Q: When did you first come across the poem?Ī: I first experienced The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a poem read to me at school, aged about nine. I have obviously read and seen many wonderful things since, but I always seem return to those works. More and more, I think it was the books (art, films, television) I encountered when I was young that have had the most effect on my work - and continue to do so. I don't necessarily mean books that made me become a writer, but books that helped to shape (or confirm) the way I looked at the world. Why did you choose to use another established classic, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge), as the inspiration for your new book?Ī: In the last few years I have been looking at the books that made a profound impression on me when I was young.
Q: Your earlier novel, Mr Creecher, revisits the story of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Here, the author tells ReadingZone more about the creation of The Dead Men Stood Together. While Priestly's tale is firmly rooted in the poem, it also stands on its own, as a chilling tale about guilt and consequences.
InterviewĬhris Priestly, a master of suspense and gothic tales, takes his inspiration for his new novel, The Dead Men Stood Together, from Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. These are all published by Bloomsbury.Įver since he was a teenager he says he has loved unsettling and creepy stories, with fond memories of buying comics like 'Strange Tales' and 'House of Mystery', watching classic BBC TV adaptations of M R James ghost stories every Christmas and reading assorted weirdness by everyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Ray Bradbury. His latest books are the creepy Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror, Tales of Terror from the Black Ship, Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth and Dead of Winter, as well as Mr Creecher, based on the story of Frankenstein. In 2004, his Death and the Arrow was shortlisted for Edgar Award in 2006, Redwulf's Curse won the Lancashire Fantastic Book Award. In 2000, he started writing his own works and published a children's book called Dog Magic. He studied at Manchester Polytechnic and went on to be a political cartoonist, publishing his illustrations in The Times, The Independent, The Observer, The Economist and other newspapers. As a nine-year-old, he won a prize in a story-writing competition, which first gave him the idea of writing for a living.
Chris Priestley was born in Hull, and has lived in Wales and Gibraltar.
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