LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL Previews {BOOKS}
HORROR STORIES FOR KIDS Creating terrifying tales for teenage readers
As far as groundings in the horror business go, young adult writer Barry Hutchison knew exactly what fear was from an early age. ‘I lived in a perpetual state of terror when I was a kid,’ says the Fort William-based creator of the Invisible Fiends series. ‘I was scared of everything: all animals, being high up, confined spaces; I wouldn’t go outside because I was scared I would die horribly. Then when I started to get over that, aged eight or nine, I missed the adrenalin rush that being scared would give me. That’s when I discovered It by Stephen King.’ King was also a formative influence on Darren Shan
(pictured), the Irish-based author of Cirque du Freak and Vampire Mountain, although both authors recall their early experience of the writer’s work (Shan’s was Cujo) as being a bit too dark for their young minds. Hutchison found himself just as gripped by a Choose Your Own Adventure book from 1983 named The Horror of High Ridge, while Shan loved Hammer films and British comics such as 2000AD. ‘One of the things I wanted to do with my own books was bridge the gap between Goosebumps and adult horror,’ says Shan, ‘because there used to be nothing for that age group.’ The pair are part of an accelerating market – as celebrated by this joint appearance alongside Alexander Gordon Smith – in crafting scary stories for teen audiences. ‘Just like adult horror, there’s no such thing as too scary,’ says Hutchison. ‘No matter what age you are, you pick up a horror book because you want to be scared.’ Both authors agree that the only thing off-limits is sex, but that some gore isn’t a problem. ‘It’s down to common sense,’ says Shan. ‘If I’d feel confident reading it to a class of kids and their teachers, it stays in.’ (David Pollock) ■ Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison and Alexander Gordon Smith Talk Horror, 20 Aug, 1.30pm, £4.50; Darren Shan, 21 Aug, 10.30am, £7; Alexander Gordon Smith, 21 Aug, 2pm, £4.50.
BELLA BATHURST New vehicle for Lighthouse Stevensons author GORDON FERRIS Evoking the dark side of 1950s Scotland
GRANT MORRISON Tracing the flashy history of superheroes
Bella Bathurst’s The Bicycle Book navigates the past and present of two-wheeled travel. From the suffragettes who recognised it as a ‘freedom machine’ to the post-millenium rise of cycling’s popularity, it features a cast of bike devotees, among them the woman who water-cycled across the Channel and several of today’s top riders. What was the best part of writing and researching
this paean to bikes? ‘Rides,’ says Bathurst. ‘With friends, with people I met because of the book, rides for the sheer pleasure of riding.’ And building her own frame with Lincolnshire bike-builder Dave Yates: ‘it’s always a pleasure to watch an alchemist at work, and because I adored learning how to turn what looked like a bunch of curtain poles into a bicycle.’
Since her first appearance at the Book Festival audience some years ago, ‘the fear has gone, but the respect for the erudition of Edinburgh audiences has not.’ Here is a book for cyclists and non-cyclists, for people who enjoy a good story well told. Bella Bathurst is hugely looking forward to ‘coming home’ and bringing her passion for two wheels to Charlotte Square Gardens. Be there with bells on. (Peggy Hughes) ■ 22 Aug, 2.30pm, £10 (£8).
Gordon Ferris is at the leading edge of a publishing revolution. The first two novels in his Danny McRae series, Truth Dare Kill and The Unquiet Heart, were released through a small publisher in traditional paper format and, as he has it, ‘rose without trace’. Then someone had the bright idea of releasing his third novel, The Hanging Shed, as an e-book and something clicked. ‘I’m a book lover,’ says the London-based, Kilmarnock-born Ferris, ‘so the thought of selling e-books feels somehow intangible. It’s impossible to ignore the sheer volume of folk who have read them, though, something like 200,000 in the last six months.’
Such success is based upon crisp storytelling and a unique selling point, with McRae (‘a damaged person, he had a bad war’) and new character Douglas Brodie (‘capable, strong, tough-minded’) having learned their trade in Glasgow’s police force. ‘In one sense these stories are harking back to my boyhood,’ says Ferris. ‘1950s Scotland is a very interesting time; the country is in rack and ruin, there’s high unemployment and destitution. A nation fit for heroes? Not really. It’s untravelled territory.’ (David Pollock) ■ 24 Aug (with Craig Russell), 6.45pm, £10 (£8).
F E S T I V A L
Having written for both Marvel and DC, Grant Morrison has made valuable contributions to the popular mythology of Batman, Superman and Fantastic Four. In Supergods, he traces his own obsession with the comics world and interprets the various twists and turns individual characters and writers have made ever since Clark Kent was spotted lifting up a car amid a fleeing crowd on the cover of the very first Action Comics in 1938. ‘Though many of the best ones tend to have a big
back-story going on, a lot of them don’t need it,’ says Morrison. ‘If you look back to the early Zorro film, which influenced Batman, he just turns up and starts kicking ass. That kind of approach only came in later when adults started to ask dumb questions about motivation. A superhero does need to have a good silhouette, though.’ There’s no doubt in Morrison’s mind who is
number one. ‘I love the old Flash comics, with these bizarre, trippy stories which really influenced me as a kid. He just looked the best and represented the coolest stuff, all flashy and lightning bolts and speed and energy and coffee. He was a true hero of modernity.’ (Brian Donaldson) ■ 20 Aug, 9.30pm, £10 (£8).
18–25 Aug 2011 THE LIST 29