In the world of horror fiction, there are few bigger names than Garth Marenghi. It’s got four syllables for a start. Stephen King? James Herbert? Clive Barker? Three syllables apiece. Poor Dean Koontz has only got two. But Garth Marenghi trumps them all. And in Terror Tome, his first major work of fiction in over 30 years, he is equally victorious in the horror stakes. An anthology split into three connected sections, it follows the nerve-shredding (and frequently stomach-churning) trials of dashing supernatural fiction novelist Nick Steen, and the fragmented realities (and “Army of Boners” skeletal warriors) that arise from his unbridled sexual congress with a possessed typewriter.
Marenghi’s career has been chequered. In 2004, Channel 4 screened six episodes of his banned 1980s series with Marenghi himself assuming the role of Dr Rick Dagless MD, a Vietnam veteran combating the forces of supernatural darkness in a Romford hospital.. Since then? Nothing. So ’s success as a bestseller, and Marenghi’s subsequent string of sold-out live readings at venues across the UK, have arguably constituted the most unlikely literary comeback since Harper Lee. Who also only had three syllables in her name.
