For me, a good friend is someone you might only see once or twice a year but each time it feels as though you've just seen them last week.

I hate violence, and I didn't plan to write horror; it just poured out of me.

I have a dread of sounding pretentious and try not to talk too much about what I do.

I never plan my novels because if I know what is going to happen, it bores me rigid. I let the story tell itself.

I worry about the many things that could happen to the people I love.

I'm not into high literature, but I think all my books are literate.

I'm terrible in the mornings, but I'm always at my desk by 10 A.M.

I'm very cagey about making friends, and I rarely do.

I've actually seen a ghost, so I know they're really around.

I grew up in the East End of London, the youngest of three boys in a Catholic household. Both my parents were market traders and worked seven days a week.

I've always loved comic books. As a kid, I used to read cowboy stories and historical comics about other worlds, unknown places that would take me out of myself and which helped to develop my imagination.

I've always suffered from being labelled a horror writer - just because I didn't go to university, just because I still talk in my natural voice, just because I'm not as articulate as Martin Amis.