Today’s #redeyereadalong Q&A post is coinciding with the #RedEye Blog Tour! We’re on our final week of the readalong and this week we’re reading Dark Room by Tom Becker, the newest book in the Red Eye series. You can still join us using #redeyereadalong on Twitter so myself and Michelle (Tales of Yesterday) can keep up with your discussions!
Q&A Time!
Today’s Q&A is with the marvellous Tom Becker, who I’m sure is revelling in all the Twitter/Goodreads comments about how terrified we all are right now, just a few days into the reading week!
1. Let’s start with something easy. What was your biggest fear growing up?
My biggest fear was slightly unusual – I was scared of not getting to sleep at night. The longer it took for me to fall asleep the more scared I became, which of course didn’t exactly help me drop off. It made for some interesting nights. I was tired a lot growing up.
2. What inspired you to write Dark Room?
I wanted to write something completely different to my other books, and for an older audience. I wanted gory deaths and to feel that my fingers were leaving bloody fingerprints on the keyboard. I wanted to scare people.
3. What is the best thing about writing in the horror genre?
Being able to write jokes on one page and bloody deaths the next. There are very few genres that offer you that kind of flexibility, that many colours on your palette.
4. What is (in your opinion) the scariest book available (not including your own!)?
That’s a tough one. I remember reading Pet Sematary as a teenager and being truly creeped out. The thing about Stephen King is that he’s not just got the ability to create truly horrifying scenarios, but he’s a sickeningly good writer to boot.
5. What is your favourite urban legend?
A simple but classic piece of misdirection: a girl driving alone through the US late at night pulls up at a gas station. An attendant comes up to fill up her tank and starts acting strangely, putting her on edge. When she tries to pay the attendant tells her there is a problem with her credit card and insists that she gets out of the car and goes into the gas station with him. Frightened, the girl finally agrees. When they get inside, the attendant tells her that someone is hiding in her backseat…
6. What is the creepiest/scariest line from your Red Eye book?
“Behind Natalie’s shoulder, through the open closet door, there was a pale, blurred oval in the shadows.
Another face.”
About the Author
Tom Becker grew up in a market town in the northwest of England, dreaming of becoming a writer. He won the 2007 Waterstones’ Children’s Book Prize with his first novel, Darkside, and has continued to blur the lines between history and fantasy in brooding adventure and horror stories such as The Traitors and While The Others Sleep. He has also published an adult novel, The Cold Tap, on Kindle under his real name, Tom Beckerlegge. Tom lives in London with his wife, baby son, and a horde of shadowy creatures that he keeps confined within the pages of his notebook.
I read this one when I was on holiday last month and it was fantastic! I know you guys are going to love it.
Are you joining us for the #redeyereadalong? If so, what do you think of Dark Room so far?
Heather Reviews 