Lucy Vickery

Chill factor

issue 20 April 2013

In Competition No. 2793 you were invited to submit a short story featuring an animal written in the style of James Herbert.

Herbert, much loved by teenage boys of a certain generation, died last month and the tributes came in thick and fast. Crime writer Ian Rankin spoke for many when he tweeted: ‘Sad news about James Herbert — as a teen, I scared myself silly reading him. He led me to King, Barker, others. RIP.’

Herbert’s first novel, The Rats, published in the mid-Seventies, sold 100,000 copies within the first fortnight. Its stars were flesh-eating mutant rodents the size of dogs. Your contributions to the genre featured vampire tortoises, homicidal magpies and vengeful badgers.

On the whole, you captured the Grand Master of Horror well. Honourable mentions go to Basil Ransome-Davies, George Simmers, Shirley Curran and Anne du Croz.

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