My Favorite Book As A Kid

Have you ever had a book that you could read over and over, no matter how many times you read it? You already knew the characters, the plot, the twists and turns and the ending, but you still loved it enough to read it again and again?

That's how it was for me with the book, The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. I fell in love with it at the opening line:

"The great grey beast of February had eaten Harvey Swick alive."

How cool is that? I remember wondering how a month could eat someone, (I took things way literally as a kid) but as I kept reading it, and he described it as this unenjoyable, dismal, grey month that's absolutely no fun, I totally got it. 

I remember those times when I would be stuck inside my house with nothing to do because of the gloom, or because my friends weren't around, and feeling so goddamned bored, which is basically the setup for The Thief of Always. Harvey is bored and miserable and gets this offer to go on a trip with this mysterious man named Rictus, which then puts the whole plot of the book in motion. I won't spoil it if you haven't read it, but the story is completely original with lovable characters and so rich in detail without getting monotonous. 

And the illustrations that were in the book were haunting in the best way. Not too scary since it was a book for young readers, but just dark with enough demented bleakness that fit so well with the book. Thinking back on them now, they actually were kind of scary. 

It was rereleased as a graphic novel which I thought was brilliant. The book had such an awesome setting and great imagery so it was really cool to see an artist's interpretation of the story. I still prefer the original novel though because my imagination cooked up something so much different than what was portrayed in the graphic novel.

I actually appreciate those times when I was bored as a kid; it's how I developed my imagination which I get to put to good use now. I used to get so annoyed that my mom would be watching her TV shows and I couldn't watch my cartoons, but now I'm glad that happened because it's how i got into reading, which then led me to writing. 

It's funny how events that seem so insignificant can end up shaping your life in such a big way. It's my hope that I write novels that connect and resonate with people as much as that book did for me. 

What was your favorite as a kid? 

Check out my debut novel, Depths on Amazon!