# James Herbert



## Jimmy_James (Feb 24, 2006)

A number of days ago I was flicking through the channels and somehow ended up on family channel, you know with the warmth and wonder of disney and all that crap
Anyways I stuck around cuz there was a movie coming on and to my surprise it ended up being Fluke. 
I hadn't seen this movie in a few years and its been even longer since I read the book. Anyways I watched the entire thing and of course they cut out some cursive and things like that cuz its family channel
And after it was over I had to pick up another James Herbert book it was as though my palette had changed once again and I craved Herbert once more, so I ran down to the library and grabbed as many Herbert books as I could find.
I first discovered this author back in the beginning of high school when I, myself was discovering the joys of becoming a writer and working on my first novel. I went into the old school library and asked what the librarian thought would be a good book for an up and coming writer or horror. 
He didn't even stop to think about it but turned around and handed me a dusty and warn copy of the now popular book with me, Lair. I fell in love with the quality of detail and description that Hebert put forth in his writing and sought other titles from this new found writer that had a distinct King taste to his writing but then a mix of his own which made his books something I had never experienced before
This of course began to lead me to other authors, Brooks, Follett, and finally Dan Brown.
James Herbert started the trip for me though and I will always look back and reflect on his writing whenever somethign particulary horrific comes to mind when i'm writing


----------



## kalibantre (Feb 24, 2006)

I love Herberts works. My friend recommended I read "Once" cause I was twisted.. its one of my favourites.

I also loved the one with the kids and the defromities.. can't recall he title. anyway great author.

though shame on you for being lead to Dan Brown.


----------



## Jimmy_James (Feb 24, 2006)

Haha don't worry babe, I'm not stuck on him by any means, I am ashamed to admit my mother got me stuck on the da vinci code though haha
But no worries I am totally a herbert fanatic to the end


----------



## Stewart (Feb 25, 2006)

kalibantre said:
			
		

> I love Herberts works. My friend recommended I read "Once" cause I was twisted.. its one of my favourites.



I got about 100 pges into _Once..._ before putting it down boredom. I guess my interest in Herbert was waning as I only managed a few pages of _Nobody True_.



> I also loved the one with the kids and the defromities.. can't recall he title.



_Others_

My favourite Herbert book was _Haunted_, although it was eventually let down by a terrible sequel.


----------



## The Thing (Feb 25, 2006)

I grew up on Herbert too. The first grown-up book I read was The Rats when I was 12. I prefer his early stuff, but lately he's gone all King with lengthy, meandering meaninglessness. The last interesting book of his I read was '48. My best book is The Fog - contrary to populare belief the John Carpenter movie _is not_ based on this book. 

From Herbert I moved towards Shaun Hutson, Graham Masterton, Richard Laymon and dabbled with, but wasn't impressed with King. Out of all these authors Laymon is the most consistant as he rarely dissapoints. Unfortunatly he's dead. 

Another good author is Simon Clark. I reccommend Blood Crazy. It's like Children of the Corn in reverse. Instead of the kids going mental, anybody over the age of 19 becomes a homicidal maniac, with a particular penchant for their own brood.

But Herbert was my first and I will always have fond memories of reading his books.


----------



## kalibantre (Feb 25, 2006)

I had to put '48 down too. But I love once, it was the first of his work I read and I can re read it time and time again, I guess we get stuck on our first romances even if they are works of fiction.


----------



## Jimmy_James (Feb 25, 2006)

You know the great thing about herbert and not many people know this but some of the great movies of our time can be undirectly traced back to his books and even some of his books were made in to great movies, fluke, the otheres, the haunting


----------



## The Thing (Feb 26, 2006)

The film The Others is not based on Herbert's book Others, nor is The Fog based on The fog. The films based on Herbert's books are:

Haunted (1995)
Fluke (1995)
Deadly Eyes (1982) Based on The Rats
Survivor (1981)

Fluke is probably the best even though it takes out the best bits of the book. I don't think Herbert translates too well to screen. I tried to write a screenplay based on The Rats and in the first 30 pages (1 page = 1 minute) there were ten minutes of story and 20 minutes of mindless, plotless violence. It works in the context of the book, but on screen it would be crap.


----------



## Jimmy_James (Feb 26, 2006)

Have you read the others? I have the book my friend, its loosely LOOSELY based


----------



## The Thing (Feb 26, 2006)

Well they pinched it then, becuase the film isn't credited to Herbert.


----------



## Stewart (Feb 26, 2006)

Jimmy_James said:
			
		

> Have you read the others? I have the book my friend, its loosely LOOSELY based



By loosely based, do you mean they were both written on paper that came from the same tree?


----------



## Jimmy_James (Feb 26, 2006)

Is everyone here turning into me? I've been good the past few days why am i getting picked on


----------



## Stewart (Feb 26, 2006)

Jimmy_James said:
			
		

> Is everyone here turning into me?


If that's you in the avatar then I hope not. \\/

No one is picking on you; it's just that your correllation is ridiculous. One was about deformed children hidden in a hospital and the other was about ghosts.


----------



## Mike C (Feb 27, 2006)

Connor Wolf said:
			
		

> No one is picking on you; it's just that your correllation is ridiculous. One was about deformed children hidden in a hospital and the other was about ghosts.



Close enough, huh? He did say LOOSELY... Like Rambo is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet.


----------

