Shaun Hutson

Shaun Hutson (born 1958) is a prolific writer of bestselling novels including horror novels and dark urban thrillers. He was born and brought up in Hertfordshire, England, and now lives and writes in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

His works have often been describedFact|date=June 2008 as extremely gritty and violent. Sean Doyle, the antihero of several of his books, is a "counter-terrorist" with a penchant for brutal violence and a certain degree of contempt for authority. Doyle is frequently heavily armed, e.g. carrying a .50 caliber Desert Eagle and a fully automatic Beretta 93R machine pistol, both unusual in military or police use.

He is, according to someFact|date=June 2008, the chief inspiration for comedy character Garth Marenghi, a caricature of a self-absorbed horror writer.

Trivia

According to his website, Hutson has appeared onstage with British heavy metal band Iron Maiden 13 times.

He is a frequent cinema-goer and often thanks the staff of his local cinemas in his Acknowledgements.

He is a fan of the British soccer team Liverpool F.C..

In an interview for the magazine "Deep Red" (given sometime in the late 80s/early 90s), Hutson relayed the following titbits of interest:
*He describes "Alien" as one of the greatest horror movies of all time (and derides its sequel as "Rambo" in space").
*He also mentions that "Alien" is alongside "The Wild Bunch" as one of his favorite films ever.
*During the interview, Hutson describes working on the book "Chainsaw Terror"; in particular, he mentions that during a horror authors' convention panel, he took glee in describing a scene where a woman gets nailed down to a worktable and is brutally violated with a chainsaw, solely for the joy of leaving fellow author and panel member Clive Barker speechless.
*Shaun Hutson is married with one child.
*When asked if he gets along with fellow British horror authors Barker and Ramsey Campbell, Hutson stated that he has very little time for them and that he felt they were part of a backslapping "clique" of horror authors at that time, who would give glowing reviews of each others' work (mocking Campbell, he stated that a cover blurb Campbell might give for use on a fellow author's work would be something like 'The best book I've read since last week - Ramsey Campbell'). An unfavourable review of Hutson's novel "Heathen", parodying Hutson's style, appears in Campbell's collection "Ramsey Campbell, Probably". Hutson also stated that "the sole, and notable, exception" to his disdain for other British horror writers was James Herbert, because he felt Herbert shared his disdain for the "clique"-like atmosphere. (Interviewed by Stan Nicholls in "Wordsmiths of Wonder" [Orbit, 1993] , however, he cited Stephen King as "the only horror writer I respect - the rest are so wrapped up in what they're doing and so intent on what they're creating.")
*Regarding Juan Piquer Simon's film adaptation of "Slugs", Hutson bemusedly recalled that he had remarked that as long as he got paid and his original work wasn't altered, a filmmaker could "do what he liked"; he then wryly noted that "this Piquer bloke" came along "and proceeded to take me at my word".
*At the time of the interview, Hutson was well known for his horror works, which were unflinching in their depiction of scenes both sexual and horrific (and sometimes both at once); when asked if there was ever a time when he felt he had to censor or tone down something of his own accord, he admitted that there was a necrophilia scene he'd been working on in one of his books that he ended up toning down as he was enjoying writing it "a bit "too" much".
*Shaun has written a screenplay for The Figgis Brothers (Jason Figgis & Jonathan Figgis) for their company October Eleven Pictures' upcoming feature film 'Box'. Currently in preproduction, shooting is set to commence late Spring 2009 [Retrieved from IFTN on 23-08-2008 http://www.iftn.ie/?act1=record&aid=73&rid=4280762&tpl=archnews&only=1] .
*Shaun has appeared in two films once as himself in Forest of the Damned (aka Demonic) (2005), where he is decapitated by a group of naked angels and once as zombie in When Evil Calls (2006). Both films were written and directed by British horror director Johannes Roberts.

Bibliography

*"Slugs" (1982)
*"Spawn" (1983)
*"Erebus" (1984)
*"The Terminator" (1984)
*"Shadows" (1985)
*"Breeding Ground" (1985)
*"Relics" (1986)
*"Death Day" (1987)
*"Victims" (1987)
*"Assassin" (1988)
*"Nemesis" (1989)
*"Renegades" (1991)
*"Captives" (1991)
*"Heathen" (1993)
*"Deadhead" (1993)
*"White Ghost" (1994)
*"Lucy's Child" (1995)
*"Stolen Angels" (1996)
*"Knife Edge" (1997)
*"Purity" (1998)
*"Warhol's Prophecy" (1999)
*"Exit Wounds" (2000)
*"Compulsion" (2001)
*"Hybrid" (2002)
*"Hell to Pay" (2003)
*"Necessary Evil" (2004)
*"Twisted Souls" (2005)
*"Dying Words" (2006)
*"Unmarked Graves" (2007)

External links

* [http://www.shaunhutson.com The official Shaun Hutson website] , run by a fan with the input of the author himself

References

ee also

*List of horror fiction authors