How to use this Page

I'll readily put my hands up and say I'm a fan of Barry Hutchison's books, and I'm happy to say The 13th Horseman does not disappoint.  It's fun, funny, fantastical yet full of everyday normality we can all relate to.  It's a veritable cornucopia of crazy ideas and zany moments and so charmingly and eccentrically British!  And all topped off with an impending Armageddon!  What's not to like?

I don't get sent enough books to read where I think, 'Oh, boy, I wish I'd had this to read when I was a kid.'  Because I think that's what Barry Hutchison achieves so brilliantly - really entertaining, page-turning books for kids (or grown-up kids like me).  They're accessible for all kinds of readers, they feel fresh, modern and witty, and for me that's the key, especially in an age of competing with TV, the internet and computer games.  Barry does explore some dark ideas but let's face it many kids have an interest or fascination with these subjects, and Barry does it so well and in such a light-hearted and surreal way, that you're scared and laughing in equal measure.

I don't do spoilers because it takes all the fun out of reading the book.  Each reader should discover things about the story for themselves, but I will say that the three Horsemen of the Apocalypse are hilarious. 

Would I recommend this book?  Most definitely!
Tracy

And I'd also say check out Barry's other books from his Invisible Fiends horror series for 9+ readers.  I've read and reviewed two of the books from the series -
Mr Mumbles
Raggy Maggie

You can also read a 2009 tall tales & short stories interview with Barry Hutchison here

And in another post, Barry talks about Writing Horror for Kids

Add a Comment

YA author, Phillip W Simpson, talks about demons, conflicted characters and can we choose between good and evil.








This may sound a bit odd, but I love demons.

Humans have always been fascinated by them. They feature heavily in religious texts by many different cultures, sometimes in forms we wouldn’t immediately recognize, but trust me – they’re there. Their form and nature have been used to scare us, warn us, threaten us and tempt us for thousands of years.

I’ve always been drawn to them. My first encounter with them was probably in the Lord of the Rings when I was eight years old. If a Balrog isn’t a demon, then I don’t know what is.

Legend

After that, I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved the variety of them, how they were often depicted in books, movies and comics in completely different ways. The suave, suited demon always intrigued me. Think of the demons in Constantine. Then there was the full-blown demon that most people picture when they think of a demon. You know what I’m talking about – the horns, flaming red skin and crimson eyes. Possibly but not always with dark, bat-like wings arching over their shoulders. The demon (devil) in the 1985 movie Legend, starring a very young Tom Cruise embodies this look.


The Book of Swords series by Fred Saberhagen, did a different take on demons which I absolutely loved. If you haven’t read this series and you love fantasy, you should. There is a scene in the first book where a demon is chasing the heroes through dark, underground tunnels. It’s so tense and scary that I can picture it vividly even now (it must have been at least 10 years since I’ve read it). I’m smiling nervously and casting the occasional glance over my shoulder as I write this.

Don’t get me wrong though. I still love zombies, vampires and werewolves but I just love demons more. Besides, even I was getting a bit sick of the glut of vampire novels on the market.

I wanted to write about them because demons have always intrigued me due to the dichotomy that surrounds them. They are fallen angels after all, so doesn’t that mean that they were once good? They may be evil now, but I’m sure that somewhere in their past (they are immortal after all), back in the good old days when they were angels, they embraced their good side. Surely this good side has a danger of emerging now and again.

These days, demons are becoming more common in literature, particularly YA. They are often the fallen angel variety. Often they look human except for some minor demonic feature that can be overlooked. Women find them intriguing (and basically almost impossible to resist) because they can sense the duality of their nature. Demons are the ultimate bad boy. Every part

Add a Comment

Hi David and welcome to tall tales & short stories.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born inside out, which caused much distress to my parents. After 12 years, during which I created a new form of breathing, I was sent to a special school for really irritating children. I graduated with honours, bought a sailing boat and dedicated my life to shopping.

Or…

I’m one of three brothers, a qualified teacher, have worked on a salmon farm, once got mistaken for being homeless, painted a windmill, almost drowned aged six, tried out for the royal marine reserves, shot my first pigeon aged 13, permed my hair, self-published a magazine for two years and can’t go a week without watching a horror movie.

One of the above is true. Or perhaps they both are.









What inspired you to write THE DEAD?

I don’t think any one thing inspired me to write it. I didn’t have a eureka moment that got me out of bed in the middle of the night, desperate to find a quill and ink to pen my ideas for a new horror trilogy! More’s the pity; how cool would that be? I love horror. I can’t help myself. I love reading it and writing it. Something about it just makes me feel alive. So I guess what inspired me is simply my love of horror; and I’m now writing the stuff. I can’t believe my luck.


THE DEAD is your début novel. Is it your first attempt at writing a novel or do you have other manuscripts hiding away?

Stacks of ‘em! I’ve spent years writing and writing and writing and now it seems to finally be coming together. I’ve got some truly awful stuff. Actually, I haven’t, but a mate has. He’s got the lot and has kept it all to give to me when I ‘make it’. Writing is a process of putting yourself on your own, when normal people would be out having a laugh, and just tippy-tappy-typing. It’s a bit strange when I think about it how much time I’ve s

Add a Comment

All that follows is true, I swear…

I was born the son of a fairground showman. For the first year of my life, my family and I travelled the southern byroads of England, pitching up on town greens with helter-skelters, ghost trains, waltzers, sideshows and the infamous ‘Wall of Death’ (an almost vertical circular track around which a motorcyclist would hurtle at phenomenal speeds). When I was still in nappies (‘diapers’ to our American cousins), we settled in the seaside town of Skegness. ‘Skeggy’, as it is known to the locals, is famed for its ‘bracing’ offshore winds – which basically means it’s bloomin’ windy up here! Anyway, the Husseys may have stopped travelling, but we were still fairground people at heart and so, during the school holidays, I helped out on my uncle’s infamous ghost train ride – the scariest spookhouse on the East Coast!

At school, I was always a fairly average student – rubbish at maths and science but pretty good at English. It was only when I went to secondary school that my grades started to improve. It was all down to an amazing English teacher – Mrs Breeds – who inspired me to read and write my own stories.

I went on to study Law at university. Why, oh why, did I study Law?! Not got the foggiest. Just seemed a good idea at the time. What I really wanted to do was write. But I always felt that writers were these mythical, god-like beings that lived in a kind of literary Olympus: powerful, unknowable, untouchable. How could a mere mortal such as I aspire to such divinity? Of course, now I know better. We writers are the least god-like and the most human of, well, humans. Prick us and we bleed. Wrong us (like with a bad review) and we’ll revenge! Or, more likely, mope about the house for a bit filled with loathing and self-doubt! Hmm, seem to be going off on a tangent there…

Eventually, after pursuing a half-hearted legal career, I started a Masters Degree in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, bagged myself an agent pretty soon afterwards, and embarked on the life of a writer of horror stories. Last year, after being challenged by my bookseller friend Deborah Chaffey to write a horror series for kids, I sat down and penned the first Witchfinder book. It was a revelation. Witchfinder is the most fun I’ve ever had as a writer.




What inspired you to write WITCHFINDER: DAWN OF THE DEMONTIDE?

As I say, it all began with Deborah. She’s absolutely committed to children’s fiction and basically threw down the gauntlet. I’d had a couple of adult horror books published by this time (Through a Glass, Darkly (2008) and The Absence (2009)) – now Debs set the challenge to write a genuinely exciting, spooky, inventive and mysterious horror book for kids. For one of my earlier books I’d done some research into the history of the 1

Display Comments Add a Comment