Fear and Flaws - A Winning Combination - Q&A with Nick Brown, Author of Skendleby Series

Q: Tell us about the Skendleby Series

I’ve always enjoyed ghost stories and supernatural thrillers particularly those set in a fairly mundane, but well researched setting, which scare through a slow build up and atmosphere rather than through jump scares and slashing There didn’t seem to be many on the market so I set out to write one that I would enjoy reading. The starting point was a mixture of archaeology, my background, and a couple of strange things I experienced which I’ve never fully understood. It begins with the old horror trope of archaeologists digging up something better left undisturbed.

Q: Was there a particular part of the new book that you enjoyed writing?

I particularly enjoyed the development of the characters in Greenman Resurrection and having lived with them for so long, I found some of the paths they took quite emotional to write. Plus the introduction of a new character who I think, gives the series a new dimension. I liked the ending which I think brought the series round full circle.

Q: This series has been well receives so much so a film is on the cards - what do you think made these books so popular?

The fact that there was interest in making a film was a surprise to me. When Skendleby was being written it aroused very little interest and had been out nearly three years before it began to sell. I think that the reason readers have gone on to read the other books in the series is that the people inhabiting the books are largely weak and flawed, like me, but manage to strive for redemption through being tested. I think readers like the slow build up of dread and ancient horror, with a bit of humour and comment thrown in. I used bits of the books as a cathartic reaction to some things I’d experienced so maybe that’s where the real horror came from. I never expected to be approached by an American film producer saying he loved the books and wanted to make a film

A bit about Nick:

Nick Brown started as an archaeologist, which to earn enough to live, I mixed with teaching. I was unlucky enough to become involved with a school based racial murder and its aftermath and acquired an unwanted reputation for coping in the field which, via another murder and the subsequent riots ended up with me opening a very large multi -racial sixth form college in a segregated and volatile town. I was appointed OBE for this. The idea of the books kept me going during this so when the college was fully established and successful (19 years later) I left to become a writer. I’m married with three sons and live in a house which may well be haunted.

GREENMAN RESURRECTION & THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES ARE AVAILBABLE NOW THROUGH: CLICK THE LINKS FOR YOUR STORE