THE DUKE WAXES
LITERARY WITH
PHILIP HENRY
LITERARY WITH
PHILIP HENRY
County Antrim is an area awash with legend and half-arsed pseudo-
Celtic mythology. In any number of fine tourist stores one can
find a plethora of books about The Legends Of Ireland and The
Antrim Coast – A Den Of Intrigue, or maybe Wandering Through
Ireland With The Gypsies And Also Ghosts.
Despite this embarrassment of supernatural yarn-spinnery, there
has been a distinct lack of any original contemporary horror
fiction rising from these hills of green and what not, other
stuff third generation Irish folks talk about.
Celtic mythology. In any number of fine tourist stores one can
find a plethora of books about The Legends Of Ireland and The
Antrim Coast – A Den Of Intrigue, or maybe Wandering Through
Ireland With The Gypsies And Also Ghosts.
Despite this embarrassment of supernatural yarn-spinnery, there
has been a distinct lack of any original contemporary horror
fiction rising from these hills of green and what not, other
stuff third generation Irish folks talk about.
The problem, as far as The Duke can see, is that whilst
publishers are more than happy to fling a cartful of the green
in the direction of the latest opus about Protestant V Catholic
– Smackdown or whatever, they are less inclined to be over
supportive of an author who might wish to explore his or her
surroundings in a more impressionistic, fantastical manner.
In April 2004, Black Death Books, an American outfit concerned
with the “horror”, “fantasy”, other stuff about murder and
demons, published Vampire Dawn, the debut novel by County Antrim
scribbler Philip Henry. The novel went on to sell remarkably
well, and the second and third instalments in a proposed trilogy
are gestating away in the author’s skull-gunk as I type.
Via some waxing in the medium of the Electronic Email, The Duke
got to ask this Philip Henry fella a question or two, ie,
conducted an interview, which will now be presented in a manner
befitting The Duke's motherfucking prodigious level of
journalistic sentence structure.
First, The Duke sought to gleam some insights into what Phil
might make of this lack of original Northern Irish horror
fiction;
“It's (because of) the perception (that) the UK and the rest of
the world have of us. They all still think we live in little
thatched cottages, and horses walk the streets 24/7 taking gap-
toothed youngsters to school in a barn.”
This lack of ambition regarding the transcending of stereotypes
is, Phil believes, partly why Vampire Dawn had to make like
Great Grandfather O’Shea and cross the Broad Atlantic. “Northern
Ireland has one publisher”, he explains, “Blackstaff in Belfast,
who only print hard-luck stories about potato famines and shit
like that. OK, it happened. But guess what? Other shit has
happened since then!”
What this “other shit” might involve would include not only a
century’s worth of cultural progression, but also stuff
involving vampires, as Vampire Dawn finds the befanged
motherfuckers cropping up in Portrush, a seaside resort which
also doubles as a “town” for a couple of months a year.
I invited Phil to give a run-down of the plot and so on;
“Vampire Dawn is a modern vampire story set around the North
Coast of Ireland. The two main characters, Claire and Xavier,
have been married for 106 years and when they think they're the
last vampires on the planet they decide to 'Make' another one.
And here's when the trouble begins. They can't control the
vampire they make and he totally fucks up their life (anyone who
sees an allegory here: well spotted!). Anyway, there are all
manner of people trying to kill them in various locations around
the North Coast. There's fighting, mystery, thrills, killing,
romance and a laugh or two along the way as well. Come one, what
more do you want?”
Well, for one thing, a celebrity scandal or two wouldn’t go
amiss. As Phil notes, this absence of tabloid sensationalism in
his writing meant that most UK publishers tended to give it a
pass, by which I mean didn’t publish it.
“It wasn't so much that (publishers) didn't like (the novel), it
was more that no one would even read it. The horror genre is
kind of dead in this country (heh heh, get it?) and the US just
has a much wider appreciation for this type of thing. Black
Death were the first company I approached via the Internet and
they loved it and took me on. I think in the UK so much
celebrity shite is published that it squashes new writers. For
example, if a publisher gives Jordan (that erudite,
inspirational lady) millions of pounds for her autobiography
there's not much left in their budget for the rest of the year.”
One might think that the last thing anyone would want is a story
based in Northern Ireland about folks getting slaughtered in
horrific fashions. Phil, however, along with the tens of
thousands of readers who adore his work, thinks otherwise;
“I've heard from a few people and they love it. Locals have such
good taste.”
“I like the idea of escapism”, he elaborates. “Sure, it's shitty
out there, but even if vampires are causing absolute mayhem they
can still be excused because they're not human, whereas the
perpetrators of our persisting problem apparently are. That, to
me, is a scarier prospect than any ‘monster’.”
Prior to the publication of his novel, Phil pitched several
screenplays and ideas to various television production companies.
“You know the phrase Same Shit, Different Day?” he sighs. “I've
always fought the system as far as what Northern Ireland
producers want. If you write something set in NI that doesn't
mention the troubles or the religious divide, they ask you to
put it in. It fucking ridiculous! The troubles are not a selling
point! It's like insisting that every movie made in America has
to reference the 9/11 tragedy.”
It does seem somewhat odd, is what The Duke makes of it all,
that a society which constantly insists on progression and
restitution seems monomaniacal with regards the nature of its
cultural produce. No IRA, no UVF, no “Alright mucker?” and what
not, and it’s about as easy to find a nun with an erection as it
is to be granted the prestigious Green Light.
Now that the doors have been opened and so on, no doubt with
suitably ominous organ plonkings and a bit of the old “fog”,
“thunder”, other scary weather, perhaps the avenues towards the
screen will prove somewhat more accommodating.
“I don't know if anyone would make Vampire Dawn into a movie”,
Phil muses, “Without changing it to such a degree that I would
disown it. A friend of mine suggested, while I was writing it,
that the vampires should have a preference of either Protestant
or Catholic blood. He was joking but I could just see a
producer's face light up at that dipshit suggestion. I'll maybe
try pitching it when the trilogy is complete”, he considers.
“Watch this space.”
This populating ones hometown with a gaggle of fictional
constructions and diabolical shenanigans is nothing new in
literature, but for Northern Irish writers who may wish to talk
about more than “Fenians”, “Prods”, miscellaneous other terms
for ones religious denomination, the success of Vampire Dawn
serves as a particularly enticing act of breaking of new ground.
It’s like the fella by the name of Stephen King, who achieved
modest success, I believe, by writing spook-tales set in his
hometown of Maine, in the USA of America. Has the geographical
nostalgia of King’s work, such as The Graveyard Of Pets and
Miserable, had any influence on Phil?
“He was the main inspiration for setting it around my hometown”,
Phil confirms.
“Everyone laughs when I tell them it's set around Coleraine and
Portrush but I'm sure there's nothing very menacing about Maine
either. King has built up a mythology around his hometown and
that's what I'm going to do to. I want the North Coast to be
known for something other than “the unmentionable”.”
He chuckles. “The Unmentionable. Sounds like a demon. I might
use that.”
“King is also very diverse”, he continues. “He's more of an
inspiration than someone like Anne Rice who just writes vampire
novels. King has had vamps, werewolves, clowns, cars, aliens and
Kathy Bates. Oooh, shudder!”
This branching out and exploring various mythologies seems to be
something to look forward to in Phil’s future work also.
Currently working on his next novel, The Duke probed for some
details, like when aliens abduct rednecks and then stick
metallic poles into their arse, that they might acquire some
hitherto unacknowledged piece of biological information.
Except I just used the Electronic Email, and he didn’t even have
to get naked.
“(The forthcoming novel is) an autobiography with large helpings
of fiction and bullshit. It's set in the school year 89-90, my
final year. There's a monster stalking the children of the high
school and it's up to a few friends to stop it. The real trick
will be guessing what really happened and what did I make up?
There are a few people from that period in my life that I have
taken revenge on. Fiction is great. I can kill anyone who pisses
me off without the fear of getting caught. And if they really
fucked me off, I can torture them first. Fucking magic. I love
being a writer; what other job allows you to go back in time and
kill anyone you feel like?”
Van Damme, of course, achieved this in the seminal Time Cop, but
for us less karate-literate folks, the pen, keyboard, chalk does
indeed grant one the otherwise impossible option of highly
elaborate slaughter free of consequence.
“Anyway”, he says, “To return to planet Earth, the new book is
called The Siren and if I can stop procrastinating it should be
finished in the next few weeks and assuming my publisher, or
another, takes it, it should be out next year sometime. Keep all
protruding body parts crossed for me.”
And well we should. Especially us lot here in the Northerns of
Ireland, since the sustained success of Vampire Dawn and any
follow-up’s Philip Henry wrenches from his skull, could prove to
all involved that yes, there is a market out there for
intelligent, imaginative, deliriously manic Northern Irish
fiction, and no, we don’t necessarily care for to read about
Terrorist IRA’s – Exposed And Then Debated 4.
Good work Philip Henry.
The Duke salutes you is what.
Grab Vampire Dawn Via Amazon.co.uk
Contact The Duke Via Electronical Email!
Visit Philip Henry's Home-Web
publishers are more than happy to fling a cartful of the green
in the direction of the latest opus about Protestant V Catholic
– Smackdown or whatever, they are less inclined to be over
supportive of an author who might wish to explore his or her
surroundings in a more impressionistic, fantastical manner.
In April 2004, Black Death Books, an American outfit concerned
with the “horror”, “fantasy”, other stuff about murder and
demons, published Vampire Dawn, the debut novel by County Antrim
scribbler Philip Henry. The novel went on to sell remarkably
well, and the second and third instalments in a proposed trilogy
are gestating away in the author’s skull-gunk as I type.
Via some waxing in the medium of the Electronic Email, The Duke
got to ask this Philip Henry fella a question or two, ie,
conducted an interview, which will now be presented in a manner
befitting The Duke's motherfucking prodigious level of
journalistic sentence structure.
First, The Duke sought to gleam some insights into what Phil
might make of this lack of original Northern Irish horror
fiction;
“It's (because of) the perception (that) the UK and the rest of
the world have of us. They all still think we live in little
thatched cottages, and horses walk the streets 24/7 taking gap-
toothed youngsters to school in a barn.”
This lack of ambition regarding the transcending of stereotypes
is, Phil believes, partly why Vampire Dawn had to make like
Great Grandfather O’Shea and cross the Broad Atlantic. “Northern
Ireland has one publisher”, he explains, “Blackstaff in Belfast,
who only print hard-luck stories about potato famines and shit
like that. OK, it happened. But guess what? Other shit has
happened since then!”
What this “other shit” might involve would include not only a
century’s worth of cultural progression, but also stuff
involving vampires, as Vampire Dawn finds the befanged
motherfuckers cropping up in Portrush, a seaside resort which
also doubles as a “town” for a couple of months a year.
I invited Phil to give a run-down of the plot and so on;
“Vampire Dawn is a modern vampire story set around the North
Coast of Ireland. The two main characters, Claire and Xavier,
have been married for 106 years and when they think they're the
last vampires on the planet they decide to 'Make' another one.
And here's when the trouble begins. They can't control the
vampire they make and he totally fucks up their life (anyone who
sees an allegory here: well spotted!). Anyway, there are all
manner of people trying to kill them in various locations around
the North Coast. There's fighting, mystery, thrills, killing,
romance and a laugh or two along the way as well. Come one, what
more do you want?”
Well, for one thing, a celebrity scandal or two wouldn’t go
amiss. As Phil notes, this absence of tabloid sensationalism in
his writing meant that most UK publishers tended to give it a
pass, by which I mean didn’t publish it.
“It wasn't so much that (publishers) didn't like (the novel), it
was more that no one would even read it. The horror genre is
kind of dead in this country (heh heh, get it?) and the US just
has a much wider appreciation for this type of thing. Black
Death were the first company I approached via the Internet and
they loved it and took me on. I think in the UK so much
celebrity shite is published that it squashes new writers. For
example, if a publisher gives Jordan (that erudite,
inspirational lady) millions of pounds for her autobiography
there's not much left in their budget for the rest of the year.”
One might think that the last thing anyone would want is a story
based in Northern Ireland about folks getting slaughtered in
horrific fashions. Phil, however, along with the tens of
thousands of readers who adore his work, thinks otherwise;
“I've heard from a few people and they love it. Locals have such
good taste.”
“I like the idea of escapism”, he elaborates. “Sure, it's shitty
out there, but even if vampires are causing absolute mayhem they
can still be excused because they're not human, whereas the
perpetrators of our persisting problem apparently are. That, to
me, is a scarier prospect than any ‘monster’.”
Prior to the publication of his novel, Phil pitched several
screenplays and ideas to various television production companies.
“You know the phrase Same Shit, Different Day?” he sighs. “I've
always fought the system as far as what Northern Ireland
producers want. If you write something set in NI that doesn't
mention the troubles or the religious divide, they ask you to
put it in. It fucking ridiculous! The troubles are not a selling
point! It's like insisting that every movie made in America has
to reference the 9/11 tragedy.”
It does seem somewhat odd, is what The Duke makes of it all,
that a society which constantly insists on progression and
restitution seems monomaniacal with regards the nature of its
cultural produce. No IRA, no UVF, no “Alright mucker?” and what
not, and it’s about as easy to find a nun with an erection as it
is to be granted the prestigious Green Light.
Now that the doors have been opened and so on, no doubt with
suitably ominous organ plonkings and a bit of the old “fog”,
“thunder”, other scary weather, perhaps the avenues towards the
screen will prove somewhat more accommodating.
“I don't know if anyone would make Vampire Dawn into a movie”,
Phil muses, “Without changing it to such a degree that I would
disown it. A friend of mine suggested, while I was writing it,
that the vampires should have a preference of either Protestant
or Catholic blood. He was joking but I could just see a
producer's face light up at that dipshit suggestion. I'll maybe
try pitching it when the trilogy is complete”, he considers.
“Watch this space.”
This populating ones hometown with a gaggle of fictional
constructions and diabolical shenanigans is nothing new in
literature, but for Northern Irish writers who may wish to talk
about more than “Fenians”, “Prods”, miscellaneous other terms
for ones religious denomination, the success of Vampire Dawn
serves as a particularly enticing act of breaking of new ground.
It’s like the fella by the name of Stephen King, who achieved
modest success, I believe, by writing spook-tales set in his
hometown of Maine, in the USA of America. Has the geographical
nostalgia of King’s work, such as The Graveyard Of Pets and
Miserable, had any influence on Phil?
“He was the main inspiration for setting it around my hometown”,
Phil confirms.
“Everyone laughs when I tell them it's set around Coleraine and
Portrush but I'm sure there's nothing very menacing about Maine
either. King has built up a mythology around his hometown and
that's what I'm going to do to. I want the North Coast to be
known for something other than “the unmentionable”.”
He chuckles. “The Unmentionable. Sounds like a demon. I might
use that.”
“King is also very diverse”, he continues. “He's more of an
inspiration than someone like Anne Rice who just writes vampire
novels. King has had vamps, werewolves, clowns, cars, aliens and
Kathy Bates. Oooh, shudder!”
This branching out and exploring various mythologies seems to be
something to look forward to in Phil’s future work also.
Currently working on his next novel, The Duke probed for some
details, like when aliens abduct rednecks and then stick
metallic poles into their arse, that they might acquire some
hitherto unacknowledged piece of biological information.
Except I just used the Electronic Email, and he didn’t even have
to get naked.
“(The forthcoming novel is) an autobiography with large helpings
of fiction and bullshit. It's set in the school year 89-90, my
final year. There's a monster stalking the children of the high
school and it's up to a few friends to stop it. The real trick
will be guessing what really happened and what did I make up?
There are a few people from that period in my life that I have
taken revenge on. Fiction is great. I can kill anyone who pisses
me off without the fear of getting caught. And if they really
fucked me off, I can torture them first. Fucking magic. I love
being a writer; what other job allows you to go back in time and
kill anyone you feel like?”
Van Damme, of course, achieved this in the seminal Time Cop, but
for us less karate-literate folks, the pen, keyboard, chalk does
indeed grant one the otherwise impossible option of highly
elaborate slaughter free of consequence.
“Anyway”, he says, “To return to planet Earth, the new book is
called The Siren and if I can stop procrastinating it should be
finished in the next few weeks and assuming my publisher, or
another, takes it, it should be out next year sometime. Keep all
protruding body parts crossed for me.”
And well we should. Especially us lot here in the Northerns of
Ireland, since the sustained success of Vampire Dawn and any
follow-up’s Philip Henry wrenches from his skull, could prove to
all involved that yes, there is a market out there for
intelligent, imaginative, deliriously manic Northern Irish
fiction, and no, we don’t necessarily care for to read about
Terrorist IRA’s – Exposed And Then Debated 4.
Good work Philip Henry.
The Duke salutes you is what.
Grab Vampire Dawn Via Amazon.co.uk
Contact The Duke Via Electronical Email!
Visit Philip Henry's Home-Web
