Book description
Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside - Christopher Fowler
Christopher Fowler explains "'. . . Seaside' came about firstly
because I was commissioned to write a story for the World Horror
Convention souvenir book and, as the event was to take place in
Brighton, it seemed logical to set a tale on the South coast of
England. "I had written a fantasy novel, Calabash, some
years earlier, hinting at the dark madness of such seaside towns,
which are the antithesis of their Mediterranean counterparts. I
thought of the depressing Morrissey song "Every Day is Like
Sunday", which captures the awfulness of English resorts.
"Coincidentally, Kim Newman and I were discussing the inherent
creepiness of pantomime dames, and I decided it was time to give vent
to my horror of these coastal pleasure domes. I wish I'd thought to
include screaming gangs of hen-nighters as well. And I thought it was
a nice touch to have everyone in the story telling the hero to 'fuck
off' until he finally does." Featherweight - Robert
Shearman "I don't like writing at home much," admits the
author. "Home is a place for sleeping and eating and
watching afternoon game shows on TV. There are too many
distractions. So, years ago, I decided I'd only write first
drafts in art galleries. "And the best of them all is the
National Gallery, in London, a pigeon's throw from Nelson's
Column. I can walk around there with my notebook, thinking up
stories - and if I get bored, there are lots of expensive
pictures to look at. Perfect. "A lot of those paintings, however,
have angels in them. They're all over the place, wings raised,
halos gleaming - perching on clouds, blowing trumpets, hovering
around the Virgin Mary as if they're her strange naked
childlike bodyguards. And I began to notice. That, whenever the
writing is going well, the angels seemed happy, and would smile
at me. And whenever the words weren't coming out right, when I
felt sluggish, when I thought I'd rather take off and get
myself a beer, they'd start to glare. "I wrote this story
in the National Gallery. Accompanied by a lot of glaring
angels. Enjoy." Lesser Demons - Norman Partridge "I
was surprised to receive an invitation for S. T. Joshi's Black
Wings," reveals Partridge, "an anthology of Lovecraftian
fiction. Although I knew S. T. admired my work, I've never
quite seen myself as a Mythos writer. "While I respect H.
P. Lovecraft and his contribution to horror, I've never felt that his
worldview (or maybe I should say universeview) meshed with
mine. "In the end, that's what made the story work . . . at least
for me. I concentrated on my differences with Lovecraft, and
approached the material from a place where Jim Thompson would be more
comfortable than HPL. And I'm delighted that so many people have
enjoyed the tale - it was a lot of fun to write."
