Confessions of my Past, Present and Future
by
Ken Preston
The Past
As a youngster I lived very much inside my own imagination. I was an
only child of two parents who argued a lot, and most days it just seemed
preferable to me that I stay in my bedroom and read, or invent imaginative and
terrible predicaments for my Action Men to get themselves out of. Many, many
years later when I reached the grand old age of forty-eight, I finally found
out the reason for all of my parents’ arguments, but that’s a story for another
time.
This being back in the days when dinosaurs still ruled the earth and the
wheel was little more than an unformed idea in the head of somebody cleverer
than myself, there was no Xbox, no internet, no video games and only one
television in the house with three channels on it. On some days, when the wind
was blowing in the wrong direction we only had two channels.
So, especially during the long school summer holidays I would quite
often spend the day exploring our local area. I was lucky, and we lived in an
area which seemed uniquely set up to fire my imagination. There were abandoned,
crumbling farmhouses to explore, paths to follow alongside gurgling streams of
water, a disused quarry, even a couple of caves to nervously enter. Looking
back now it was all a health and safety nightmare, obviously.
Add to that the history of witchcraft in the local area, and I was all
set up to be a fan of the supernatural and horror from a young age.
When I wasn’t outside I was in my bedroom reading.
I read comics, books, telephone directories, cereal packets, hell if
there was nothing else in the house I might even read my homework questions.
Everything took second place to reading, especially school. (Years later when I
finished secondary school I left with one O Level in Art. My hero, David Bowie,
also left school with one O level in Art, but it seems our careers then took
vastly different trajectories.)
So, books. I started with the ‘classics’ at an early age, working my way
through the cannon of Stevenson, Wells and, um, Biggles. Oh, and Enid Blyton
too. Once past The Lord of the Rings,
which I have to say defeated me on my first couple of attempts (I always
stalled at Rivendell for some reason) I then ‘graduated’ onto James Herbert,
Guy N Smith and Stephen King.
Before I knew it I found out all I needed to know (and a whole lot more
I didn’t at such a tender age) about sex, courtesy of James Herbert. The scene
from The Fog involving the
headmaster, the school gym and a pair of garden shears shall forever be burned
into my psyche.
My mother never paid attention to what I was reading, but my dad
borrowed all my books once I had read them. I did wonder if, once he had
discovered the ‘smutty’ parts, he might take them from me, but no. To be honest
he just seemed rather relieved he didn’t have to explain the whole sordid
business to me himself.
Although Herbert was my favourite, Guy N Smith retains to this day the
dubious honour of being the only horror author to make me cry out of fear, and
Stephen King cultivated a fear of looking into mirrors so intense it lasted
well into my twenties.
As I grew up I left James Herbert and Guy N Smith behind and moved onto
other authors, but I still read Stephen King.
The Present
These days my reading habits are varied. I still love genre fiction.
I’ve just been through a long splurge on crime books, especially the work of
Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly and Joe R Lansdale. I have just read The Black Country by Kerry Hadley-Price,
a dark, puzzling mystery which the further I delved into it the more it seemed
to me to be a horror novel in all but name.
My writing is varied too. Reflecting my love of genre fiction my
flagship series of books, Joe Coffin,
is a combination of horror and crime. Set in my local city of Birmingham the Joe Coffin series of books are written
episodic style in the TV format. Violent, profane, explicit, funny and fast
paced, my aim was to write a book I would love to sit down and watch on
television.
But I also write romances and young adult, and I have even written a
Western.
The Future
What does the future hold in terms of reading and writing? I am
constantly looking for new books to read that will excite me and spark my
interest, engage me with the characters and in the narrative. The independent
world of writing and publishing is on a boom right now and beginning to
seriously mature. No more do we need to depend on the big publishing houses for
our next favourite book, the field has been blown wide open.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?
As for writing, there will be more Joe
Coffin, more Planet of the Dinosaurs
(a young adult series), more romance books and probably a few mashups of genres
as well.
It’s funny, but as I sit here in my cellar writing this, and surrounded
by books, it seems to me very little has changed since my childhood. I’m a
married man now, with two boys and the many busy days that go with family life.
But I still find time to be on my own and read or write.
Just like that young boy I once was, I still love to escape into my own
imagination.
And I
know I always will.
You can buy Joe
Coffin here:
You can buy any of Ken’s other books here:
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy any of the
books mentioned in this feature. This not only supports me but also lets
me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my
reviews.
Thanks.
Growing up, Ken Preston never wanted a proper job, and
now he sits in his converted cellar, telling lies for a living, whilst being
distracted by his two cats, Lily and Luther.
He is the author of a wide range of genre novels, from
zombie/cowboy mash-up Population:DEAD! to his YA pirate adventure, The Devil
and Edward Teach, and contemporary horror serial, Joe Coffin.
He also writes a series of romantic thrillers, but don't
tell anyone.
Pop over to his website to check out more books and for
news on the latest releases, or just to say "Hi!", and find out how
you could be getting free short stories delivered to your inbox every month.
And for about Ken, visit his site, or find him on social
media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
No comments:
Post a Comment