Into the darkness: local publishes debut horror book

Clifton Springs father Mark Towse remembers holding his first library card.

Overjoyed by the simplest of pre-teen acquisitions, the young boy from Yorkshire discovered his imagination was its most audacious when activated by borrowed stories.

But for reasons unknown to him at the time, his working life steered in the direction of numbers not words.

“It’s like I blinked and 30 years went by. I was working full time in a stressful sales job, but writing was always in the back of my mind,” he said.

“I was constantly talking to my wife Stephanie and she sort of pushed me towards it. She said, ‘life’s too short, why don’t you do something about it?’. I was probably boring her to tears.

“I went down to a part-time role and it was a bit of a gamble. I began working three-and-a-half days a week and the rest of the time I was writing.”

Mark and Stephanie’s life altering conversation was had two years ago. Before then, Mark had never written.

He’s now a published author, with his debut book Face The Music (published by All Things That Matter Press) released this month.

Comprising of 23 short horror stories, it was at large inspired by the prolific catalogue of American author Stephen King.

“I have a general pull towards it. I immersed myself in horror as a child, and it’s just my natural drawcard.

“I love building suspense… building a world and turning it upside down on the reader. I want to take them on a ride, and at the end of it I want to throw them out of the carriage.

“I want them to think ‘what the hell just happened?’, which means many of the stories in Face The Music don’t have the typical happy ending that people expect.”

The trouble for any writer, once published, is thinking ahead. A new storyline, new characters, new twists and turns – the thought of it is overwhelming, particularly for a horror author.

But Mark said he finds enjoyment in the process.

“I don’t do small talk, I like to get to know people and their little idiosyncrasies, which can inspire characters. It inspires me to come up with ideas,” he said.

“I love getting into people’s heads and playing with them, so to speak.

“Ideas come at strange times. Some days I sit at the laptop for three hours straight, sink 10 coffees and walk away defeated.”

One of Mark’s favourite stories, The paperboy, came about following a paper round shift with his now 15-year-old son Adam.

“I thought it’d be quite funny to turn that on its head. It’s set in a creepy street, all the residents are old,” he said.

“I think young people often look at the old and there’s this sense of alienation with older people… they don’t know how to take them.

“I thought it’d be really funny to take that concept to another degree and make them (the old residents) incredibly creepy. The community has a secret as well which throws the reader.

“It’s a really good story and I stand by it.”

Mark said his aim moving forward was to remain original.

“I think it’s very hard to write a book that hasn’t been written before. To be original is key.

“I’m a big fan of Hitchcock – nothing was as it seemed, and he strove from the typical happy ending.

“The horror market is saturated and very competitive. To stand out you have to do something special.”

Face The Music by Mark Towse is available at The Bookshop at Queenscliff and The Book Bird on Pakington Street, Geelong.

The book hit #5 in the Amazon new release charts, where it is also available online.