Barry Hutchison: The 13th Horseman

Barry Hutchison is the award winning author of the terrifyingly brilliant Invisible Fiends series. We love him here at Scottish Book Trust and we know the children of Scotland do too because in 2011 they voted him the winner of the 8-11 category Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books. Barry has a brand new book out  - The 13th Horseman - which we're all excited to read. We asked him to tell us more about it.

Before I wrote scary, I wanted to write funny. I grew up reading books that made me laugh, and I wanted to write books that would make other people laugh, too.

Unfortunately, my first few attempts made no-one laugh – not even me. The jokes were old, the plots were cheesy and the characters were two-dimensional. The books were a mess, so I tried my hand at writing something else, and the Invisible Fiends horror series was born. I pretty much gave up on the idea of writing books that would make people laugh, until the first reviewer of Invisible Fiends: Mr Mumbles called it “the funniest horror book I’ve ever read”. That was when I vowed to try writing funny again…

 The idea for The 13^th Horseman has been in my head since about 1997, when I was a student living in Aberdeen. I was sharing a cramped flat with three relative strangers. Although things were fine to begin with, everyone quickly began to get on everyone else’s nerves to the point we would all happily have murdered one another in our sleep.

“But hey,” I thought in those dark hours lying awake listening to them snoring or playing music or – in one instance – going into labour, “at least it isn’t forever.”

And then I thought “But what if it was…?”

Welcome to the world of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

The Four Horsemen, according to the Bible’s Book of Revelation, will ride across the sky come the Day of Judgement, ushering in the end of the world. Unfortunately for them, they have nothing to do in the meantime, so they sit in the cramped shed they call home and play board games and bicker all day. Buckaroo is a particular favourite, while none of them are particular keen on Twister.

Eventually, Death – the leader of the Horsemen – loses his mind through boredom. Sick of sitting around waiting for the Apocalypse, he sets off to bring it about himself. The result? The Horsemen are missing a Death, and when 14-year-old Drake Finn turns up at their shed one day, he finds himself stepping into some downright creepy shoes.

Reluctantly assuming the role of Death, Drake begins his training. But his lessons are cut short when his predecessor puts into action his plan to destroy the world. Drake and the other Horsemen have a responsibility to help usher in the Apocalypse, but Drake has other ideas.

Can he convince the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to go against everything they were created for, and help him stop Armageddon instead of starting it? You’re just going to have to read the book to find out.

Before that, though, you can read an ongoing “prequel” to the story over at The13thHorseman.com. It’s a diary written by Pestilence, one of the Horsemen, and it covers the weeks before the events of the book take place. From Famine’s eating habits to Death’s slide into madness, it’s all there in the Diary of the Apocalypse.

Find out more about Barry Hutchison on his website, or follow him on Twitter!

Other News

The Scottish Children's Book Awards (formerly Royal Mail Awards) ceremony takes place on Thursday 23rd February, 1.30pm-3pm. You can watch live online to find out which authors are this year's winners.