Tag: entertainment news

RIP James Herbert (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013): Ash to Ashes

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My good friend John Mountain over at Written in Blood was kind enough to “inadvertently” inform me of author James Herbert‘s death. I’d been “out of sync” with real life matters and in so doing had missed the news of Herbert’s untimely death on Wednesday the 20th of March this year.

He will be greatly missed.

James Herbert was initially an art director for an advertising agency (courtesy of Wikipedia) before becoming a full-time writer. A writer who designed his own book covers and did all his own publicity. He was also a writer who used to “scare the pants” off me and his other faithful readers.

With his novel The Rats and the subsequent sequels to it, Lair and Domain, he gave me an almost pathological fear of English rats. His vermin villains were bigger and smarter than your average British rat and in 2008 when I visited my daughter in her first apartment at Uni and saw a rat as big as a small dog, it wasn’t ringing the council that first sprang to my mind, it was James Herbert and his über scary rats.

Stephen King once said of Herbert that he was the type author who “grabbed his reader’s lapels and screamed into their faces [sic]” and his early books did just that. Who can forget the images that his scenes of horror evoked?

The legless dog stumping towards the letterbox in The Dark; the harsh headmaster who has his genitals cut off in The Fog; and as mentioned above, the rats in The Rats.

But his horror story skills evolved over the years, just as his novels evolved. He could tell a damned fine fantasy horror story and stories that, although steeped in the horror verse, were more sophisticated and complex than his earlier works. He had made the transition from the “pulps” to the slick world of mainstream horror fiction.  I have read every book published by James Herbert and loved them all.

But my favourite books of Herbert’s dealt with David Ash. The guilt-ridden paranormal investigator who fought an internal battle against his own psychic abilities. The man who was haunted by first his own sister and later by an entire family of ghosts in Haunted; then an entire village in The Ghosts of Sleath  and finally with the ghosts (?) in an exclusive madhouse in Ash; his last book published just before his untimely death.

Years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing James Herbert on late-night telly. He has come on some program not to plug his latest book, but because he a was a rock fan who was actually touting his favourite bands next tour. He wore a heavy metal t-shirt and his hair was long and he seemed like one helluva nice guy.

I remember thinking, ‘That’s James Herbert??’ The guy who has managed to scare the hell out of me in almost all his books? I was shocked at just how nice the chap seemed. Herbert, who was awarded an OBE  in 2010, was an author who never really quite believed his success and never really felt comfortable with the praise and adulation that his books brought about.

I am, rather sadly, reading the last book of Herbert’s (Ash) and while reading it I can’t help but ponder a world without James Herbert. His books sold over 42 million copies worldwide (Wikipedia) and he has been a personal favourite of mine ever since I first picked up one of his books (The Fog – 1975) in 1982 from a USAF base bookstore.

Apart from my heartfelt sympathy for his family (his wife and three daughters) and close friends I’d like to express my own fond farewell. “So long mate, I say mate because in my mind I feel that anyone who can so consistently entertain and scare the bejeezus out of me is a friend.  You certainly brought more than your fair share of talent to the party. You will be missed by me and millions of other people around the world. Rest in peace mate.”

RIP James Herbert (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013).
RIP James Herbert (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013).
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Michael J Fox ‘Back’ to Full Time TV

Michael J. Fox at 2011 TV Land Awards.
Michael J. Fox at 2011 TV Land Awards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That’s right, Michael J Fox is returning to full time acting after over a decade of doing part-time jaunts on other shows because of his Parkinson’s. He’s going to be doing a show for NBC “based” on his  ‘life’ after being diagnosed with the disease.

Michael has gone on record saying that the new drug regimen that he’s currently on has made it possible for him to return to a full 22 show schedule. This must be a glorious moment for him after finding out that he had the disease in 1991. When he was diagnosed it took him a while to come to grips with his situation and to make it known to the public.

Since that time Fox has been campaigning for more public awareness of the disease and for a cure. He has never given up and only stopped full time acting because of the strain and, as he put it, the unfairness to his co-workers.

Fox could almost be considered a national treasure, if he wasn’t Canadian. But be that as it may, he still qualifies to a huge degree, because dammit the guy is likeable, talented and gutsy, all great qualities of any national treasure. He’s written two books (both dealing with his life and his disease),the first one Oh Lucky Man was a best seller and one of mine and my brother’s favourites.

My brother  took it as a personal affront when Fox made his announcement about Parkinson’s. As he told me, “I grew up watching Michael on TV in Family Ties, I wanted to be Alex and so did a lot of other kids who watched the show. I was so angry when I heard he’d been struck down with this.”

I didn’t fall into that category, I just loved watching him work. Whether is was on the telly or the big screen, he had that combination of talent, comic timing, delivery…Hell, he had the whole shooting match.

Of course my brother and I weren’t his only fans. Fox has won a lot of awards in recognition of his works. Not least of which was the honorary degree of medicine from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute after he started his own organisation to raise funds and awareness about Parkinson’s in 2010.

So welcome back Michael, although you were never really gone, I can’t wait to see how this new ‘comedy’ program about you and your disease will actually do. I’m sure that more than a few folks are wondering how a show about having Parkinson’s can be funny. Well I’ve seen a show that is a comic/tragedy about dying from Cancer, Parkinson’s has definitely got to be a step up from that.

I mean lets face it, when we are faced with anything that falls into the category of ‘life changing’ it has it’s funny moments. When we are experiencing these moments it is important to find the funny side and more importantly to share it.

Fox is doing just that, he is showing us the funny side of the disease and it’s effects (I am really guessing here as the synopsis of the show that NBC have released is quite ambiguous) on the family around him. More importantly, I think, is the ‘reach’ that this program will have on telling the world about Parkinson’s and its need for a cure.

I think the program will be funny but with ‘a sting in the tail’ at the end of each episode. Probably replicating the reality of what Michael himself went through as the disease continued to change his life.

So come on NBC and Michael J Fox, lets be having you!

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