Brian Lumley is one of the most acclaimed horror fiction writers of the past couple of decades. He started writing during his tenure in the British army. His first works were published with the help of the legendary August Derleth (the man responsible for preserving the legacy of H. P. Lovecraft). His early novels were greatly influenced by Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythology, especially the series of novels about the adventures of occult investigator Titus Crow (Burrowers beneath, The transition of Titus Crow, Clock of dreams, Spawn of the winds, In the moons of Borea, Elysia).
Lumley became a best- selling writer in 1986, with the publication of the first book in his Necroscope series. The book is about Harry Keogh, a man capable of speaking to the dead and his battles with the vampire world. The epic story took place during the cold war and became a world- wide hit among horror lovers. Lumley’ s vampires were not the usual miserable Goths, but horrific shape- shifting monsters trying to conquer the world. The novel’ s mixture of horror, espionage and science- fiction was immediately successful and led to a series of 14 books dealing with the Necroscope universe.
Lumley has written countless novels and short stories (including A coven of vampires, The whisperer and other voices, etc.). His collection Fruiting bodies won a British Fantasy Award in 1989 and he won the Grant Master Award at the World Horror Convention in Phoenix, in 1998. He lives in Devon, UK with his wife Barbara Ann. His website is http://www.brianlumley.com/.(217)
GB: Out of all those who have written about the Cthulhu mythos, which are your personal favourites?
Dimitris, the Mythos was my first love (literary love, that is) as you will probably know, and I believe I have a very fine understanding of it. My personal favourite Mythos author would, of course, have to be H. P. Lovecraft himself. The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow Over Innsmouth: these were classics by anyone’s standards. But as well as HPL, August Derleth did some very good pastiches, and Robert Bloch wrote a few good ones too. I also enjoyed a very small handful of Robert E. Howard’s Mythos tales, stories such as The Black Stone.
GB: What was it like, meeting and hanging out with the late, great August Derleth?
Sorry, but I never did get to meet August Derleth. I was in the British Army, while Augie was in Sauk City, Wisconsin, USA. I believe I did speak to him twice on the telephone, but it was a long time ago, in 1969. He died in 1971, and I didn’t get out of the Army until December 1980, after 22 years! But we did exchange a lot of letters and postcards in the four years that we corresponded. And of course he was responsible for Arkham House publishing three of my books.
GB: Will there be any more Titus Crow novels or short stories?
No, Dimitris, the Titus Crow days are over. I have moved on from there. Let’s face it there’s a world of difference between my Titus Crow and my Necroscope books! I couldn’t go back to doing Crow now … but it was fun while it lasted.
GB: In the Necroscope series, what inspired you to treat vampires as symbiotic parasites that use humans as hosts, as opposed to the usual goth icons?
Frankly, I had had more than enough of all these romantic, soul-seeking, “God-I-only-want-to-die!” so-called creatures of the night. I wanted vampires that did more than just suck, sob, and curse their fates. I wanted vampires with guts! Like really evil, black-hearted bastards who didn’t give a shit for anyone or anything! So since no one else was doing them, I decided to do them myself. And fourteen books published in thirteen countries later with more than 4,000,000 sales, it looks like I did the right thing.
GB: Did you need to do any research for (for) certain aspects of the novels (eg. the Cold War intelligence rivalries, ESP, Romanian history, etc.)?
Oh, yes. Lots of research. But I had served time with the Army in Berlin at the height of the cold war and knew what was going on; and I’ve always been interested in ESP, foreign languages, world myths, legends, superstitions. As you’ve probably noticed, there are lots of historical facts, genuine geographical locations in my Vampire World trilogy, too; that’s because I like to make the utterly impossible just as real-seeming as possible…
GB: What was the last great horror novel (or short story collection) that you have enjoyed?
Strangely enough, I don’t actually enjoy too many of today’s authors. I think that one of the main reasons I began to write was because no one was doing the kind of things I like! Now, I know that must sound really big-headed, but it’s true. However, I remember back in the beginning, before I was a writer myself, and before I had read Lovecraft, there was one book that really gave me a thrill; it was Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend. And as for the best single author collection: well that would have to be HPL’s Dunwich Horror.
GB: What is your all- time favourite vampire film?
There are two very good ones: Hammer Films’ original Dracula with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, and King’s Salem’s Lot. Wasn’t James Mason almost as terrifying as the Master? But my favourite pure horror film would be John Carpenter’s The Thing.
GB: Which islands do you usually prefer when you come to Greece for the holidays?
Oh, Dimitris, I have done many Greek Islands and loved them all. Rhodos, Karpathos, Zakynthos … and probably my favourite of them all: Thassos. I’ve made Greek friends on every island I ever visited, and I hope to go on visiting them for a very long time…
Interview by D.Kontogiannis for GB issue #06_2006
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