James Herbert--The Authorised True Story 1943-2013 by Craig Cabell

Author:Craig Cabell [Craig Cabell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782197348
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

I have already discussed the power of using a fantastic image in juxtaposition to an everyday one. But Herbert’s strength in Domain comes from something he wasn’t allowed to research. ‘I remember when I was researching Domain, they wouldn’t let me go to the underground telecom offices at the back of High Holborn. I wrote to them and said that I knew where it was, behind a brick wall with barbed wire on the top with observation cameras. It’s meant to be just a telephone exchange and it has all this security? Anyway, they wrote back to me and said that I couldn’t go there because it wasn’t being used anymore. So I replied saying that if wasn’t being used anymore, I wouldn’t be in anybody’s way. I’d just take a quick look around. They wrote back with another excuse and I wrote back to them again. Eventually they simply said, “This is a definite NO.”’

Herbert has discovered many locked doorways and dark passageways beneath London, as he explains in Dark Places. ‘Walk along the Embankment some time and take note of the various grilles along the pavement. These are air ventilators that serve the network (tunnels and secret underground railways). On the corner of Westminster Bridge is Queen Boadicea’s statue. Look at its base and wonder why there should be a discreet locked door set in the stonework. This is just another entrance to the tunnels below.’

Herbert is very tenacious when researching his novels, approaching official bodies and uncovering whatever information he can. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been reprimanded for his trouble. ‘I’ve never been threatened by a government department. Not yet. And I find that a bit disappointing,’ he says.

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