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Last Days by Adam Nevill - a few thoughts

I know I am probably the last person to discover it (and the author), but I was impressed by Adam Nevill's  Last Days. Certain sequences were genuinely creepy and I liked the main characters - normal guys you could believe in. I would say, however, that it needed to expose more back story as the plot progressed, rather than a big reveal that squeezed centuries worth of explanation into a few pages. I will definitely be reading more by Adam Nevill though, as there is enough good content - not least the excellent use of smell in creating the horror - to hint at great things to come from this British writer.
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Found these while clearing out a cupboard...

Remember sending off for these beauties back in my teens. It was relaunched in the 80s as Halls of Horror which is how I discovered it.
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Loving R. Cheywynd-Hayes

Very excited by my growing collection of R. Chetwynd-Hayes books. I was thrilled to discover the writer character in The Monster Club was a real person!
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Five films where horror is heard but not seen

Film has always been a major inspiration for me as a writer and I love horror films that don't rely on shock tactics.  The Haunting (1963) The ultimate haunted house movie. Even the terrible 1999 remake can’t spoil the memory of this classic chiller – in fact it only emphasises the fact that sometimes less is more where horror is concerned. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) There’s plenty of creepy goings on, but the baby itself remains unseen. Director of photography, William Fraker, apparently questioned director Roman Polanski on the point. “You mean we’ve got a picture that’s two hours long, its called Rosemary’s Baby and you never see the baby?” he demanded. “Exactly,” replied Polanski. (Reel Terror, p 121) Se7en (1995) Slightly different from some of my other top five in that you do see plenty that is horrifying. But what is unusual, and sometimes forgotten because the impact of the scenes is so great, is that we only see the aftermath of horrific acts, not the acts thems
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The first chapter of my children's novel, Lightsleep

A bit of a change of pace for you now. This is the first chapter of my children's novel, Lightsleep. It's a gothic, other-world fantasy. I self-published it back in 2006 when my agent died half way through reading it. I took that as a sign and decided just to get on with it. It was an interesting experience. I managed to get a full page feature published in the Uxbridge Gazette (my old home town) and in the local Islington paper, plus was featured on a Norwich radio station while doing a book signing there. This was before social media really took off, so publicising it was hard, but a good learning experience.  I've re-published since, through www.completelynovel.com, after the first self-publishing company turned out to be more of a liability than a help, and it looks much better (plus I took the chance to correct some of the typos that had snuck in). Don't forget,  you can buy it now from Amazon.co.uk  or Amazon.com  It's often on special offer for less tha
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