Dead Leaves by Andrew David Barker

"This book is my love letter to the horror genre. It is about what it means to be a horror fan; about how the genre can nurture an adolescent mind; how it can be a positive force in life.

This book is set during a time when horror films were vilified in the press and in parliament like never before. It is about how being a fan of so-called 'video nasties' made you, in the eyes of the nation, a freak, a weirdo, or worse, someone who could actually be a danger to society. I wanted to address that. Show how a love - a pure love - for a piece of art can make a young man want to better himself; how being inspired by a certain film - in this case, The Evil Dead - can propel someone to want to break out of his class, out of his town and out of his limited prospects, and be set on a path of creating a life for himself. A positive, creative, and fulfilling life.

This book is partly autobiographical, set in a time when Britain seemed to be a war with itself. It is a working class story about hope. All writers, filmmakers, musicians, painters - artists of any kind -were first inspired to create their own work by the guiding light of another's. The first spark that sets them on their way.

This book is about that spark." - Andrew David Barker