more convoluted prequels have yet to reveal how the knowledge that led to this initial interception was acquired. However, the premise of the original Alien is perfect in its uncomplicated purity.
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights