Monday 1 December 2008

Feelgood horror fiction

Yes, there is such a thing. Although I'm using the word "horror" as a kind of general catch-all to include supernatural shenanigans of any kind. I've recently read a number of books whose authors breathlessly cite Stephen King as their muse, their inspiration, and their spiritual father. Sadly, not one of them had what it took. And that's not to say that they were badly written, just that they seemed to have totally missed the point about Stephen King, which is that he doesn't really write horror. I know, I know, he is the mainstay of every Horror section in every bookshop in the world, and arguably made the genre the mainstream moneyspinner it has become for so many publishers. However. Horror, to me, is what James Herbert writes - bleak, nasty, and full of rats, with everybody dead or mutilated at the end. While Stephen King has a limitlessly gruesome imagination, what he also has is a phenomenal sense of decency. You can tell that Stephen King was the fat speccy boy who was mercilessly bullied at school, and as a result has become the champion of the underdog. Almost every one of his heroes is a weak character - a battered wife, a small child, an old woman, a kid with a stammer/glasses/weight problem. And by the end of the book, natural justice has (usually) prevailed in their favour. It's the satisfying and very black-and-white morality of fairy tales. In the same bracket I'd put Muriel Grey (yes, the weeny Scottish Annie Lennox-clone from The Tube), John Connolly and the truly wonderful Phil Rickman. I was having huge difficulties getting off to sleep last night (Sunday night syndrome) and realised that it was because I had three chapters left of To Dream Of The Dead by Phil Rickman - and I had to put the light on and finish it, reassuring myself that embattled female vicar (and Deliverance minister) Merrily Watkins and her grumpy New Age daughter Jane would be OK. Of course they were, because Phil Rickman is (and I say this with the utmost respect for both of them) another Stephen King. Albeit an uncompromisingly British one.
The lovely Phil Rickman (on left). In his day job as BBC Radio Wales' "Phil The Shelf". Won't bother with a picture of Stephen King because you all know what he looks like.

13 comments:

Rol said...

I agree 100% about King, Lucy - he shouldn't be filed under 'Horror', but 'Hope'. Even at his bleakest, you always feel he's writing on the side of the angels.

Not read any Phil Rickman, but I do like his brother Alan, so I've added him to my list.

Lucy Fishwife said...

You're right! The good ones all have Hope/Redemption as a key factor. And I so nearly went back and added a sentence to that effect. I just read a book called "The Birthing House" by some bloke who desperately wants Stephen King to be his best friend, and it wasn't REALLY bad, but it ended miserably in an abattoir of nastiness and I felt quite dispirited by it. Hence turning to Phil Rickman. I recommend "The Wine Of Angels" or, deeply odd and very good, "December" - all about whether or not the recording of a new album in an old studio is being cursed/haunted by the ghost of John Lennon...

Lucy Fishwife said...

PS - Alan Rickman, ha ha. If he wrote horror do you suppose it would all be in a heavily Vincent Price voice?

Steve said...

I have never heard of Phil Rickman and must confess that I have never read a Stephen King novel in my life. I've always been resistant for some reason - probably allowed myself to be soured by the movies of his books (Shawshank and Green Mile excepted). I probably should give him a go though I think I'm more likely to try Rickman first.

Lucy Fishwife said...

Oh Steve what a treat you have coming to you (if you're into the crossover Crime/Supernatural type genre, that is...). Phil Rickman writes great big dark semi-crime novels that are stubbornly english (ie the plots involve Fred West, Elgar, Conan Doyle etc) - rather like Christopher Fowler does with his Bryant & May series. No way could they ever be Hollywoodified (hurrah). Although the thought of a Hollywood studio making a film about a female vicar in the current climate of religious shock 'n' awe is unlikely. I recommended "December" to Rol and have just realised it's out of print but can be obtained very cheaply from *cough*amazon*cough*. Spend that 1p (plus postage)!! And read "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" by Stephen King. Very uncharacteristic.

Brother Tobias said...

Like Steve, something has stopped me from going near King. I think it's partly because I associated 'Horror' with the sort of James Herbert idiom you mentioned, partly because my children liked it from a youngish age (so I assumed it must be awful), and partly because the films are aimed at the people who live over the top of the Downs, who marry their sisters. I now see that I'm a prejudiced OG, and I'm going to start with Phil Rickman. (He played pretty good keyboards in 'Yes' anyway.

Perfumeshrine said...

I will take your rec of Phil Rickman into consideration. Alan's brother, huh? What a clan!
I also believe S.King is given the short end of the stick too many times because people judge by the -mostly mediocre- film adaptations and not the actual novels, which are quite good (and very descriptive and atmospheric!)

Lucy Fishwife said...

BT - I know, that's exactly why my mum won't read it - I'm sure there's an inbuilt generational scoff mechanism. I do recommend him - he's not really Horror at all, more Morality Tale With Some Gruesomeness.

Helg - I recommend Phil Rickman highly. I love the way he now has a whole invented clan of relatives...I very much liked his brother as Wolverine in the "X-Men" films...

ScentScelf said...

Well! I've picked up a good author rec, and some good gossipy tidbits along with. You are on target with hope/redemption in King...goes back...remembering back even to The Shining...

I totally love that there is a talented Rickman family. It would have bugged me no end even a couple of years ago, but I'm at peace with that. :)

mantua maker said...

Is the scoff mechanism a family thing rather that generational? There's a stack of books that I haven't read, probably never will, because my brother read them.

Lucy Fishwife said...

SS - He does quite a lot of self-sacrifice as well, somehow that's the only way some of his characters get redeemed. It happens in The Shining and also in The Stand. Actually quite Catholic! ("Stephen King as religious author - discuss" !!) Phil Rickman is actually a superhero called Rick-Man, his mystic ability is to change into a rickshaw when trouble threatens... (well, it could happen...)

MM - Your brothers read some dreadful tripe. That's not intergenerational/family scoff, it's discernment. Although I have to agree - my bro used to read E E "Doc" Smith and even at the age of 14 I could tell they were bloody awful.

The Poet Laura-eate said...

I think you have hit upon the charm of King's horror over that of others Lucy, even if his is arguably more amateurishly written.

Lucy Fishwife said...

You're right, you're right. Although I think he's deliberately adopting what Robertson Davies would call "the rough demotic" because he assumes that's who his readers mostly are; in his desire for everyone to be able to identify with the characters he makes them all as blue-collar as possible.I think it's down to the fact that everyone supposedly hates the middle classes (I'm PROUD to be bourgeois, PROUD I tell you) so middle-class characters in a book are all either selfish members of the chattering classes or laughable PC weeds. Another reason I love Phil Rickman - the heroine is not only unapologetically middle-class but a vicar...