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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.244.38
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 08:12 pm:   

Sad to hear this via This Is Horror on Facebook:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21870413
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.13
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 08:26 pm:   

Along with Ramsey, James Herbert was the first writer of adult horror fiction I read. A really sad loss.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.30.203.31
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 09:22 pm:   

Oh, no. He looked unwell, but in good spirits, when I saw him at Fantasycon last year. A very nice and down to earth bloke who carried no sense of his own fame.
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.159.231.151
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 09:31 pm:   

A shock indeed. God speed James.
'The Rats' was very possibly the first Horror novel I ever read.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.148.135.208
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 09:46 pm:   

RIP. I enjoyed his earlier novels at the time, but drifted away as I found other writers (Ramsey, Klein etc.) more to my taste, but his death is great shame; 69 isn't much of an age nowadays.
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 94.197.127.215
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 09:52 pm:   

Very sad to hear of his passing. At his best he wrote highly readable, quirky supernatural thrillers that were perfectly of their time (often more so than contemporary literay efforts of the age), and by all accounts he carried his success and fame with easy grace and a sparkle in his eye. I suspect he would probably have had a chuckle about the last line of Ash being his last published line of fiction.

With his going there will be a terrible absence of a UK horror presence in the bestseller lists. The genre was the better for him and his work.

For me, The Rats, Fluke, The Spear, Shrine, The Magic Cottage, Sepulchre, Haunted, Creed, Portent, and more recently Nobody True saw him at his best. He gave me the shivers in more than one of his books, including in some of his more recent works. I'll remember a nice icy thrill down the spine when I was reading Crickly Hall in a sunny cafe in summertime.

He also supported a number of charities quietly and without any fuss.

All in all, not a shoddy lot.
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Simon Bestwick (Simon_b)
Username: Simon_b

Registered: 10-2008
Posted From: 213.106.77.123
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 11:06 pm:   

Oh god. This is shocking and very sad news, even though I'd drifted away from his books over the years. He wrote some belters- DOMAIN, in particular, springs to mind. Genuinely regret not taking the opportunity to speak to him and shake his hand at FCon last year. And by all accounts a very nice bloke, too.
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Mbfg (Mbfg)
Username: Mbfg

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 80.5.8.49
Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 11:13 pm:   

I visited "The Magic Cottage" over one sunny weekend back in 1988-ish and I have never forgotten the effect it had on me as someone trying to learn the art of writing. I was a late starter when it came to James Herbert, but once started, there was no turning back. "48" is my favourite.

A quietly brilliant and understated writer who transformed British horror.

Terry
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 12:55 pm:   

I got a real jolt when I read the title of this thread. One of those moments when the reality of one's own mortality comes crashing unexpectedly in. James Herbert has been a constant presence throughout my life. He can't be dead! Awful, awful news.

He was the best British pulp horror writer of his generation. I loved his early works and read them all as soon as they came out, up until the late 80s. In my mind he was on a par with Robert R. McCammon and a very similar type of writer. He always delivered and his books were never less than thrilling. I'd pick 'Shrine' as my favourite and the one that frightened me most, with its inspired use of Catholic iconography to generate a palpable sense of evil masquerading as good. After that 'The Rats' trilogy has to be the absolute pinnacle of the "revenge of nature" cycle that was so popular in the 70s/early 80s.

The best film adaptation of one of his works, imo, was the seriously underrated and damn spooky 'Haunted' (1995) directed by Lewis Gilbert.

Rest in Peace, sir. It feels like a part of the solidity of life has disappeared with this news.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.13.94.31
Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 02:38 pm:   

We were actually going to be in conversation at the Liverpool literary festival in May. We'll have that conversation one day, Jim.
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Simon Bestwick (Simon_b)
Username: Simon_b

Registered: 10-2008
Posted From: 213.106.77.123
Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 04:27 pm:   

The This Is Horror website have been publishing a number of tributes to him, both from fellow writers and fans. To the best of my knowledge, it's open to anyone who would like to send something in.
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/rip-james-herbert-8-april-1943-20-march-2013/
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 1.169.140.66
Posted on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 03:40 am:   

This is really sad to hear - my heart sank when I read the thread title. James Herbert was one of the first horror writers whose work I read as a teenager back in the 70s (I may have read Dennis Wheatley first, and I'd read John Gordon). I loved The Rats and The Fog and eagerly awaited every new book. I haven't read several of his later books (must address that) and really should read his earlier novels again. I'm grateful for all the chills his books gave me as a teenager, when the only other books to be found around the army school I attended were war novels.

Stevie, I enjoyed Haunted too. I dimly recall there being an adaptation of Survivor, but don't remember whether it was any good.
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Simon Bestwick (Simon_b)
Username: Simon_b

Registered: 10-2008
Posted From: 213.106.77.123
Posted on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 07:56 am:   

Watched the film of The Survivor yesterday. It was OK, but not brilliant; has some nice moments though, and a fine performance from Robert Powell as Keller. And Jenny Agutter, of course, is always watchable.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 12:27 pm:   

'The Survivor' (1981) was a decent story with a great cast hampered by stilted direction and a lack of atmosphere. It's very routine.

'Fluke' (1995) was an overly sentimental Americanised travesty of the book.

I haven't seen the Canadian adaptation of 'The Rats', retitled 'Deadly Eyes' (1982), or last year's BBC serial of 'The Secret Of Crickley Hall' (never liked that title) and wonder if either of them were any good?
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 188.31.143.125
Posted on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 10:13 pm:   

The first episode of CRICKLEY HALL is pretty good. It's the one that most closely follows the book. Episode two differs from the book a fair bit, but the book's back in sight if not wholly intact for the final episode. Worth a watch, I'd say.

Afraid I've never been able to sit through THE SURVIVOR in one go. And it's a short film.

Here's an interesting interview you can listen to, Neil Gaiman asking questions of James Herbert around 1988. Herbert sounds sharp and intelligent in it.

http://sounds.bl.uk/Arts-literature-and-performance/ICA-talks/024M-C0095X0357XX- 0100V0
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.225.42.243
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 10:45 am:   

I'll never forget The Fog, The Rats, Lair, Domain. His journalistic in-your-face style perfectly suited the material. I learned a lot from him.

(Written in Berlin on a borrowed laptop.)
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.160.235
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 04:13 pm:   

He certainly had a gift. Sepulchre is one of the few books to give me a nightmare. I really enjoyed The Fog for its adolescent catharsis. I also enjoyed The Dark. I stopped reading him after Ghosts of Sleath, which struck me a SFX-heavy Hollywood movie in prose, but I'm glad I read those earlier books. I'm reliably informed that some of his later works deserves attention, so maybe I'll go back to him one day.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.13.107
Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 08:01 pm:   

Ah, this is depressing news. I haven't read much by him in years but absolutely loved his work as a teenager and have been planning on revisiting a lot of it for a while.

I'm interested to hear the Crickley Hall adaptation is different from the book. I got the novel for Xmas but have stuck it away on a shelf since (I thought) I knew the story from the TV show, and needed to wait a while before reading it.
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.40.253.211
Posted on Friday, March 29, 2013 - 10:45 pm:   

The TV show was quite faithful to the book, David. Plot and character-wise. But it expanded on the book in the second episode in ways that weren't needed. For some reason they changed the dog's name from Chester to Clyde as well. I mean - why? Anyway, I think it's as good, if not better in places, as Haunted, which was probably the best of the movie adaptations.

I'm rereading Shrine at the moment, as a sort of nod to Mr Aitch's passing. And it's pretty bloody good.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.55.247
Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2013 - 01:42 am:   

Shrine is actually the one I want to re-read the most. I read it when I was a teenager and still have vague, half-remembered imagery from it floating around in my head, like the memory of a dream, so I'm quite keen to experience it again.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.27.244
Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2013 - 11:37 am:   

It was the novel that converted me to Jim's work.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.30.205.180
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 12:30 am:   

Unnervingly, I saw a real giant rat – the size of a smallish cat or a large rabbit – nosing around my next-door neighbour's litter bin today. I live near a major rubbish dump so rats are nothing new, but that one had me nervous about leaving the house.

Like Simon, I think Domain is the best of Herbert's rats trilogu.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.30.205.180
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 12:31 am:   

Trilogy, sorry.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.29.49.222
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 09:33 am:   

trilogu are what Hutson wrote. with emphasis on the gu.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.39
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 01:22 pm:   

Rats are intelligent and make good pets. If it weren't for my cat I'd probably have one in the house right now.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 01:49 pm:   

Frighteningly intelligent, Hubert. I'll never forget seeing one sneak up and pounce upon a large blackbird as I was out walking by a river one day. I ran at it and the rat stood its ground and gave me the most intelligent evil stare I've ever seen on the face of any animal. it was sizing me up as a rival and when I shouted and stamped my foot it let the bird go and scampered off. The bird after a moment of stunned shock flew off. i swear I could feel that rat's beady little black eyes glaring at me from the undergrowth the whole way down the path. Made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. They are amazing creatures I have nothing but a wary respect for.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.39
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 02:32 pm:   

There are tales of the wild wolf returning to our territory after decennia of absence (Gawd knows why it suddenly decided to do so) and already people are panicky. Ecologists say the animal doesn't stand a chance because of the widespread rumour of it being a man-eater. I wonder to what extent the stories about hungry rats hunting humans in packs are true.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 02:57 pm:   

Rats are naturally scavengers but when they are starving or spot an opportunity they are as ruthless hunters as cats and, I would say, at least as intelligent.

What they lack is any kind of social structure and instead will turn to cannibalism when no other food is available. One of the things I loved about the novel 'Earth Abides' was the logical and unsensational way George R. Stewart mapped out how all species coped with the end of civilization. The rats had a population explosion until the food they could scavenge dried up. Then they turned to killing small or medium sized animals in disorganised opportunistic hordes before finally turning on each other until the population had stabilised again. Only the weak or sickly, such as small children, invalids and the infirm elderly were at risk from direct attack.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.27.144.202
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 10:15 pm:   

"Only the weak or sickly, such as small children, invalids and the infirm elderly were at risk from direct attack."

Sounds like a pretty accurate forecast of austerity budgeting.
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 94.197.127.54
Posted on Monday, April 01, 2013 - 09:46 am:   

Well, James Herbert did always say that was essentially the theme and a lot of the subtext to his rats novels.
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 94.197.127.54
Posted on Monday, April 01, 2013 - 09:47 am:   

(Top marks to David Miliband for resigning as a director at Sunderland footy club, in protest at the installation of a self-proclaimed fascist as manager.)
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.39
Posted on Monday, April 01, 2013 - 12:27 pm:   

George Stewart? Is he the one who thought of the labyrinth experiment? A labyrinth of fairly vast proportions was built and a relatively small population of rats introduced. There was food, water and room for every individual. Then, by degrees, more and more individuals were added to the mini-society while the amount of food and water remained the same. After a fashion some of the rats became killers, jealously guarding the food supply and the space they occupied. As more rats were added it was observed that they started hunting in packs, attacking unprotected individuals, and some lone specimens became serial killers. Females were raped, the young devoured, and sexual 'mores' became confused. A description of the experiment can be read in Colin Wilson's Origins of the Sexual Impulse.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, April 01, 2013 - 03:00 pm:   

Rats live by the law of the jungle in its most naked and savage form. They exist as selfish individuals with a frightening level of intelligence for their size and are adept at making swift judgement calls in any situation where their survival is threatened. The stronger individuals will kill and consume the weaker and the weaker will forge opportunistic alliances to protect themselves and be able to overcome stronger individuals. They recognise and understand the motivations of their own and are such fast breeders that they will always end up part of a large population but that's as far as their understanding of co-operation or society goes. Thank feck or we'd all be fucked!!

George R. Stewart wrote the best novel I read last year and by far the greatest post-apocalypse sci-fi novel I have ever read. It even beats 'The Death Of Grass' and 'The Stand' ffs! Rats pay a large part in it, also; ants, cockroaches, flies, dogs, cats, birds, livestock, and a few human beings. That experiment sounds barbaric and completely fascinating! Reminds me of my old formicarium.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.150.133.146
Posted on Monday, April 01, 2013 - 09:06 pm:   

Rats live by the law of the jungle in its most naked and savage form. They exist as selfish individuals with a frightening level of intelligence for their size and are adept at making swift judgement calls in any situation where their survival is threatened. The stronger individuals will kill and consume the weaker and the weaker will forge opportunistic alliances to protect themselves and be able to overcome stronger individuals.

You're still talking about the tories - although the intelligence issue is a frighteningly low IQ for their size, not a frighteningly high one.

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