my memory of it was always that they hadn't died. 'So I wrote a little introduction for the French edition explaining that people who live in novels are different from the rest of us and I'd decided that I still liked them so they could come alive again. In any case, if you read The Manitou carefully, you find that their bodies were burnt beyond recognition so the police could have made a mistake.' One of the more refreshing aspects of Masterton's writing is that his characters are always very well defined. 'I think a book is useless without that and I think that's where a lot of horror books fall down. They might have a very, very good idea as far as the plot goes but if the characters don't live and you don't really care what happens to them or how they deal with it, then the whole thing is pointless. I also think it's important to realise the fundamental absurdity of these books and to try and come to terms with that in your story. The reaction, for instance, for most people if something really horrific and monstrous appeared at the window would be to go, "Oh shit!" and then burst out laughing. 'I write very conversationally. When I'm writing, I'm in the book. You can read an awful lot of books where it's obviously just happening in front of the writer on the page or on the screen, whereas I'm aware of the wind blowing on