The Haunting of Barney Thomson

Added on 13 October 2010

The next in line of the groundbreaking Barney Thomson barbershop death junky series is now available to download from Amazon Kindle. The Haunting of Barney Thomson - a perfect blend of ghosts, nautical evil, decapitation and Scooby Doo-esque mayhem - is the penultimate book in the series, the one which begins to draw the threads of Barney's life together, in order to set him up for the big finish of The Final Cut.

The Haunting of Barney Thomson felt like a difficult bit of writing at the time. Invariably, when writing a novel, I just throw stuff at the page - or 'shit' to use the technical writing term - and see what sticks. Invariably, by the end, everything falls into place. This didn't happen with Haunting. I got to the end and it was still all to cock. However, some quiet reflection while the book sat in a drawer, and some harsh critique from TPCKAM on just how crap it was, sorted it out. Eventually, with only minutes to spare before the printing press chugged into action, it all came together and this magnificent beast of a comedy/horror/thriller fell into place.

Here are some lines that just read like decent bits of writing:

'...her heart swept away by the boldness and romanticism that lay hidden behind the bane of his baleful exterior...'

‘To crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most terrible punishment so that the most ferocious murderer would shudder at it beforehand, one need only give him work of an absolutely, completely useless and irrational character.’ He paused, the smile never wavered. ‘Still cutting hair, Barney?’

The bulk of that quote is Dostoevsky. I like the way I blended it into a Barney Thomson novel, so that it sounded relevant and chilling.

'He was a confident man, full of hubris and brusque poise, but there’s no one, not even the most self-assured, who does not have moments, however fleeting, of testicle-crushing fear and doubt.'

'You can't force unflappable serenity.'

The Haunting of Barney Thomson, available in paperback and on Amazon Kindle. Buy it for yourself, and for your friends; for your friends' friends and for your friends' friends' friends; for your friends' friends' friends' friends, and for your friends' friends' friends' friends' friends.